Milly Silva, Barbara Buono’s pick for Lieutenant Governor, is being hailed as a “warrior” for low-income families and communities, as well as labor union members. In other words, as Patrick Murray at PolitickerNJ puts it, Buono has chosen someone “just like her. Not just in gender, but in ideology and policy priorities – liberal on social issues, strong labor supporter, wary of education reform policies, etc.”
One of those education reform policies that Buono is “wary of” is offering options to kids trapped in failing districts. She told The Record today that, for instance, charter schools “were never meant to replace public schools. People are trying to use simplistic solutions to complex problems, and charter schools are not the answer."
Buono might want to more closely study her running mate’s resume. When Milly Silva was an elementary school student in a lousy Bronx district, her mother, no doubt a powerful school choice advocate, managed to get her daughter a scholarship to The Spence School, an exclusive private all-girls school just off Fifth Avenue on 91st Street in Manhattan.
The Spence School, by the way, charges an annual tuition of $40,975 for all grades K-12. After graduation Silva went on to attend Columbia University.
Now she’s running for Lieutenant Governor.
Perhaps Buono ought to look more closely at her running mate and reconsider her education reform positions.
Labels: Buono, charter schools, school choice