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There are in the New York City public school system, which presumably translates to at least 1 million potential voters in the June 22 Democratic mayoral primary. Considering that, , only 1,097,846 citizens voted for mayor, and an even smaller 76,361 cast their ballots for the ultimate winner, Bill de Blasio, you would think the 2021 candidates would be eagerly courting those who care about education.

But that wasn鈥檛 the case at the June 2 debate, hosted by WABC-TV. The issue didn鈥檛 even come up until 50 minutes into the televised portion of the debate 鈥� and the bulk of the discussion took place in the second hour, which only streamed on WABC鈥檚 digital platform. It鈥檚 likely the majority of prospective voters who tuned in never got to see it.

Even then, the issues most parents whom I speak to care about 鈥� the potential end of gifted and talented programs, unscreened middle schools, teacher quality, facilities maintenance and admissions to 鈥� never came up.

The eight candidates on the stage repeatedly promised free child care (which, admittedly, is what many families use schools for, but that鈥檚 not an education issue, per se.) The most interesting thing about their approach to education was that, when it came to traditional public schools, they were more alike than they were different. Scott Stringer said he would designate more money for afterschool programming. Kathryn Garcia would reappropriate $130 million dollars from the City Hall budget to put two teachers in every classroom and increase arts education. Maya Wiley promised to hire 2,500 new teachers and lower class sizes. Andrew Yang would place 10,000 tutors in schools.

It all came down to: More money will mean better education, whether that鈥檚 more teachers, more arts and extracurricular activities or more personal tutors.

Of all the candidates on the stage, Eric Adams was the one who hammered education points home the most, invoking his own experience of having dyslexia as a child and thinking he couldn鈥檛 learn, being bused to Bayside High School, where he saw what a well-resourced school was like compared to the ones in his Queens neighborhood, and reminding that 65 percent of NYC鈥檚 Black and brown children couldn鈥檛 do math or read on grade level.

But Stringer jumped on him for accepting money from charter school advocates and accused him of wanting to 鈥減rivatize education.鈥�

In fact, charter schools was pretty much the only place where they showed any differentiation when it came to education.

Adams unequivocally stated his support for lifting the cap on how many charter schools could open in NYC, as a way of 鈥渟caling up excellence.鈥� Garcia also agreed to lift the cap, in order to put children, not adults first. Morales took the opposite position, saying Black and brown children were disproportionately harmed by charter schools. She wanted to 鈥渋mprove public schools鈥� so that families didn鈥檛 feel they needed to 鈥渞esort to charters.鈥� Stringer repeated the long debunked argument that charter schools siphon money from public schools, and as the parent of two children in public school, he was against that. (He did not mention that both of his sons attend a gifted program outside their zoned school, which also and is one of the reasons why advocates want G&T programs shut down.)

Stringer, who Adams, Yang and Wiley, for the , could well see anti-charter school rhetoric as a key to victory.

American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten likely agrees, as, a few days after the debate, she tweeted out:

I鈥檓 incredibly disappointed to see Kathryn Garcia go this route with charters. She鈥檚 embraced the unacceptable policy of lifting the charter cap in NYC. Now.. Two minutes be4 early voting starts. Wondering why? .

鈥� Randi Weingarten (@rweingarten)

Why all the focus on charter schools? Unlike the million-plus kids enrolled in traditional public schools, just , with 163,000 students currently .

Is it because talking about charter schools is easier than discussing the important but difficult issues actually concern the majority of NYC families? Not to mention the nagging fact that, despite all the , half of NYC kids still don鈥檛 read or do math at grade level (with those numbers among children of color)?

Those are all complicated issues, with multiple, interlocking causes and a plethora of possible solutions. On the other hand, whether to lift the charter cap sounds like a pretty simple question, a binary yes or no, with no nuance, on an issue that most voters know little about, care little about and are affected by not at all.

And that鈥檚 how you get (potentially 1 million) votes, while claiming to care about education.

Alina Adams is a New York Times best-selling romance and mystery writer, the author of Getting Into NYC Kindergarten and Getting Into NYC High School, a blogger at and mother of three. She believes you can’t have true school choice until all parents know all their school choices 鈥� and how to get them. Visit her website, .

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