New York School Failing School Closures Moving Forward

The NY Supreme Justice ruled last night that NYC can move forward with closing 22 failing schools, and that 15 charter schools can move into public buildings. Whitney Tilson thinks it's "hard to overstate the importance of this win (from his newsletter)" and NYC Chancellor Dennis Walcott is "incredibly heartened by the court's decision" (via the WSJ). The opposition came from the UFT and the NAACP. From the WSJ: "In its lawsuit, the UFT argued that closing failing schools isn't the solution and that instead the DOE should have provided more support to the schools. It also argued that by giving space to public charters in school buildings, the city was harming the existing traditional public schools." The decision was clear to the judge: "If failing schools are not closed, students may be subject to substandard educational environments which will cause them to be considerably harmed." (page 19 of the release) He continued, "Because plaintiffs have failed to show a likelihood of success on the merits on their claims for a declaration that would enjoin the closure or phase out of the designated schools, or would bar the co-locations of the charter schools in the designed public school buildings, their motion must be denied." (page 20) This is a huge victory for New York City, its children and their schools. STC School Democracy Prep Charter School was subject to the results of this lawsuit and now will be able to continue to grow seats of quality education in NYC as planned.