Assemblyman Mark Gjonaj (l) and Assemblyman Luis Sepulveda(2nd from right) join Governor Andrew Cuomo (c) at an Albany rally for charter schools.
Mayor Bill De Blasio and Governor Andrew Cuomo spoke at different rallies in Albany yesterday, but we know one Bronx politician who attended both the main stage and the side show, so to speak, who has offered a nuanced voice on the issue. Assemblyman Sepulveda, well known as the one of the politicians closest to the Mayor in the Bronx after his unwavering support in the mayoral primary last year, attended the Mayor’s Universal Pre-K rally, as well as the rally with the Governor which the Mayor called “a sideshow” last week and which the Working Families Party called “hard to stomach.” Sepulveda has staunchly supported the Mayor on his Pre-K funding plan, which is at odds with the Governor, and has supported the Mayor’s recent decisions regarding charter schools, but has also supported many pro-charter advocates who are odds with The Mayor including local Senator Jeff Klein, a speaker at the rally. Whew. Got all that?
Today’s Daily News cover.
Pro charter school advocates have expressed outrage at the Mayor’s choice to disapprove plans set in place in the previous administration that approved charter schools set to open collocated in buildings with non-charter public schools. “Co-location” has been one of the main sticking points in the public battle between groups looking to expand or shrink the amount of charter schools in the state, most of which have a non-unionized workforce.
Sepulveda, known as a supporter of his district’s charter schools as well as organizations that attempt to limit charter expansion, criticized certain voices in the charter movement, stating “The Mayor approved 14 Co-locations for Charter Schools. Attacking him on the 3 he did not is disingenuous.”^ He said this on Facebook: “For all the noise surrounding Mayor DeBlasio’s decision denying co-locations for 3 Charter Schools, let’s not forget he approved 14 others. I support Charter Schools as an alternative but attacking the Mayor on this issue is, at best, disingenuous.”
According to Politicker,
“Mr. de Blasio insisted…that his aims would not be distracted by the charter push from Ms. Moskowitz, who yesterday learned that Mr. de Blasio’s administration had halted three of her charter schools from co-locating in other buildings.
“You know, this is the seventeenth month in which I’ve been working on full-day pre-K for every child in this city and after school for middle school kids, so I think I’ve gotten the point across. I think there really is that extraordinary critical mass of support. I don’t think any sideshow takes away from that,” said Mr. de Blasio, when asked at an unrelated press conference whether the other advocates would overshadow his pre-K message.”
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