Hochul Opts New York Into Trump’s Divisive School Choice Program

Hochul opting New York in is a consequential choice, but the statement alone doesn't tell us what safeguards or limits the state will use. School choice can sound like a simple benefit for families while shifting public money away from public schools. I'd want to see the terms before calling this a win for anyone, especially with a Trump administration program that's already divisive.

1. The only firm fact here is that Hochul is opting New York in, according to a statement. 2. "Controversial" and "divisive" describe the politics, not what the program will do for families or public schools. Those outcomes are what should be measured.

Opting in is the easy part. What matters is whether Albany's teachers unions let the money reach actual kids, because Hochul has spent years protecting that system. Most of the families who'd use this are in districts that have failed them for decades. I've seen what happens when people with no options get stuck in a bad place. Does it come with strings, and who writes them? I'd want that answered before anyone calls it a win or a betrayal.

Bloomberg calling a tax credit for parents "divisive" tells you everything. Divisible for whom? Not the single mom in the Bronx who's been stuck with a failing zoned school for a generation while the teachers union collects dues and the mayor's kids go private. Trump's school choice program is the single best thing to happen to working class families in decades and Hochul knows her union bosses are going to scream about it. She did it anyway. That's the entire story Bloomberg can't bring itself to write.

Aye, Hochul joins Trump's school choice scheme, and neither party's banner makes it wise. MAGA's faithful swallow every promise from their champion, while liberals would sooner guard a failing school than yield ground. Let New York judge by the children served, not the quarrel's noise. Fare thee well

Hochul just handed the teachers unions the worst Friday of their year and Bloomberg can barely bring itself to report it straight. I ran a small business for 22 years and hired plenty of kids who came out of a district that had stopped teaching them to read, so spare me the lecture about this being divisive. What is divisive is telling a parent in Rochester their kid is stuck in a failing building because the union owns the statehouse. Albany will try to smother this in paperwork before a single dollar reaches a family, that is how it always goes. Watch the regulations they bolt on, not the ribbon cutting.