Rep. Cantor Visits Bronx Charter School As Debate Over Public Schools Continues
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - A Republican Congressional leader has visited the Bronx Monday to weigh in on New York City's debate over charter schools as part of his national education policy tour.
As WCBS 880's Monica Miller reported, one city official said the congressman should stay in Washington to find a solution.
Rep. Cantor To Visit Bronx Charter School As Debate Over Schools Continues
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) met with students, parents and teachers at the Bronx Charter School for Excellence on Monday.
He called the academic success of the elementary school "amazing.''
The majority leader has said that Mayor Bill de Blasio is waging a "war on kids'' with his position on the charter concept of independent but publicly funded schools.
Cantor has also repeatedly criticized de Blasio for his decision to bar three Success Academy charters from co-locating in public schools.
Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams said the congressman should leave the bickering in Washington.
"I don't think charter school is the answer and I don't think public school is the answer. They've both failed and we have to find what is the model that combines both of them to educate all of our children," Adams told Miller. "It no longer should be charter school against public schools, it should be about how do we educate all of our children and I think this is really the wrong conversation we're having."
Cantor has praised Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who passed a budget earlier this year which included protections for charter co-locations.
The three Success Academy charters will be housed in former Catholic schools.
Last week, Cantor spoke in support of the $1.5 billion Success and Opportunity through Quality Charters Act before Congress overwhelmingly voted in favor of the measure.
The contents of the bill have passed in the House twice before but has so far not been taken up in the Senate.
You May Also Be Interested In These Stories
