Bill de Blasio and Pubic Education

            Ever since I learned about New York City’s new Mayor Bill de Blasio, I’ve been really excited to watch his administration. I especially love his plan to provide universal pre-k education for all four year olds in the city. (His proposal includes increased taxes on the very wealthy in city.) I’m interested in how this program can be understood as one of poverty alleviation. In the United States today, pre-k education is often too expensive for parents to pay for. Moreover, pre-k education is known to have effects on the future success of children.

            But Mayor de Blasio’s ideas about education have recently become controversial. In the past few weeks, he has come under fire for criticizing charter schools. Here’s a link to a New York Times article that explains the most recent developments in the debates between De Blasio’s administration and advocates of charter schools: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/24/nyregion/de-blasio-strikes-conciliatory-tone-on-charter-schools.html?ref=billdeblasio&_r=0

            Charter schools are “publicly financed but privately run, and are typically not unionized.” They are often thought of as better alternatives to failing public schools, especially in poor areas, but have limited space and cannot accept every child. (Movies like Waiting for Superman depict low-income families who are desperate to send their children to charter schools.) New York’s former mayor Michael Bloomberg “gave charter schools free space in public school buildings, a policy Mr. de Blasio has criticized as squeezing out traditional schools.” The article also explains that de Blasio’s popularity has fallen as a result of a “$3.6 million advertising blitz” by charter school movements. But one reason De Blasio has criticized charter schools is that they are often financed by very wealthy donors (the same people who are financing the ad campaign), and thus may not represent the interests of the poor. De Blasio says that pubic schools should be publicly funded and available to all children, not a select few.

            I wonder whether de Blasio will face trouble because of all the money in the charter school movement. Could his falling popularity make it more difficult for him to change policy effectively? Should be try to be conciliatory with people from the charter school movement? Or should he stand firm in his original stance?