Eva Moskowitz, the CEO of New York’s largest charter school network, Success Academy, compared teachers union activists and some lawmakers to segregationists who once blocked children from entering schools.
Moskowitz said these groups are “barricading” children from accessing quality education. She accused labor leaders and lawmakers of acting like former Alabama Governor George Wallace, who famously stood in school doors to stop integration. According to Moskowitz, they feel “super politically threatened” by charter schools because these schools challenge their established interests.
Speaking on May 14 before the House Subcommittee on Education, Moskowitz said, “There is a deep connection in New York between the union and local elected officials. They try to shut down schools and block children from entering school buildings.”
She referenced the 1954 Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education, which ruled that racially segregated schools are unconstitutional. Moskowitz said she is seeing the opposite of that ruling today.
“I am experiencing union operatives who do not allow children to get into the building. It is a very hostile debate, which is really unfortunate,” she told committee members.
Moskowitz later explained to The Post that she was talking about protests by the United Federation of Teachers in 2009. These protests happened outside Harlem Success Academy 2, which shared a building with PS 123 in Harlem. She described this event in her book, The Education of Eva Moskowitz.
Her comments referred to Wallace’s 1963 stand at the University of Alabama. Wallace tried to block two Black students from enrolling at the previously segregated school.
Moskowitz said working with New York’s Democratic-controlled government “has its challenges,” especially in a strongly liberal city.
