Three days after black and Hispanic parents held a protest outside City Hall, New York, Asian American parents rallied for the same purpose: More charter schools.
The rally was directly driven by the opposition Gov. Kathy Hochul’s plan faced recently. Gov. Kathy Hochul proposed to give New York families more choices and opportunities by keeping a statewide cap of 460 charters in place and allow another 11 additional charters in New York City.
The proposal was opposed by the teachers union, who argues it is unfair for public schools.
“This idea that everyone is just welcoming to charters and they can have their ways – It’s not true,” Jasmine Gripper, executive director of the left-leaning advocacy group Alliance for a Quality Education said to New York Post. “Parents are invested in their public schools and they want to see them thrive. And having a competing system that finding resources from the traditional system isn’t really helpful.”
John Liu, the New York State senator, also claims New York City should get rid of large charter school networks, according to New York Times.
Parents believe charter schools provide higher quality education, which creates opportunities and paves a brighter way for families.
“The parents see the rigorous curriculum and serious teaching at the charter schools. The charter schools have a longer school day,” Phil Wong, the president of the Chinese American Citizens Council of New York told the New York Post.
If the charter school expansion is thwarted, many frustrated Asian American parents may leave the city and enroll their kids in sub urban schools, said Wong.
Many first-generation Chinese immigrants cannot afford to send their children to private schools, so they opt for tuition-free charter schools instead, said Kevin Zhao, the founder of Parents Group New York to the New York Post.
“Parents want a higher quality education for their children. We want our children to be academically prepared for the future,” said Zhao, “We need more charter schools. Charter schools are not private schools. They are public schools! We pay for them with our tax dollars.”
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