{"id":238495,"date":"2025-09-19T08:38:25","date_gmt":"2025-09-19T08:38:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/238495\/"},"modified":"2025-09-19T08:38:25","modified_gmt":"2025-09-19T08:38:25","slug":"nyc-charter-schools-host-a-political-rally-amid-concerns-over-mayoral-frontrunner-mamdani","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/238495\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC charter schools host ‘a-political’ rally amid concerns over mayoral frontrunner Mamdani"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thousands of charter school leaders, students, parents and staff marched across the Brooklyn Bridge on Thursday\u00a0amid a highly contentious mayoral election in which frontrunner Zohran Mamdani<\/a> has leveled criticism at the charter movement.<\/p>\n

Organizers insisted the timing was a coincidence and the rally was not about electoral politics<\/a>. But the political undertones \u2014 and parallels to another massive demonstration more than a decade ago \u2014 were hard to ignore.<\/p>\n

In 2013, an army of charter advocates took to the same bridge<\/a> after then mayoral front-runner Bill de Blasio drew the sector\u2019s ire for his unapologetic criticism of the schools.<\/p>\n

Mamdani\u2019s campaign has said charter networks \u201csiphon resources away from public education, often without real accountability or oversight.\u201d<\/a>\u00a0Charter schools are publicly funded but operated independently of the local school system.<\/p>\n

One charter school leader\u2019s comments seemed squarely aimed at Mamdani.<\/p>\n

\"ThousandsThousands of people turned up for an Excellence in Education rally at Cadman Plaza Park in Brooklyn, New York, on Thursday, Sept. 18, 2025. (Theodore Parisienne \/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

\u201cYou cannot be for the affordability agenda,\u201d said \u200bBishop Raymond Rivera, founder of Family Life Academy Charter Schools. \u201cYou can\u2019t be for affordable housing. You can\u2019t be for universal daycare. You can\u2019t be for subsidized food \u2014 and not be for charter schools.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause the best thing \u2014 I\u2019m gonna put on my preacher\u2019s voice \u2014 the best thing that you can do for children of color is give them access to quality education. Again, it\u2019s an oxymoron to say that you\u2019re not for that, and to say that you\u2019re for affordability.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mamdani has made affordability the centerpiece of his campaign, with proposals that include freezing the rent, free child care, and city-owned grocery stores. His campaign did not immediately return a request for comment.<\/p>\n

\"PeoplePeople are pictured during an Excellence in Education rally at Cadman Plaza Park in Brooklyn, New York, on Thursday, Sept. 18, 2025. (Theodore Parisienne \/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

Rivera said his clergy network met with the Democratic nominee on Saturday, where he raised the issue of charter schools, and the candidate seemed open to dialogue. About 150,500 city students \u2014 or 15% of public school kids \u2014 attend charter schools, according to the New York City Charter School Center.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday night, Gothamist reported Eva Moskowitz, the CEO of Success Academy, admonished staffers for not taking seriously an \u201cexistential threat\u201d to charter schools<\/a>. Asked to clarify the threat at the rally, she said she was worried about facilities, funding, and freedom from bureaucracy.<\/p>\n

Asked if she was worried about Mamdani, Moskowitz said: \u201cI\u2019m worried about every elected official.\u201d<\/p>\n

During a June questionnaire<\/a> in the Staten Island Advance, Mamdani laid out his position on charter schools, which included his opposition to any expansion in New York City. Only the governor and state legislature can lift a cap on the number of charter schools, not the mayor.<\/p>\n

But while mayors may lack direct power over the size of the charter sector, they do have the weight of the bully pulpit, which Mamdani has already indicated he intends to use. So far, he\u2019s already promised to audit charter schools, including state funding received and \u201covercharged rent.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"RapperRapper Common provided entertainment to thousands of people who turned up for the Excellence in Education rally at Cadman Plaza Park in Brooklyn on Thursday, Sept. 18, 2025. (Theodore Parisienne \/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

Organizers estimated more than 15,000 charter school supporters from 200 schools converged in the morning on Cadman Plaza, on the Brooklyn side of the bridge to Manhattan. They wore purple and yellow shirts that said: \u201cExcellence is a civil right,\u201d while speakers and performers, including the rapper Common, took turns on stage for close to three hours.<\/p>\n

Republican nominee and charter supporter Curtis Sliwa made an appearance<\/a>, over the objections of organizers who on Wednesday night asked that candidates not come.<\/p>\n

When it came time to march, the demonstrators \u2014 the littlest ones in strollers \u2014 chanted \u201cAccess is Equity\u201d and other slogans as they crossed the river toward City Hall. Some carried blow-horns, hula hoops, and signs referencing the school choice movement, which has gained traction during the second Trump administration<\/a>, including: \u201cChoice is Power\u201d and \u201cRespect Our Choice.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"RapperRapper Common provided entertainment to thousands of people who turned up for the Excellence in Education rally at Cadman Plaza Park in Brooklyn on Thursday, Sept. 18, 2025. (Theodore Parisienne \/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

While Mayor Adams has not made charter schools a central component of his education agenda, he\u2019s supported them in quieter ways during his tenure.<\/p>\n

During his first year in office, he launched a summer program with former Mayor Michael Bloomberg<\/a> for 25,000 elementary and middle charter school kids. And last winter, he signed into law new funding for safety agents at charter schools in their own buildings<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Charter leaders fear Mamdani, who was endorsed by charter detractor the United Federation of Teachers<\/a>, will be far less accommodating.<\/p>\n

\u201cPublic schools welcome and embrace all children and are determined to help all students thrive. Zohran Mamdani understands this,\u201d UFT President Michael Mulgrew said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\"ThousandsThousands of people turned up for an Excellence in Education rally at Cadman Plaza Park in Brooklyn, New York, on Thursday, Sept. 18, 2025. (Theodore Parisienne \/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who had the backing of pro-charter donors during the primary and championed the sector as governor, wants to replace some under-performing public schools with charters.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re here to send a message to everybody, both current and future elected people,\u201d Rafiq Kalam Id-Din, founder of Ember Charter School and chair of the Black, Latinx, Asian Charter Collaborate (BLACC), told the Daily News.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t understand how any person who wants to run this city, can say that I want the best for this city. I want to attract Black people back to the city<\/a>, and the most innovative things that have been happening in public education, we want less of that,\u201d Kalam Id-Din added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thousands of charter school leaders, students, parents and staff marched across the Brooklyn Bridge on Thursday\u00a0amid a highly…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":238496,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,407,1370,728,405,403,5294,50,5226,5225,5228,5227,5341,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-238495","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-education","10":"tag-latest-headlines","11":"tag-local-news","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-new-york-city","14":"tag-new-york-county","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-newyork","17":"tag-newyorkcity","18":"tag-ny","19":"tag-nyc","20":"tag-nyc-mayoral-election-2025","21":"tag-united-states","22":"tag-united-states-of-america","23":"tag-unitedstates","24":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","25":"tag-us","26":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115230062189724292","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238495"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238495\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/238496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}