Teachers’ unions are attacking my school — in a sneaky bid to trash NY’s charter law

Strive is a new charter school set to open in the South Bronx this fall that’s designed to serve the needs of working families.

We’ll be open to our elementary-grade students with flexible hours from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., seven days a week, 12 months a year, so we can combine rigorous academics with ample extracurriculars.

Parents love the idea — but not the state and city teachers’ unions.

Last week the United Federation of Teachers and New York State United Teachers sued to stop us from opening, claiming that we’re violating the state’s charter-school cap.

It’s nonsense: We’re not increasing the number of charter schools.

We’re simply taking over an existing charter school that’s now operating out of the same building.

And we’re doing so with the blessing of the State University of New York, the school’s authorizer. 

Just like prior lawsuits the unions have brought against charter schools, this one will be dismissed for lack of standing — and the union knows it.

So why bother bringing it?

To bolster the UFT’s continuing campaign meant to hollow out New York’s charter-school law.

More than a quarter-century ago, the law’s authors feared the State Education Department would drag its feet on authorizing charter schools.

After all, charters compete with the government-run district schools SED regulates: Giving it sole authority to bless new charter schools would be like giving McDonald’s the power to decide how many stores Burger King could open.

To address this problem, legislators gave authorizing authority to both SED and to SUNY, the regulator that gave Strive the green light. 

It’s played out just as predicted.

SUNY has authorized schools energetically (its schools serve 117,000 children) while SED has done so ambivalently (its schools serve only 40,000). 

Not only has SED been slow to permit its own charters, it recently filed an affidavit backing a teachers’ union lawsuit to prevent two other SUNY-authorized schools from opening.

Now the unions want to put SUNY under SED’s control, claiming that SUNY’s ability to authorize charter schools against the wishes of SED is a “loophole.”

It isn’t: It’s a feature, not a bug — another argument that will be DOA in court.

But the court isn’t the real audience, anyway.

Legislators in Albany are.

The unions hope to convince lawmakers of a lie: that stripping SUNY of its authorizing autonomy would merely fix an unfortunate legislative drafting error.

And if they succeed, New York’s children will suffer.

Not only would fewer charters be authorized, those that are allowed would be worse. 

SUNY has achieved an astonishing record of authorizing high-performing charter schools under Board President Merryl Tisch and attorney Joseph Belluck, who has chaired SUNY’s charter-school committee for the last 14 years.

At SUNY-sanctioned charter schools, 15% more students are proficient in reading than in district schools, and 13% more students are proficient in math.

These schools do so despite serving more economically disadvantaged students than district schools (82% vs. 56%) and more minority students (95% vs. 53%).

Students in SUNY’s charter schools are demographically similar to those in East Harlem (85% economically disadvantaged; median household income $45,000) — but they perform at levels comparable to schools in Long Island’s relatively affluent Port Jefferson (median household income $145,000).

Even more startling is the gap between the charter schools authorized by SUNY and those authorized by SED: 17 points in reading and 21 points in math. 

But the unions and their allies don’t care about that.

To the contrary, the better SUNY gets at authorizing charter schools, the more vitriolic the attacks on it become.

That’s because the unions would actually prefer inept and lethargic authorization, thereby diminishing competition with unionized district schools.

Hence the all-out effort to put SUNY, with its admirable authorization record, under the control of the less-than-stellar SED.

To bolster that argument, the unions and their allies are using Strive Charter School to push a false narrative that SUNY’s authorizing is somehow lax, claiming that it has violated the hard cap on charters. 

It’s time for the unions to end these meritless attacks. 

Instead of trying to beat charter schools in courtrooms and legislative chambers, they should compete with us in the classroom — and improve New York’s schools for every child’s benefit.

Eric Grannis is executive director of Strive Charter School.