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Hochul calls for more charters for NYC, but she’ll have to fight to get them

Gov. Kathy Hochul
Gov. Kathy Hochul aims to lift the NYC-only limit on charter schools, but faces a difficult battle. Reuters

Good on Gov. Kathy Hochul for asking the Legislature to at last allow more charter schools in the city as part of this year’s budget. We look forward to seeing her fight to make it happen.

The law now limits New York City to 275 charters; the gov would end the NYC-only limit so the city could use some of the 80-odd charters still unused in the rest of the state. She’d also let 11 “zombie” charters (issued to schools that later closed) be revived. This would let a dozen promising and already-vetted schools open soon, and likely allow for continued growth for three years or so more before the city hits this new limit.

Lifting the cap has huge public support. And with tens of thousands of families now on charter wait-lists, it means a huge boost for quality public education across the five boroughs.

If, that is, the Legislature goes along. But getting it to side with kids and their parents, and against the teachers unions who see charters as a mortal threat, will require the gov to channel every bit of tenacity.

But beware: The United Federation of Teachers is already working to ensure that any new charters won’t go to the most promising candidates. It’s pushing to eliminate the SUNY Board of Trustees as a charter authorizer, leaving only the union-dominated state Board of Regents to vet potential new schools. And state Sen. Robert Jackson (D-Bronx/Manhattan) already has a bill to do it.

Why mess with what’s not broken? For two decades, the SUNY trustees and their affiliated SUNY Charter Schools Institute have been a nationally-recognized charter-authorizing body — 17 schools they’ve OK’d have scored Blue Ribbon honors from the feds.

Hochul will need to stop Jackson’s poison pill as well getting the cap lifted. So lace up your gloves good and tight, governor. Delivering for New York’s kids will be the fight of your political life.