Statement by Senator Marty Golden on Charter School Vote

Albany- State Senator Martin J. Golden (R-C-I, Brooklyn) today issued the following statement following the charter school vote today in the New York State Senate:

“Today, Democrats in both houses of the New York State Legislature turned their backs on the more than 1.1 million schoolchildren of New York City who should be given every educational opportunity possible.

It’s outrageous that Democrats, in the bill approved today, banned for-profit charter schools from operating in New York, despite the fact that student test scores consistently show they are working. For-profits raise the level of education for all children, whether they attend public, parochial or charter schools.

For-profit charter schools pay real estate taxes and employee taxes, and hire hundreds of employees. By taking this action today, Democrats are putting $700 million, if not more, in federal funding for New York at risk. This is not a ‘Race to the Top,’ it’s slowing progress down on our goal of delivering a better education for all of our kids. Democrats should be ashamed of themselves.

We have examples of how charter schools are working all across this City and State, including the Harlem Success Academy, that is so superior, that public school administrators have observed their instructional and after-school programs . The Assembly Democrats won again and it is the children of New York that lost. We should always put education before politics because our future depends on the opportunities we afford our children today.”