Ex-Gov. Pataki raises $250K for charter schools as he celebrates their 25th anniversary in NY
Former Gov. George Pataki held a Manhattan gala Monday that raised $250,000 for charter schools in New York — 25 years after approving a landmark law that paved the way for them.
About 300 people attended the not-for-profit Pataki Center event at the private Union Club, a celebration that the ex-gov said hailed the academic success of New York charters.
Pataki, a Republican who served three terms, recalled how he muscled the law through a resistant state legislature in 1998 by linking passage of the bill to a pay raise measure that lawmakers desperately wanted.
No charter school law, no pay raise, he said. The bill passed.
The first charter schools opened in New York in 1999.
“It’s ultimately about the success of the children,” Pataki said during an interview with The Post on Tuesday.
Nearly 150,000 students are now enrolled in 274 publicly funded charter schools in New York City, about 15% of, or one of every six, public-school students.
“In the beginning, there was virtually no support for charter schools. What happened is what I thought would happen,” Pataki said. “The demand of parents for charter schools tells the story. I’m really proud of how charter schools have blossomed.”
Charter schools are run by educators overseen by not-for-profit entities. While publicly funded, they are exempt from many of the rules governing traditional public schools, particularly employee union contracts.
Staffers at most charter schools do not belong to unions, and many of the alternative schools have a longer school day and school year than district schools.
Results on standardized math and English exams over the years show students in charter schools typically outperform their comparable counterparts in the traditional public schools.
Pataki said New York not only passed a law, but it’s good legislation with strong accountability provisions. Low-performing charter schools are forced to close, while successful ones are given the freedom to expand or even be replicated.
Pataki honored and gave shout-outs to people who helped him pass the charter-school law and launch the new schools, including: hedge-fund honcho Steve Klinsky, who helped start the first charter school, Sisulu-Walker Academy in Harlem; Ed Cox and Randy Daniels, who co-chaired the State University of New York panel and institute that authorized the first charter schools, and backers such as the Rev. Al Cockfield and Ray Rivera.
He also acknowledged his then-communications director Zenia Mucha and Robert Bellafiore, who organized charter schools for the executive chamber, former Michigan Gov. John Engler, a charter school advocate, and top aide Rob Cole, who is chairman of the Pataki Center.
He thanked generous sponsors of the event, including John and Margo Catsimatidis, too.
“Passing the law is one thing. You have to implement it,” Pataki said.
Pataki said he’s still baffled by lefty progressives who fret about income inequality but oppose charter schools that educate mostly lower-income black and Latino kids and help close the academic achievement gap — and ultimately the income gap.
“The political left is a reason we have such a problem,” he said.
