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More than a decade ago, thousands of charter school families and staff marched across the Brooklyn Bridge in a show of strength one month before Bill de Blasio was elected mayor. They feared the progressive candidate would follow through on promises to make it harder for charters to operate in city-owned space.
Now, in an echo of that 2013 rally, charter leaders are gearing up to march across the bridge on Thursday as Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist and charter school critic, is the frontrunner to win November’s mayoral election.
The mayor, who oversees the New York City public school system, does not have direct authority to expand or shrink the charter sector. He can, however, set the tone on whether the city is a welcoming environment for charters, which are privately managed and publicly funded. The sector educates nearly 150,000 children, or 15% of public school students, up from 6% a dozen years ago. More than 40% of charter schools operate in Education Department buildings.
Mayor Eric Adams has not been a major booster of charters, but, unlike de Blasio, has avoided big clashes during his tenure. Mamdani, a Queens assemblyman, has signaled he might take a more antagonistic approach.
He argues charters divert resources away from traditional public schools and should not be granted space in city buildings. He has vowed to launch audits of them if he wins.
Success Academy, the city’s largest charter network, is canceling regular classes and sending students to Thursday’s rally, as it did in 2013.
“We need a show of force,” Success CEO Eva Moskowitz wrote in a message to families obtained by Chalkbeat. She urged them to contact their elected representatives to remind them that “charter schools are public schools.”
Although some charter staffers expressed uneasiness about the seeming political overtones of the rally, a Success spokesperson said the rally was not intended to influence the election.
The Mamdani campaign did not respond to a request for comment about the rally.
“Zohran knows that New York City’s public schools are the foundation of our communities, our economy, and our workforce,” Dora Pekec, a spokesperson for Mamdani’s campaign, told Gothamist. “Yet charter schools siphon resources away from public education, often without real accountability or oversight.”
Success, and some of the rally’s other leaders, have avoided directly linking it to the election. They have sent more generic messages about ensuring that charter families, nearly 90% of whom are Black or Latino, are heard and raising awareness about charters. In interviews, some charter leaders emphasized that Mamdani’s focus on affordability is a crucial issue for many of their families.
Mamdani’s platform “generally appears to be about equity and equality and making New York City work for everyone and particularly for lower-income families,” said Arthur Samuels, the executive director of MESA Charter High Schools, which operates two campuses in Brooklyn. “Overwhelmingly, families that send their kids to charter schools are those families.”
Other charter leaders said it was time for the schools to ramp up their advocacy efforts after years of relative quiet.
“We had lost touch with the advocacy part of our work,” said Lisa Margosian, the CEO of Achievement First, which operates 22 charter schools in New York City. “We need to lift up our heads and make sure people are aware of what we’re doing.”
More than 200 charters are expected to participate Thursday, organizers said. Some large networks, including Achievement First and Uncommon Schools, plan to hold classes as usual that day.
Mamdani has not made education a major part of his campaign, and he could largely sidestep contentious fights over charter schools if elected. But charter supporters worry Mamdani could undercut their aim of growing the sector by lobbying in Albany, especially when it comes to raising the charter cap, which currently prevents new charter schools from opening. He could also create more bureaucratic hurdles for schools that depend on city dollars and real estate, some worry.
Charters as a political lightening rod
Not all charter school staffers support the rally. Some educators have expressed concern that it could be construed as an effort to influence the election and felt uncomfortable that students and staff were expected to participate.
“The rally is at least somewhat politically minded,” said one Success Academy teacher who supports Mamdani and spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution. “It just feels like a very specific political stance was taken by the network.”
Success Academy spokesperson Ann Powell disputed that the network was taking a position in the election. “We are not seeking to influence the mayoral race,” Powell wrote in an email. “We have asked our speakers not to mention the race or the name of any candidate.”
Asked about the network’s decision to cancel classes and send students to the rally, she wrote: “We are not canceling school; we are moving it to the streets.”
Charters have long been a flashpoint in city politics. Supporters argue the schools offer quality options for families who have often lacked access to strong public schools in their neighborhoods. The sector typically posts higher reading and math scores on state tests than traditional public school counterparts, particularly among Black and Latino children, though results can vary significantly by school.
Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is running as an independent, supports growing the sector and has proposed converting low-performing district schools into charters. During his time as governor, he won accolades from pro-charter groups for backing a state law that required the city to find space for charters in public buildings or subsidize their rent in private space. A spokesperson for Cuomo’s campaign indicated he did not have plans to attend the rally.
Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa also supports charter school growth. In 2013, the Republican mayoral candidate attended the charter rally; a spokesperson for the Sliwa campaign did not indicate if he would do the same.
Critics contend the schools tend to enroll a smaller share of students with disabilities and English language learners, and some employ strict discipline practices that can push families out. The city’s teachers union, a powerful voice in local politics, also opposes them, as the vast majority of charter schools are not unionized. The union endorsed Mamdani in the general election.
Some charters struggle with enrollment
Apart from the election, the charter sector is facing headwinds. Many New York Democrats have grown increasingly skeptical of charter schools and have resisted raising the charter cap. (In 2023 state lawmakers allowed several charters that closed or were never opened to be reissued to other operators but did not raise the overall cap.)
The sector, long known for explosive growth, has also struggled to maintain enrollment in many schools.
Four of the city’s largest networks — Success Academy, KIPP, Achievement First, and Uncommon Schools — all enrolled fewer students last school year than they did three years ago. Overall, the charter sector has grown about 6% over that time, in large part because some schools are still expanding to higher grade levels, while traditional public school enrollment in grades K-12 declined about 2%.
Rafiq Kalam Id-Din, the founder of Brooklyn’s Ember Charter School for Mindful Education and one of the organizers of the rally, said he still believes the sector has room to grow despite the enrollment challenges.
“We want to say we want less of the most innovative work, we want less of interesting options?” he said. “It makes no sense.”
Kalam Id-Din said he was unaware that Mamdani has criticized charter schools and argued that the schools should fit squarely within the candidate’s affordability agenda. Without charters, he said, some families would leave the city entirely.
Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex atazimmerman@chalkbeat.org.
