Teachers unions and their paid-off allies can offer no good reason for New Yorkers to oppose Gov. Kathy Hochul’s plan to allow more charters in the city, so they’ve got another strategy: lie.

Union front group the Alliance for Quality Education claims charters “siphon off millions” from “public schools.” Another puppet, state Sen. Robert Jackson (D-M’hattan), says Hochul’s move would have a “devastating impact” on regular public schools, “taking [away] much-needed resources.”

Bull.

For starters, public charters are public schools: Tuition is 100% free, and any family can apply for admission (which is 100% by lottery).

Yes, some school funding is based on enrollment, so when a child leaves a traditional school for a charter, that school eventually loses some government aid. But it’ll also have fewer kids to worry about, and so lower costs. And since not all funding is per-pupil, the old school winds up with more money per kid.

The real reason unions want to crush charters? Most of charter teachers aren’t union members, so the unions lose out when children transfer.

But the children gain: In the 2018-19, 62.2% of charter kids (statewide) scored on state exams as proficient in math, compared to just 45.6% at traditional schools. In reading, it was 57.3% vs. 47.4%. The gap was even greater for black students: 63.9% vs. 28.3% in math; 58.2% vs. 35% in reading.

So when kids switch to charters, they tend to do better. Taxpayers save money, since the per-pupil public cost is about half the level. And regular public schools wind up with more cash per student.

No wonder tens of thousands of families are on a wait list for charters, or that 64% of parents have a positive view of charters, per a Morning consult survey, as opposed to just 22% with an unfavorable view.

Indeed, if it weren’t for the state cap on charter schools in the city (which exists strictly to please the unions), there’d be far more of them — and a mad stampede of families ditching traditional schools for the superior product.

Even so, parents are still pulling their kids from regular New York public schools: Enrollment has nosedived over the past few years, with families switching to private schools, home schooling or leaving New York altogether.

Charters may be the last best hope to save public education in New York. And that’s precisely why the unions tell nonstop lies: Their only concern for the public schools is what’s in it for them.