蜜桃影视

Let us all praise Cory Booker: While some may have cringed at the senator鈥檚 bombastic 鈥淚 am Spartacus鈥� moment at Brett Kavanaugh鈥檚 Supreme Court confirmation hearing, give him this: He鈥檚 not pulling a Hillary Clinton.

Booker, to all appearances, has set his sights on a 2020 presidential run 鈥� he already placed four aides in Iowa 鈥� but one can detect no pivot from his progressive roots in school choice and equity that marked his mayoral tenure in Newark. Unlike Clinton, who went from (鈥淚 favor promoting choice among public schools, much as the President鈥檚 Charter Schools Initiative encourages鈥�) to (鈥渕ost charter schools, they don鈥檛 take the hardest-to-teach kids鈥�) in order to win endorsements, Booker isn鈥檛 cowering to special interests. Instead, he鈥檚 doubling down on his reform credentials, as well as attempting a reset of the distorted narrative of Newark Public Schools.

His determination to correct the record about the past 10 years of the city鈥檚 public education history rings out loud and clear in Laura McKenna鈥檚 interview with the senator and the accompanying Q&A. And that鈥檚 a tough slog. After all, a false narrative is practically etched in stone, based on a book by Dale Russakoff called The Prize and, for those who didn鈥檛 read the book, by Alex Kotlowitz, who denigrates the collaboration among Booker, then-Governor Chris Christie, and Facebook鈥檚 Mark Zuckerberg to inject renewal into the decades-long ignominy of New Jersey鈥檚 largest school district.

鈥淭heir plan gets off to a rocky start,鈥� writes Kotlowitz, as 鈥渢heir moneyed backers鈥� exercise 鈥渢heir ideological furor to create more charter schools.鈥� They hire 鈥渨hite 鈥� consultants鈥� and bring on 鈥渋deologue鈥� Cami Anderson as superintendent. Hence, 鈥渢his bold effort in Newark falls far short of success.鈥�

Or this, from the that will be in print Sept. 17: The project 鈥渜uickly encountered opposition from local groups that saw it as out of touch, and, eight years later, it鈥檚 generally considered a failure.鈥�

Or this column from Andrew Ross Sorkin, who wrote that Zuckerberg’s gift 鈥�.鈥�

That鈥檚 not what happened.

It鈥檚 very important for people to understand this, not only for Booker鈥檚 ambitions but, more critically, for Newark鈥檚 50,000 students and their families, almost all brown, black, and low-income. For many, the ability to choose better public schools is largely a product of the collaborative effort that drew applause on Oprah but sneers from those averse to education reform.

If there were a policy solution that would slash childhood illnesses or homelessness by a magnitude of 3, would you do anything but jump on board? Yet Newark鈥檚 upward educational trajectory is still criticized by those invested in a system driven by inputs, not outputs. Unnervingly, New Jersey鈥檚 current governor, Phil Murphy, has expressed interest in a charter approval moratorium, has close ties to the state teachers union, and disparages accountability through his determination (currently ) to eliminate meaningful state assessments. (The latter may be trivial to suburban voters whose mortgages come bundled with good schools, but it is vital to low-income families, mostly people of color.)

So let鈥檚 look at what drives Booker to declare in 蜜桃影视 interview that his intervention in Newark鈥檚 public education system is 鈥渢he proudest work I鈥檝e ever done鈥� and to profess dismay at 鈥渙ne of the biggest disconnects between reality and perception that I鈥檝e ever seen in my politics.鈥�

When Booker served as mayor of Newark from 2006 to 2013, he encountered a school system that the state described back in 1993 as 鈥渇lagrantly delinquent and at worst deceptive鈥� in its mission of serving children; where 1 out of every 2 Newark students didn鈥檛 graduate from high school and average SAT scores were 311 in verbal and 363 in math; a district that civil rights leader characterized as 鈥渟hortchang[ing] the overwhelming majority of children who enter its classrooms.鈥�

Not much had changed as Booker assumed his mayorship. This confirmed that student access to high-performing schools remained scarce, noting that 鈥�2006 data indicate that Newark鈥檚 students are behind their state peers in every grade tested that year.鈥� Booker describes 鈥渂ottom-quartile schools that were an affront to the genius of our children.鈥�

I鈥檝e spoken to parents who, during that era, snuck their kids into neighboring East Orange schools, who would have done just about anything to escape New Jersey鈥檚 system of linking zip codes to district assignments.

There wasn鈥檛 a heck of a lot Booker could do with the traditional schools, because since 1995 they鈥檇 been under state control and he had no legal oversight. (The district regained governance last year.) But he could expand the small, if robust, public charter school sector, which already had the highly regarded Uncommon North Star Academy (which came to Newark in 1997) and KIPP (which came to Newark in 2002). That didn鈥檛 happen with Zuckerberg鈥檚 money: His $100 million donation was only one-tenth of the district鈥檚 annual operating budget of almost $1 billion, and most of that went to retroactive payments to teachers after a long-festering contract dispute. Booker himself raised another $100 million; in all, explains McKenna, that chunk of change represents 4 percent of the total Newark school budget over the five years it was distributed.

Richard Whitmire has argued that the Facebook money should have been spent entirely on charter school expansion. But, in fact, charter schools in Newark grew organically, driven by parent demand. Under Newark鈥檚 universal enrollment system, typically list charters as their first choice. In New Jersey, the state education commissioner is the sole authorizer of charter schools; Chris Cerf (who later served as superintendent) and his successor, David Hespe, obliged parents by approving expansions for KIPP and Uncommon, as well as other operators with records of student achievement. (They also closed 10 percent of charters throughout the state for subpar performance.)

The data back up the wisdom of Newark families. Stanford鈥檚 (CREDO) reported that 鈥渙n average, students in New Jersey charter schools learned significantly more than their virtual counterparts in reading and mathematics.鈥� Research conducted by the shows that among 50 cities studied, only 8 percent of students were enrolled in public schools that 鈥渂eat the odds鈥� 鈥� but in Newark, that figure soared to 40 percent, solely due to the educational advantages afforded to charter school students. A recent study from found that high school graduation rates increased 鈥渄ramatically,鈥� controlling for poverty and English learner status; Newark students showed 鈥渟ignificant gains鈥� in math and English test scores between 2009 and 2017; and black students in Newark are three times as likely to attend a school with test scores above the state average today as they were in 2009.

Booker鈥檚 focus on students and their academic outcomes is key to the improvements in Newark鈥檚 public education landscape. Yet there鈥檚 a catch, and it鈥檚 President Donald Trump. Our commander in chief鈥檚 appointment of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has tied progressive reform efforts to her ignorant, reactionary stance on everything from to rescission of Obama-era guidance on to, yes, school choice. It would be so easy for Booker to pull a Clinton, to dismiss his Newark reform record as a historical anomaly, of that time, of that place, to distance himself from our national embarrassment.

But he鈥檚 not doing that. He鈥檚 owning the revival of high-quality public education options in Newark. That鈥檚 smart, and it has the benefit of being true. We鈥檒l see if that鈥檚 smart politics.

Laura Waters writes about education policy and politics at NJ Left Behind, New York School Talk, Education Post, and other publications. She just finished serving 12 years on her local school board in Lawrence, New Jersey, and was president for nine of those years.

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