Teachers unions are attacking my school in a sneaky bid to trash NYs charter law

Strive is a new charter school set to open in the South Bronx this fall that’s designed to serve the needs of working families.We’ll be open to our elementary-grade students with flexible hours from 7 a.m.to 7 p.m., seven days a week, 12 months a year, so we can combine rigorous academics with ample extracurriculars.Parents love the idea — but not the state and city teachers’ unions.Last week the United Federation of Teachers and New York State United Teachers sued to stop us from opening, claiming that we’re violating the state’s charter-school cap.It’s nonsense: We’re not increasing the number of charter schools.We’re simply taking over an existing charter school that’s now operating out of the same building.And we’re doing so with the blessing of the State University of New York, the school’s authorizer. Just like prior lawsuits the unions have brought against charter schools, this one will be dismissed for lack of standing — and the union knows it.So why bother bringing it?To bolster the UFT’s continuing campaign meant to hollow out New York’s charter-school law.More than a quarter-century ago, the law’s authors feared the State Education Department would drag its feet on authorizing charter schools.After all, charters compete with the government-run district schools SED regulates: Giving it sole authority to bless new charter schools would be like giving McDonald’s the power to decide how many stores Burger King could open.To address this problem, legislators gave authorizing authority to both SED and to SUNY, the regulator that gave Strive the green light. It’s played out just as predicted.SUNY has authorized schools energetically (its schools serve 117,000 children) while SED has done so ambivalently (its schools serve only 40,000). Not only has SED been slow to permit its own charters, it recently filed an affidavit backing a teachers’ union lawsuit to prevent two other SUNY-authorized schools from opening.Now the un...