Perkins Tries to Block Charter School Expansion

Though charter schools have wildly outperformed public schools in Harlem, State Sen. Bill Perkins has attempted to block the expansion of the publicly funded, privately run charter program, and will continue his fight at his hearing challenging "the business of charter schools" in Manhattan this week. This comes as the state is being pressured to expand the program for Race to the Top funding. Local parents are pissed Perkins would put teachers unions interests before their kids. "Perkins is going against the majority of parents. He is hindering progress. Why is this nut hindering progress?" said one Harlem mom. About one in five Harlem children is enrolled in a charter school.

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By Jaya Saxena in News on April 19, 2010 5:13 PM

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brooklynbred

There are many arguments against charter schools. Most importantly, there is the fact that charter schools get so much attention and so much money from the government, the media and the public when meanwhile, according to this article, 4 out 5 Harlem children are not in charter schools. In order to get into a charter school, not only do you have to win the lottery, but you have to have parents who care enough and know how to enter their children into said lottery. So what you end up with is the kids who may need help most, because their parents can't give it, left in public schools which are getting no attention and no funding. That is failing in the mission to level the playing field for all children, and has nothing to do with the money of the teacher's union.