(OLEAN, NEW YORK) - Local New York State United- Teachers (NYSUT)-represented Teachers picketed late last week outside New York State Senator Catharine Young’s Olean Office, holding signs asking her to withdraw support of charter school expansion and not “DeVos-state” public schools.

Raising concerns that New York State Lawmakers plan to fund charter schools at the expense of public schools, the group of about a dozen educators marched and chanted for nearly an hour outside Young’s West State Street office on Friday (March 24th).  They occasionally received a supportive honk from the passing traffic, but had a few detractors as well.  

NYSUT organized demonstrations outside several state Senate Republicans’ offices that day in response to their recent one-house budget bill, which the state’s most powerful Teachers’ Union calls a “nearly $350 million gift” to the charter industry.

NYSUT Members said the proposal unfreezes charter school tuition, removes the state cap on charter schools and establishes statewide building aid for charters - in line with the agenda of new Secretary of Education and charter schools advocate Betsy DeVos.

“We are (Young’s) constituents.  We’re asking her for support because this is our livelihood on the line and this is our children that we teach,” said Andrew Bogey, Bolivar-Richburg Faculty Association President and a NYSUT Member. “We take it seriously when the livelihood of our schools is being threatened.”

Young (Republican-Olean) was not at her office during the demonstration and her office staff declined Teachers’ invite to address them.

Young said in a statement to The Times Herald that she’s surprised NYSUT would oppose her and other senators’ budget bill, as it proposes a $1.2 billion increase in school aid. 

“My priority is my district, and my number one push is to secure more education resources for our kids - that’s where I’m focused,” she said.

The proposed charter provisions would not affect local public schools, Young added, as there are currently no charter schools in her 57th Senate District.

She suggested that NYSUT members picketed her office on behalf of their colleagues in New York City, where 216 charter schools are located. 

Bogey argued the provisions, like lifting the cap on charter schools, “opens the floodgates” for charter schools to establish in the 57th Senate District.

Paul Hessney, an Olean City School District Board of Education Member and former Teacher, said local educators shouldn’t be complacent just because there are no charter schools in the local area now - adding there are private religious schools locally, which he said DeVos would like to publicly fund through school vouchers.

Throughout her career, DeVos has helped expand voucher programs - which allow families to use public funds to pay for tuition at private schools - in her home state of Michigan, and has spoken in support of expanding them nationally. 

“Public schools of course are under attack from the federal level, but we want to avoid being under attack at the state level,” Hessney said.

Teachers argued that charter schools are not as transparent as public schools, nor are they held to the same standards. 

Sheila Yaffe, Olean Teachers’ Association Vice President, said charter schools are the “rebirth of segregation in education.”

“Charter schools can pick who they want, what economic level of people they want, what religion they want, what ethnic groups they want,” she said. “I understand some of the charter schools are going into the poorer areas, but still, when you talk to people in other parts of the state and other parts of the country that have exposure to charter schools, it’s the have and the have-nots. They can pick who they want to be in those schools. The people who are going to be shortchanged are the people who have special needs.”

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