A great editorial in the NY Post that supports Success Charter Network's expansion to the Upper West Side – and also points out the REAL reason the union is fighting it so hard (other than Randi's personal vendetta against Eva):

Do middle-class parents deserve good, free public schools for their kids?

That's the question the city's Panel for Educational Policy will answer Tuesday, when it votes on whether to let a new charter school -- the Upper West Success Academy, run by former City Councilwoman Eva Moskowitz -- share available space at Brandeis HS on West 84th Street in Manhattan.

A thumbs-up would be a huge step toward finally giving these folks real options for their kids.

Options, that is, that don't require spending massive sums for private schools or having to move to the 'burbs.

Alas, the teachers union, which sees charters -- and Moskowitz, personally -- as a threat to its monopoly, has folks scared out of their wits about the plan.

It's also got its army of bought-and-paid-for pols riling up neighbors.

The stakes, you see, are huge: If charters -- public schools that are generally not unionized -- out-compete labor-run schools in middle-class areas, it would spell big trouble for the union.

Which might help explain the incendiary rhetoric: Moskowitz's charters are a "separate and unequal system," the critics' press release said this week. Her schools are "turning district school children into second-class citizens."

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Despicable lies

Last Updated: 4:38 AM, January 28, 2011

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/editorials/despicable_lies_fW6zc3UTKREFonlPiQTn8J#ixzz1CYqFn3kZ