Andrew Cuomo Says Public Schools Are Failing

After de Blasio went on the Morning Joe clown show and got pounded by the neo-liberals over there over the charter issue, Andrew Cuomo went on the kinder, gentler Brian Lehrer Show to expound upon how much he loves charters and how much he thinks public schools suck:

Not only are charter schools not a threat, Mr. Cuomo said, but they are part of the solution to failing public schools, which he called “the civil rights issue of our day.”

“The problem with the public education system is that it is failing too many students. And failing schools have now failed generations of students. And we need to be focusing on that issue. You want to talk about civil rights issues of our day? A failing public education system, I think, is the civil rights issue of our day,” he said, borrowing a phrase the mayor has used to describe his competing fight to raise taxes on the rich to fund universal pre-K.

“What charter schools say is, ‘Maybe we should try something new. Maybe a little creativity, maybe a little innovation,’” Mr. Cuomo continued.

The civil rights issue of our time talking point is so out of date.

Eva Moskowitz wants to throw autistic kids out of their school so she can take over the space their school occupies.

That's a civil rights issue too, governor.

And when public schools get underfunded year after year after year even as politicians like yourself throw more and more mandates onto them, some of them may struggle.

But that doesn't mean public schools are "failing" or charter schools are the solution to the problems public education faces.

Especially when charters like the ones Eva runs are stealing so much space even as their attrition rates skyrocket year after year.

Looks like all that money the reformers and hedge fundies are paying Cuomo to run with their issues is paying off.