During an interview on the popular radio talk show, “The Breakfast Club,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., made the case for school choice, an education initiative she has previously rallied against. She gave a quick monologue reviewing the history of charter school growth in New York City.
“We do need to address situations with charter schools, I think. It doesn’t mean that they’re all bad, it doesn’t mean that they should one hundred percent go away,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “The charter school movement, especially in about the 1970s, they were community charters. So, often times it was pastors, community organizers, starting community-based schools. So the school came from the community, it was for the community.”
WATCH:@AOC makes the case for school choice! pic.twitter.com/CskuOq3Orp
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) February 25, 2020
Ocasio-Cortez admitted her cousin elected to send his child, Ocasio-Cortez’s goddaughter, to a charter school because the Bronx public schools have not improved.
“My cousin, and you know my goddaughter, he made a choice given what that was in the South Bronx. And he asked me to help him. Would I help him fill out the form so that he could pursue this choice that he made for his daughter. How are you gonna tell someone no?” Ocasio-Cortez said.
She continued to elaborate on the poor conditions of the South Bronx public schools, only furthering the argument that charter schools should be a choice for students and families.
Another video recently surfaced of Ocasio-Cortez admitting she played a role in helping her goddaughter get into a charter school.
“My goddaughter, I got her into a charter school like maybe a block or two down,” Ocasio-Cortez said while taking a selfie video.
.@AOC: "My goddaughter, I got her into a charter school like maybe a block or two down"
Good for her!
Now let's embrace school choice for everyone else. pic.twitter.com/sOxPD9vu1v
— Corey A. DeAngelis (@DeAngelisCorey) February 25, 2020
In the past, Ocasio-Cortez has promoted anti-school choice causes. Just last year she promoted the Los Angeles teachers’ strike to put restrictions on charter schools.
“Tens of thousands of LA public school teachers, parents, and students are on a historic strike to improve and protect local public schools from privatization,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted.
Tens of thousands of LA public school teachers, parents, and students are on a historic strike to improve + protect local public schools from privatization.
This is inspiring!
Let’s support the teachers & parents strike fund here: https://t.co/DwnDztTmpv https://t.co/mKl416nMf6
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 18, 2019
The New York Congresswoman is also a member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), a group that advocates for destroying public charter schools completely.
Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, a staunch advocate of charter schools, called out Ocasio-Cortez on her blatant hypocrisy.
“How nice that AOC claims to have helped her goddaughter get into a public charter school. It’s a shame she works to deny that opportunity to every other disadvantaged family in America. ‘Good for me, but not for thee,’ indeed,” DeVos tweeted.
How nice that @AOC claims to have helped her goddaughter get into a public charter school. It’s a shame she works to deny that opportunity to every other disadvantaged family in America. “Good for me, but not for thee,” indeed. #EducationFreedomhttps://t.co/a2RhOEeU0o
— Secretary Betsy DeVos (@BetsyDeVosED) February 24, 2020
