Hundreds gathered on the steps of the 42nd St New York Public Library to protest the crazily lopsided and shockingly unfair education budget recently passed by Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature at the behest of the super rich charter school lobby. Among other egregious demands, the budget states that the charter lobby, not the mayor of New York, has veto power over all space changes to co-located public buildings, and that any new charter school requesting public space must be given it by the Department of Education or the DOE must pay market rent for the charters’ private space.
Noah Gotbaum
The rally, led by parent activist and Community Education Council member Noah Gotbaum was comprised of parents, educators and students from all over the city who heard speeches from New York City Councilman Danny Drumm, New York State Senators Brad Hoylman and Liz Krueger, and Hazel Dukes of the NAACP, among others.
Hazel Dukes of NAACP
Among the groups represented were Leonie Haimson’s Class Size Matters, NAACP, MORE , ChangetheStakes, Alliance for Quality Education, and New York Coalition for Change.
After the speeches the protest marched to Cuomo’s 3rd Ave office where children presented a member of Cuomo’s staff a bag full of fake money as a symbolic mockery of Cuomo’s acceptance of $ 800, 000 from the billionaire based charter lobby for his re-election campaign.
NY State Senator Liz Krueger
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