FAIRFIELD, IOWA – Presidential hopeful Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., said that he recognizes concerns that activists raise about charter schools but that local leaders should be allowed to make “decisions that elevate the best educational possibilities of their children.”
“I’ve seen charter school models that are outrageous and unacceptable. I’ve seen charter laws propagated by Republicans that just outright dangerous. And so I understand those people, I’m one of them, that wants to stop those kind of movements,” Booker told the Washington Examiner at a campaign stop in Fairfield, Iowa, on Friday evening, responding to Democratic primary rival Sen. Bernie Sanders’ proposal to overhaul charter schools.
“But I’ve also seen in places like Newark, N.J., and other places where local leaders are making decisions that elevate the best educational possibilities of their children, and local leadership should be allowed to do that,” Booker said.
Sanders, an independent senator from Vermont, announced a plan last week to ban “for-profit charter schools,” pause federal funding for new charter schools until the completion of a national audit of charter schools, and mandate the same oversight requirements for public schools and charter schools.
The pro-charter school National Alliance for Public Charter Schools estimates that about 12% of charters have operations run by for-profit management companies. Critics also argue that private investors and developers profit from charter schools contracts, and that charter schools drain resources from public schools.
While he was mayor of Newark, N.J., from 2006 to 2013, Booker partnered with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and then-Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican, to overhaul the city’s education system and expand charter schools.
“My commitment has always been, as you’ve seen in Newark, was not too for-profit charter schools. My commitment to Newark has been the public charter schools that are accountable to the people,” Booker said.
“If you were a black kid in Newark, from the time I was mayor until now, your chances of going to a high-achieving school that beats the suburbs went up 400%,” Booker said. “And so these charter schools in communities like mine are really positive, and I’m glad that the state of New Jersey is doing the right thing there.”
Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos is an advocate for charter schools. Earlier this year, she requested a $60 million increase in charter school funding as part of a proposal that decreased Education Department funding by $7.1 billion overall.
At a campaign stop in New Hampshire last week, presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., called for-profit charter schools a “real problem” and said that DeVos’ actions “[undermine] the best opportunities for our kids.”
Booker stressed the importance of fully funding public education across the country. “The most important thing, and this is what I’m going to fight for as president of the United States, is to make sure every child in America in every ZIP code has a public school that can serve their genius,” Booker said.
