Mr. de Blasio plans to redress this inequity by handicapping charters. His Department of Education has already zeroed out $210 million in funding from its 2015-2019 capital budget for charter construction. The new mayor has also announced a moratorium on co-locations, a policy that allows charters to share facilities with district schools and provides for a more efficient use of space. Twenty-five co-locations approved last year under Mr. Bloomberg may be in jeopardy.

Mr. de Blasio explains that kids in district schools may feel like they’re getting an inferior education if a charter moves in next door and renovates. Charters are public schools that also raise private money, and state law requires the city to match the private funds on district schools that charters spend on upgrades to prevent a disparity. So by killing co-location Mr. de Blasio can also spend less on district schools.

Mr. de Blasio also intends to punish well-endowed co-located charters like Eva Moskowitz’s Success Academy schools by charging rent, which the city’s Independent Budget Office says could raise $92 million. Manhattan Institute senior fellow Stephen Eide in a new study finds that a flat rent of $2,400 per student, as recommended by the Independent Budget Office, would have resulted in 71% of charters running deficits and potentially 577 teacher layoffs in 2011.

Even more destructive is the mayor’s proposal to base rents on ability to pay. A progressive rent would be a de facto tax on success. High-performing charters raising the most private donations would have to pay the most, which would discourage philanthropy and mean less money for teaching. This is from the same crowd that claims we spend too little on education.

In related news, Mr. de Blasio last week said he wants to return 1,200 teachers in the Absent Teacher Reserve to classrooms. Teachers who lose their positions due to school closures are placed in the reserve to serve as substitutes with full pay and benefits until hired by another school. The reserve’s turnover is high and about 60% land a job within four months.

But most of the residual pool consists of teachers that principals don’t want but can’t be fired due to the union contract. More than a quarter of the reserve in spring 2013 had received a disciplinary infraction, including for drug busts and sexual misconduct, and a third were rated unsatisfactory at least once in the last five years. Forcing these teachers back into classrooms could save $100 million annually, which Mr. de Blasio can spend on other things. Mr. Bloomberg proposed a better idea last year: dismissing teachers in the pool after four months.

Once upon a time progressives believed in reform and education opportunity. Now their agenda is reimposing failed teachers on poor students, while punishing the charter schools that are their only avenue of escape.