Charter advocates have made exorbitant claims for their own success, but sometimes the facts get in the way of a good story. The latest example concerns school safety. 

In its effort to undermine hard-won improvements in public school safety, the corporate-backed charter school lobbying group Families for Excellent Schools has claimed that crime in public schools has risen. FES went so far as to broadcast TV ads claiming that state data show that “almost every public school child is exposed to violence at school.”

What set off FES on this latest round of storytelling was Mayor Bill de Blasio’s assertion in his Feb. 4 State of the City address that crime had declined 29 percent in city schools since 2012. In its efforts to rebut that claim, the pro-charter group insisted on using state data that even the state has disavowed. 

According to Chalkbeat, the online education news site, “the State Education Department quickly flagged the numbers highlighted by FES, saying the metric they are based on is problematic and under review.”

Interestingly, the FES number crunchers turned a blind eye to other numbers in that same controversial database that undercut their questionable narrative. The same state data revealed safety incidents rose twice as fast from 2014 to 2015 in charter schools (a 54 percent increase) as they did in public schools. The data showed alarming increases in charter schools in weapons and drug possession, assault and criminal mischief.

Charter school advocates are having a harder time this year painting a glowing picture of their schools. This winter, we’ve learned about the harsh discipline that often humiliates vulnerable students in charter schools and how students with special needs are often pushed out instead of being given extra help. As any number of teachers can tell you, many of those students end up in our schools. 

It’s time for charter advocates to stop demeaning public schools and start attending to problems in their own backyard.