School Chancellor Walcott Backs Charter Schools
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- New York City's new school chancellor, Dennis Walcott, said he's a believer in options for quality education and that includes charter schools.
Walcott said Wednesday it is time to lower the rhetoric on the contentious issue of charter schools versus non-charter schools.
Walcott said parents and the city's 1.1 million students should have good options to choose from. He said charter and traditional public schools, including theme schools and large schools, should be competitive with each other.
Walcott made his comments on the John Gambling radio show during a live town hall in-studio program. It was Walcott's first school day since he was officially appointed as schools chancellor.
He also said class size will increase slightly under the mayor's budget, which calls for 6,100 teachers to lose their jobs.
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