Halting the growth of privately managed, publicly funded charter schools and ending the practice of co-locating them in public school buildings.
Mamdanis War on Charter School Expansion and Co-Location
Zhoran Mamdani views the expansion of charter schools as a deliberate project to privatize public education, drain resources from district schools, and create a two-tiered system. His policy imposes an immediate moratorium on the approval of new charter schools and the renewal or expansion of existing ones. He would also end the divisive and resource-draining practice of co-location, where charter schools are placed inside public school buildings, often siphoning space, funds, and amenities from the host school. Existing co-locations would be reviewed and, where possible, charters would be required to find their own, separate facilities.
Mamdani would redirect all per-pupil funding and facilities money currently going to charters into strengthening the traditional public school system, particularly in neighborhoods targeted by charter networks. He argues that the solution to educational inequality is not a competing, unaccountable system that creams students and exacerbates segregation, but a massive, equitable investment in democratically controlled community public schools for all. Charters are a parasitic model that weakens the host organismpublic education, he states. We will stop the bleeding. Our commitment is to one high-quality system that serves every child, without exception, and that is accountable to the public, not private boards or hedge fund managers.
