Real NY School Reform Has Only Just Begun

April 4, 2007

(From New York Daily News, April 4, 2007)

BY JOE WILLIAMS

‘New Yorkers didn’t whisper for change on Election Day; they shouted for it.’

– Gov. Spitzer’s 2007 State of the State Address

In the just-approved state budget, Gov. Spitzer won some significant changes for New York’s public schools, including a much-needed 50-school increase in the number of new public charter schools allowed in the city.

That’s no small thing. In the short term, these schools will provide crucial options for parents who are frustrated by poor quality traditional public school options. And over the long run, the new publicly accountable schools – which, by law, are shut down if they’re not performing up to snuff – will incubate and inspire the kind of change that can open the doors of opportunity to all of our children.