Great Public Schools New York will enter the charter school battle in New York City with money from Michael R. Bloomberg and be led by a former adviser to Andrew M. Cuomo.
A new group has entered the battle over charter schools in New York, seeded with at least $1 million from Michael R. Bloomberg, according to four people familiar with his political spending.
The group, Great Public Schools New York, was formed this week and will be led by Kevin Elkins, a former political director for the carpenters union based in New York City and an adviser to former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo during his failed mayoral campaign last year.
The group will immediately work to lift the state’s cap on charter schools and to create funding parity with traditional public schools, Mr. Elkins said, and it will not “be shy about building a war chest and using it.”
He said that the group planned to “constructively engage” with Mayor Zohran Mamdani, an ardent supporter of traditional public schools and the teachers’ union. The union vehemently opposes charter schools, which are largely non-unionized. Mr. Elkins said that the mayor’s focus on affordability aligned with the new organization’s push for more choice in education.
“The mayor has changed his positions on several matters since he’s come into City Hall, not because he’s giving up on his ideological convictions, but because he understands that governing is a complicated task,” Mr. Elkins said in an interview.
Dora Pekec, a spokeswoman for Mr. Mamdani, declined to comment on the group, which has an affiliated 501(c)(4), or nonprofit “social welfare organization,” that can engage in political activity and is sometimes called a dark-money group.