In an appearance on Brian Lehrer’s WNYC radio show Monday, Mayor Bill de Blasio blamed the Bloomberg administration for pushing him into a corner on charter schools.
The mayor said he blocked three co-locations of Success Academy charters because Bloomberg rushed them through without proper vetting.
“They were willing to cut some corners,” he said.
The mayor conceded that he goofed by not making it clear the booted charters would get space elsewhere.
“We should have from the very beginning have said it was our intention to keep them whole,” de Blasio said.
The mayor’s softer language on charters comes a week before the state budget is scheduled to be adopted.
De Blasio is hoping to get as much as $540 million a year in state funding to expand pre-kindergarten classes — and he’s dependent on Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a defender of charters, to approve the money.
During the radio interview, the mayor said he is “very hopeful” of getting “substantial resources” from the state for pre-K.