The War on Poor Children

In New York City Eva Moskowitz has become the face of the charter school movement.

How good are the students in her Success Academies performing?

Richard Whitmire reports in the New York Daily News:

Whereas only 35% of New York City students scored proficient in math, 94% of her students rated as proficient. Whereas only 29% of city students met English standards, 64% of her students met the standards.

At her Bed-Stuy-1 school, where 95% of the students are African American or Latino, 98% passed the math test, with 8 in 10 scoring at the advanced level.

Of course, this makes Moskowitz a threat to education bureaucrats and teachers unions. Instead of clamoring for more charter schools, they want to limit the damage, if not to shut the places down.

The same thing happened in Massachusetts:

That fear explains what just played out in Massachusetts, home to the top-rated charter schools in the nation. An example of that excellence is found at Brooke Charter Schools, which operates three K-8 schools in some of the city’s highest poverty neighborhoods.

Brooke students are posting some of the highest proficiency scores in the entire state. Not surprisingly, Brooke would like to expand, adding another middle school and a new high school for their graduating middle-school students.

But last month, the Massachusetts Senate snuffed out an attempt to raise the cap on charter schools, an action Brooke needed to build those schools.

The spectacle of teachers unions and bureaucrats militating against educational achievement should be an important political issue. More so since their war on poor children is invariably being supported by liberal Democrat politicians.