Growing in significance in New York of Working Families Party’s charter school argument in backlash

Democracy, elections and voting at Democracy Chronicles

Inside the Working Families Party’s Deal With Governor Cuomo: Both the governor and the WFP went into the weekend needing something from the other. The governor walked away with what he wanted. The party got an IOU.

by Jarrett Murphy

Has New York state’s Working Families Party come up with the formula for forcing centrist Democrats to the left and delivering bread-and-butter progressive policy? That was the hope on Saturday night outside Albany, where the party gathered to make its endorsements for state races later this year. Faced with losing the ballot line to a challenger who tapped into resentment over his estate tax cuts, charter-school championing and failure to deliver campaign finance reform, Governor Andrew Cuomo won the party’s designation only after promising to fight for Democratic control of the state Senate and deliver a progressive policy wish list.

Progressives in the Empire State are getting used to hearing that their moves serve as a model for the broader movement. That was the take on Bill de Blasio’s mayoral victory last fall, and it’s how Cuomo’s backers cast the endorsement vote this weekend. “The eyes of the country are on you,” said Attorney General Eric Schneiderman to the party faithful in the ballroom of the Desmond Hotel. Schneiderman and de Blasio put their solid progressive credentials to work for Cuomo in pushing Working Families state committee members to back the governor and not Zephyr Teachout, the academic and activist who had emerged as a progressive alternative.

Congrats to the Working Families Party for a win against the charter school movement

https://jasongooljar.com

We want better public schools not a privatized education using public dollars that is the charter school as we know it. If a public high school in Scarsdale, NY doesn’t have to teach to the test and can provide a quality education, why can’t a school customize?