New Heights: A Q&A with Lisa Leslie

Charter school advocates in New York won a major victory this past fall when Gov. Andrew Cuomo was re-elected to another term and Republicans won an outright majority in the state Senate. So, when the pro-charter school group Families for Excellent Schools organized a rally in March, it seemed more like a victory party than a lobbying effort.

This month’s rally brought as many as 13,000 advocates to the state Capitol in Albany, including former professional women’s basketball player Lisa Leslie, singer and Grammy Award winner Ashanti, Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul, legislative leaders and state lawmakers.

After the rally, Leslie, a four-time Olympic gold medal winner and three-time WNBA MVP, sat down with City & State’s Ashley Hupfl to discuss school choice, women’s issues and Title IX.

The following is an edited transcript.

City & State: You have teamed up in the past few years with a lot of former athletes and celebrities to fight for choice in education—between traditional public schools, charter schools and private schools. Why is this issue so important to you?

Lisa Leslie: Like I said in the rally, just the fact that I realized I wasn’t necessarily getting the best education when I was in high school. Then it carried over to when it was time for my children to enter schools, just research and doing my due diligence of picking a school, I found that schools in my area are also underperforming. I just thought it odd that 25 years later we’re still having this conversation about schools and public schools. So for me, I just thought, “What can I do to help?” We were able to afford to change areas and move to a better school district to get the best education for our kids, but what about the kids that couldn’t afford to do that? So, I thought, how can I help, what organizations can I help to maybe speak and use my voice to bring more awareness to this issue.

C&S: You have advocated for school choice in many different states. How would you compare New York to these other states, or what have you seen in other states?

LL: Well, initially because you have vouchers and because you have charter schools and you’re for charters schools and your governor is for charter schools—that’s a step in the right direction. We haven’t quite gotten that in every state, yet. So, in terms of the awareness, it’s already here and just the turnout at the rally today shows that people around here are listening and they know that they’re fed up and I think that’s great. But, obviously, look at the numbers and see how many kids are failing and the crisis that’s actually happening here, it saddens me. It saddens, hopefully, a lot of people that are being affected by it. But, I do see change happening and I think at the end of the day that’s what it’s about. They’re ahead a lot of states that have yet to even fight for change.

C&S: You were a pioneer for female athletes—for example, you were able to dunk the ball before most other women in the game. Do you feel that the country is moving in the right direction when it comes to providing opportunities for women?

LL: Well, I just spoke about that at Loyola Marymount University and Title IX and what Title IX has gotten us in general, through sports and the workforce. But it’s just amazing still that 42 years later we’re still talking about women’s rights, trying to find our place and get equal pay. So I think, yes, we’ve made some strides, but we’re not done. The fight is still important and it’s important, too, to educate the next generation about Title IX and standing up for women’s rights.

C&S: What would you like to see the government do to help fight for women’s rights?

LL: I would love to see equal pay, just in the workforce alone. Even if we got that, that would be an amazing start.