{"id":6271,"date":"2026-08-06T09:37:47","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T09:37:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=6271"},"modified":"2026-08-06T09:37:47","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T09:37:47","slug":"teacher-unions-shady-tactics-aim-to-bully-hochul-into-hurting-nys-kids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=6271","title":{"rendered":"Teacher unions’ shady tactics aim to bully Hochul into hurting NY’s kids"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

New York\u2019s teachers\u2019\u00a0unions are waging a vicious campaign against a federal program that would make education more affordable for low- and middle-income families.<\/p>\n

Read more Hezbollah\u2019s summer camps for junior jihadis pose a mortal threat to peace<\/a><\/p>\n

The reason? They don\u2019t\u00a0want any competition \u2014 even if it comes at zero cost to public schools.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Through newspaper and TV ads and a dedicated website, the unions are spreading misinformation aimed at strong-arming Gov. Kathy Hochul into rejecting a federal tax-credit program she\u2019s promised to join.<\/p>\n

Shameless online banners and a full-page ad in Hochul\u2019s hometown\u00a0Buffalo News\u00a0blare, \u201cGov. Hochul, don\u2019t opt in to Trump\u2019s voucher scheme.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Their fearmongering aims to bully Hochul into compliance.<\/p>\n

If she cares about New York\u2019s students, she must resist.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Last year, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act created a federal\u00a0tax credit\u00a0of up to $1,700 for taxpayers who donate to nonprofit scholarship-granting organizations.<\/p>\n

These groups will use the donations to fund a range of K-12 educational needs for students who apply\u00a0\u2014 but only if they live in states that opt\u00a0in.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The inaccurate union campaign\u00a0suggests\u00a0that\u00a0the \u201cfederal voucher scheme\u201d\u00a0drains money from public schools.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That\u2019s false:\u00a0For one thing,\u00a0the program\u2019s\u00a0funding comes entirely from the federal government, with no need for state or local government matching funds.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

It would have zero impact on the roughly\u00a0$40 billion\u00a0New York state spends on K-12 education annually.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nor would it affect New York City\u2019s\u00a0$38.6 billion\u00a0DOE operating budget, which has\u00a0ballooned by billions since the 2019-20 school year \u2014 even as enrollment has plummeted.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Per-pupil spending ballooned to\u00a0$42,000\u00a0in the just-finished school year and will be\u00a0even higher\u00a0in the one starting next month.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The unions claim that the federal program could mean fewer kids in public schools, thereby sapping schools\u2019 funding \u2014 yet just months ago they publicly cheered Albany\u2019s recent Education, Labor and Family Assistance law because it provides \u201ca minimum 2% increase to all districts,\u201d regardless of enrollment levels.<\/p>\n

In fact, public-school students would be eligible to\u00a0receive<\/em>\u00a0federal scholarship money under the program to cover a range of educational needs, including after-school programs and tutoring.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And generous eligibility requirements mean that students from low- and middle-income families would be first in line for these funds:\u00a0About\u00a02.7 million New York students would qualify, the American Federation of Children calculated.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Most attend public schools,\u00a0thus\u00a0making them among the\u00a0program\u2019s\u00a0biggest beneficiaries in absolute dollars.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And for families who\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0want their kids at the mercy of DOE and wish to educate them in a private or religious educational setting, these\u00a0scholarships\u00a0could\u00a0bring significant\u00a0relief.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Even so,\u00a0teachers\u2019\u00a0unions nationwide are\u00a0urging\u00a0Democratic governors not to opt in to this program.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They\u2019d\u00a0rather deprive students of federally funded scholarships than to let any government money flow to non-unionized schools.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Unions are determined to\u00a0retain\u00a0their iron grip over public education, pure and simple.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yet despite their power and influence,\u00a0they\u00a0can\u2019t\u00a0stop New Yorkers from sending money to fund scholarships for students out of state.<\/p>\n

Whether or not Hochul opts in, Empire State taxpayers can still receive the $1,700 federal credit by donating that amount to a scholarship-granting organization in a state that does<\/em> join the program.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That could send more than\u00a0$1 billion\u00a0out of New York to support students elsewhere,\u00a0according\u00a0to Democrats for Education Reform.<\/p>\n

Coupled with\u00a0popular school-choice\u00a0laws\u00a0passed\u00a0across the nation\u00a0in recent years, this would only push more families into fleeing New York for a\u00a0freer\u00a0school system.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hochul knows that\u2019s a problem \u2014 and that\u2019s why she has expressed her\u00a0intention\u00a0to\u00a0opt\u00a0New York into the tax-credit program.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

She\u2019s\u00a0right: This state\u00a0can\u2019t\u00a0afford to lose more families.<\/p>\n

Its tax base, economy, and even its\u00a0congressional representation\u00a0depend on attracting and retaining residents.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Teachers\u2019 unions, by contrast,\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0have\u00a0such\u00a0broader\u00a0interests in mind.<\/p>\n

Their only goal is to minimize the risks to their members\u2019 jobs, no matter the cost or the harm.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They know that if they can get Hochul to change her mind, other Democratic governors will also hesitate \u2014 so far, only Colorado Gov. Jared Polis has\u00a0signed on.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

The unions\u2019 PR campaign in New York thus\u00a0represents\u00a0a proxy battle for blue states nationwide.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As the city faces ongoing budget problems and Mayor\u00a0Zohran Mamdani asks agencies to\u00a0identify savings, Hochul would be unwise to reject a large pool of new money for needy students.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Instead, she should join the program as soon as possible.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

New York\u2019s students and families deserve the educational affordability that the\u00a0unions are so determined to deny them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read more Oklahoma teen rapist Jesse Butler\u2019s case dismissed as DA rips defense: \u2018Nothing has made my blood boil more\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

Danyela Souza Egorov and John Ketcham are fellows at the Manhattan Institute.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NY teachers’ unions are pressuring Gov. Kathy Hochul to reject a federal tax-credit program that could benefit 2.7 million local students.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6270,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion"],"yoast_head":"\nTeacher unions' shady tactics aim to bully Hochul into hurting NY's kids - Metro Transit Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=6271\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Teacher unions' shady tactics aim to bully Hochul into hurting NY's kids - Metro Transit Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"NY teachers' unions are pressuring Gov. 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