The latest issue of New York Teacher (here), the house organ of the New York State United Teachers (NYSUT), asserts that the New York Charter Schools Association "opposed" the lawsuit by the Campaign for Fiscal Equity to increase funding for high-needs school districts. This is a total fabrication by NYSUT and the UFT.

I have heard union officials repeat this falsehood verbally. Now it's in print. There is no truth to their claim whatsoever. Before attacking the Association this way, NYSUT should produce evidence. It won't, because it doesn't exist.

If the New York Charter Schools Association "opposed" the CFE litigation, presumably it would say so in its 2004 amicus brief it filed in court. In fact, the Association urged that charter schools also get equal funding, including facilities. Charter schools have neither.

NYSUT's fabrication about the Charter Association and CFE appears to have taken on the level of internal legend because the Union needs a response from its grab-bag to the fact it sought to cut charter school funding this year, and succeeded. At the same time, it continues to attempt to cajole more charter school teachers to join their union.

Great union strategy: get charter teachers to join and to pay the union, while simultaneously lobby the legislature to cut funding to those same schools so that union membership in district schools have more. When NYSUT gets exposed for this practice, it tries to change the subject by attacking the Association with make-believe and slander.

Making up fiction about the Charter Association's position on CFE should not obscure the fact that NYSUT is throwing charter teachers under the proverbial bus with its attack on charter funding.

NYSUT should cease and desist these fabrications so we can both focus on getting more resources for education - period.

Peter Murphy
for The Chalkboard