NY: Opt Out More Popular Than Charter Schools

The number of students opting out of the Big Standardized Test in New York State is still fluid, and we'll have more numbers shortly when this week's BS Test in mat inspires families to keep children out of the test-taking mess.

But a fair middle-of-the-road estimate would seem to be 175,000 students who chose not to take the BS Test.

175,000.

On a whim, I went looking for the number of charter school students in New York State. I found this number for the 2013-2014  school year in the report from the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, a group that certainly has no reason to low-ball the number of charter students. Here's the number.

91,813.

New York leaders like Andrew Cuomo and Merryl Tisch have been vocal in their support of charters. Back when Bill DeBlasio was daring to stand in the way of charter expansion, Andrew Cuomo stood up at a charter rally to defend the charters and declare their importance to the state's education.

Those 91,813 students were deemed worthy of being defended by the governor of the state:

"We are here today to tell you that we stand with you,” Mr. Cuomo said. “You are not alone. We will save charter schools.”

So my question is this: if 91,813 students deserve the full-throated defense of Governor Cuomo for their educational choices, then how soon can we expect him to stand up for the educational choices of the 175,000? If this week's numbers hit the projection of 200,000, will he be twice as vocal in defense of twice as many students?