More than 900 New York City public schools are failing to adequately teach math and English despite the nation's highest per-student education spending, according to a report highlighted Saturday on Newsmax by Success Academy founder and CEO Eva Moskowitz.

"It's just so tragic that 43% of New York City schools, which, by the way, are spending more money than any place around the world, are grossly failing children," Moskowitz told Newsmax's "America Right Now." "We are spending in New York City $36,000 per kid. And yet 43% of the schools are grossly failing children, which is about 400,000 children."

The report, commissioned by Success Academy, found that 43% of New York City's public schools are "grossly failing" students.

Moskowitz said the city's education problems are not inevitable.

"I wrote this report because it doesn't have to be this way," she said.

Host Tom Basile noted New York City spent roughly $40 billion on public education in 2024, more than double the national average on a per-student basis, and asked why educational outcomes have continued to decline.

"I would say our expectations are too low," Moskowitz said. "This is America. We have a can-do attitude, or we should, when it comes to our children learning at high levels. But unfortunately, it's almost like we have educational defeatism that has just covered the nation."

Moskowitz contrasted Success Academy's approach with traditional public schools, pointing to an emphasis on phonics, extensive daily reading, discipline, and high expectations.

"First, we teach phonics. We believe in the science of reading," she said. "Every child, kindergarten through 12th grade, reads 30 minutes a day. But really what we do is have high expectations."

She added that students are taught "please and thank you," wear uniforms, and are encouraged to embrace "some pretty old-fashioned values" that she said produce stronger academic achievement.

Moskowitz also credited parental involvement as a cornerstone of the charter school's success.

"We don't believe that schools can educate children without parents," she said. "Parents are the customer."

She said every parent has the cellphone number of teachers, assistant principals, and principals, and that parents may visit classrooms without an appointment.

Basile noted that 95% of Success Academy seniors have passed three or more Advanced Placement exams and that about 70% of its middle school students score at high levels academically. He asked why more public officials have not embraced charter schools and school choice.

Moskowitz blamed both teachers' unions and education bureaucracies.

"I do think there's a bigotry of low expectations," she said. "There's the teachers union on the one hand, and there's the bureaucracy on the other, and both kind of conspire against children and families and, frankly, teaching and learning."

She also pushed back against efforts to reduce class sizes, saying Success Academy's larger classrooms allow the network to offer chess, art, music, dance, and athletics while still producing top academic results.

"Small class sizes have not proven to increase achievement," Moskowitz said. "We've shown that with large class sizes, we are number one in the entire state of New York in mathematics and number two in reading."

Success Academy now serves about 22,000 students across New York City.

Moskowitz said parents have already demonstrated support for school choice and urged policymakers to follow their lead.

"I am a supporter of school choice in its public and private forms, and we need elected officials to get on board," she said. "This crisis in American education has implications for global prosperity and national security. We have to, as a country, get our act together and decide that children are our most precious resource."

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