Perdido 03

Perdido 03

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Merryl Tisch Attacks Bill De Blasio Over Charter School Rent Plan

The NY Post reports that Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch criticized Democratic mayoral nominee Bill de Blasio for saying charter schools should pay rent:

Chancellor Merryl Tisch said she’s concerned that forcing publicly-funded charter school to pay rent for sharing space in public school buildings, as the Democratic mayoral nominee has proposed, could stymie growth and innovation.

“Anything that you do that makes it prohibitive for charter schools to grow and thrive in New York City is not a great way to proceed,” Tisch said. “I’m sure charter school operators are paying attention to campaign rhetoric.”

She added: “I want New York to be a place where charter schools grow and thrive. Charter schools are public schools. Charter schools have been a valuable alternative to failing schools. They’ve been a valuable part of rebuilding public schools.”

Three things to say here:


First charter schools are not public schools.

They are private schools owned and operated by private interests but funded by the public dime.

If Eva Moskowitz can claim the state cannot audit how she uses her state-provided money in her charter school operations, then she is not running public schools.

It is that simple.

Second, de Blasio has said he will charge charters rent on a sliding scale.

This means a wealthy charter chain like Eva Moskowitz's rapidly expanding and well-connected Success charters will pay significantly more in rent than one lone charter without a bunch of hedge fund managers sitting on its board.

This will not "stifle innovation."

It may stifle growth, but considering Moskowitz's charter chain is growing like cancer, that's not such a bad thing.

She'll still be able to expand her charter chain, however.

It just won't come at a five to six school clip a year anymore.

Third, aren't you glad Bill Thompson didn't win the Democratic primary for mayor?

Tisch was his campaign co-chair.

You can bet Thompson wouldn't have been pushing ed policies that would piss off his campaign co-chair.

But Bill de Blasio can and is.

And that's a good thing.

That Tisch feels the need to attack de Blasio even before the election over the charter school rent plan shows you how threatened these people feel post-Bloomberg.

That's also a good thing.

6 comments:

  1. Since when are the authoritarian environments to be found in most charters schools - SLANTing in class, bogus chants and finger snapping, silent marching in line in the hallways, public shaming and humilation as ways to change behavior, etc. - considered "innovation?"

    It's not innovation, it's regressiive and, given the segregated nature of charter schools, arguably racist, and should be called out as such.

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    1. She's shameless, isn't she. There were these hype pieces about her wanting to run for mayor. I was hoping she would so that her business and family connections would get some scrutiny.

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  2. "I'll tell you what education is-To be tumbled out of doors, neck and crop, and put upon the shortest allowance of everything except blows. That's what I call education!" - Merryll Bounderby Tisch.

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    1. And don't forget that chanting and finger snaps canhelp one avoid the blows!

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  3. Joel Klein , the original "bulldozer" destroying the public school system here (which wasn't broken to begin with)-now returns to peddle his "Amplify" devices and content for Rupert Murdoch, for billions in profits. Hmmmm...very smelly behavior indeed.

    Yet, "the media" gives him a complete pass at the obvious conflicts of interests ...another word for sleazy business practices.

    Now we have Meryll Tisch, whose bro-in-law OWNS the largest online ed. company in the world as 'bulldozer # 2"...helloooo...is anyone out there...? She must have the Charter School and Online Ed. Division of the Education Reform Complex. NO articles on these conflicts of interest...none whatsoever...in our "Free Press"...

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    1. And even Whitney Tilson says K-12 Inc is evil. Yet there's Tisch, pontificating about education reform without anybody ever pointing her conflict of interest out.

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