Joseph J. Lhota is turning to education issues in hopes of giving his sagging bid for mayor a surge in the home stretch. On Monday, Mr. Lhota, the Republican nominee, released a 30-second advertisement, titled “Rally,†attacking Bill de Blasio, the Democratic nominee, for his criticism of charter schools. Mr. de Blasio has pledged to end the Bloomberg administration’s policy of awarding free rent to charter schools housed in public school buildings â€" a change that Mr. Lhota has said would “annihilate†charter schools, which are publicly financed but often managed by nonprofit groups.
Mr. Lhota touches on one of the most contentious questions in education today: whether charter schools outperform traditional public schools. The answer is tricky and depends on the data set. According to the city’s Education Department, charter schools performed better than traditional schools on state math tests this year. But they trailed the city average in reading by a small margin, and critics said their performance was underwhelming given the support many receive from benefactors.
Mr. Lhota argues that Mr. de Blasio is seeking to “roll back†the success of charter schools. Indeed, many charter school leaders have said Mr. de Blasio’s plan to charge rent to charter schools would significantly hamper their ability to run their schools, forcing them to pay for space in one of the country’s most expensive markets. But Mr. de Blasio has also said that charter schools with fewer resources would not have to pay as much rent under his plan.
Mr. Lhota has leveled many attacks against Mr. de Blasio this campaign season, accusing him of following Marxist ideology and blasting him for violating a United States ban on travel to Cuba. But here Mr. Lhota is on firmer footing, focusing on a substantive issue on which the candidates have real differences.
He accurately points out Mr. de Blasio’s opposition to charter schools, and highlights the concerns of some parents about his plan to charge rent. But whether Mr. Lhota can find votes in Mr. de Blasio’s strongholds â€" particularly poorer communities, where charter schools are popular but Republicans are not â€" remains to be seen.
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