STATEMENT FROM NYC CHARTER CENTER CEO JAMES MERRIMAN ON NYS ASSEMBLY’S ANTI-PROGRESSIVE BUDGET MEASURE
(New York, NY) – Please attribute the following statement to James Merriman, CEO of the New York City Charter School Center on NYS Assembly’s anti-progressive budget measure.
“As we work to improve public education, it is inevitable that well-meaning people will have diverse views on tactics. However, making it harder for small children from lower-income communities to move seamlessly from their charter school pre-k to kindergarten, as the Assembly has proposed, is nothing more than an unnecessary roadblock designed to confuse parents and discourage charter schools from participating in early childhood education.
“The fingerprints of the UFT are all over this. Mayor de Blasio should ask his allies in the Assembly to put politics aside and drop this proposal, which is not only inconsistent with his vision for UPK, but antithetical to his deeply held, progressive values.”
