During the Democratic primary, I wrote about New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and his “eat the rich” pitch for votes. He pledged to “tax the hell out of the rich.” It did not work. Not only did de Blasio never got to one percent nationally. Worse yet, he polled at zero in his own New York city with a 58 percent unfavorable rating. Yet, De Blasio later continued his anti-capitalism agenda including using the pandemic to renew calls to curtail capitalism and demonstrating a shocking lack of knowledge of basic economics. Now de Blasio has declared the purpose of the New York public schools as redistribution of wealth and doubled down on that call after being criticized on Fox News.
Last week, de Blasio declared that he viewed the public schools as a tool for wealth redistribution and not just education: “I’d like to say very bluntly our mission is to redistribute wealth. A lot of people bristle at that phrase. That is, in fact, the phrase we need to use.”
His remarks drew criticism, including on Fox News. That coverage led to the recent response from de Blasio:
I’m going to say it one more time in case Fox News is watching again: ‘NYC mayor sees the redistribution of wealth as an important factor toward ending structural racism in education.’ Exactly right. I don’t get to say it very often, but Fox News got it exactly right. Amen. We are going to fight structural racism through redistribution, so Fox News, congratulations, fair and balanced coverage right there. If we think we’re going to deal with structural racism and segregation without redistribution of wealth, we’re kidding ourselves,” the mayor added. “Nothing changes unless you put the resources behind it.”
It was an interesting pivot. In his campaign, de Blasio was attacking calling for redistribution directly. He then called for curtailing capitalism in the name of fighting Covid-19. He is now calling for redistribution in the name of fighting racism.
It is a message that will not help with the exodus of New Yorkers out of the state, including many going to lower tax jurisdictions. While Gov. Cuomo has declared that the loss is draining the state, but de Blasio is fueling the concerns of affluent New Yorkers that they are being targeted. While telling the federal government to just print money, de Blasio seems to be doing his best to continue to shrink the number of high-paying taxpayers. New York already leads the country in its drop of population and could lose a house seat. The
Ironically, he could receive help from an unlikely source — one of the most expensive private schools in New York city. The Dalton school (which charges $54,180 a year in tuition for K-12 grades) circulated a controversial list of proposals to become “an anti-racist institution.” The list included
- Hiring 12 full-time diversity officers, and multiple psychologists to support students “coping with race-based traumatic stress.”
- Assigning a staffer dedicated to black students who have “complaints or face disciplinary action,” and a full-time advocate to help black kids “navigate a predominantly white institution.”
- Paying the student debt of black staffers upon hiring them.
- Requiring courses that focus on “Black liberation” and “challenges to white supremacy.”
- Compensating any student of color who appears in Dalton promotional material.
- Abolishing high-level academic courses by 2023 if the performance of black students is not on par with non-blacks.
- Requiring “anti-racism” statements from all staffers.
- Overhauling the entire curriculum, reading lists and student plays to reflect diversity and social justice themes.
- Divesting from companies that “criminalize or dehumanize” black people, including private prisons and tech firms that manufacture police equipment or weapons.
- Donating 50 percent of all fundraising dollars to NYC public schools if Dalton is not representative of the city in terms of gender, race, socioeconomic background, and immigration status by 2025.
The last proposal is the most interesting in terms of de Blasio’s plan to use the public schools to redistribute wealth. You could have Dalton charging parents over $54,000 a year while the school gives half of its fundraising dollars to the public schools.
As with my criticism of his understanding of economics (in demanding that the federal government just print more money to wipe out the New York city debt), I believe de Blasio is fundamentally wrong about the purpose of public education. In Chicago, my parents were great supporters of the public school system and sought to stop the white flight from public schools. While we could afford private schools, I went to public schools for virtually all of my pre-college education. They believed that public schools constitute important forums for shaping citizens in a diverse and common education. I believe strongly in public schools and we sent all of our kids public schools for the same reason.
Public education is not about wealth distribution. It should be a place for all families — wealthy and impoverished — to experience a common education, including important civics courses. This is the place where we shape future citizens. It is about affording all children a common and shared educational experience, not laboratories for de Blasio’s experiments on social or economic reconstruction.
It is certainly true that all forms of social welfare programs involve distribution of resources. However, public education is not about redistributing wealth. It is about guaranteeing common education and opportunities for all citizens. The level of support is tied to its educational, not a redistributive, function.
As an educator of over thirty years, I find de Blasio’s statement deeply troubling. Our schools and our children are not vehicles for de Blasio or others to recreate society. It is a highjacking of our schools for their own agendas. Public schools are struggling with low performing test scores, particularly among minority students. We need a greater focus on education, not economics, in our schools.