NEW YORK – Some see New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s recent swearing in ceremony as a symbol of victory for unions and Big Labor Democrats.

The city’s parents and taxpayers, however, should take a close look at those who sat in the VIP section during the inauguration ceremony and contemplate how the new “in crowd” will impact education in the Big Apple.

“There was teachers union boss Michael Mulgrew, smiling broadly under a United Federation of Teachers knit hat. George Gresham, the president of the powerful health care workers union 1199 SEIU, kept warm under a blanket smack-dab in the middle of the front row,” the New York Daily News reports.

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“Also in the coveted area were President Hector Figueroa of the building service workers union; Central Labor Council chief Vincent Alvarez, and Arthur Cheliotes, a Communications Workers of America honcho who spent lavishly on attack ads that helped sink Christine Quinn’s mayoral bid.”

In other words, Big Labor is now running the show in New York City, and that’s bad news for parents and education reform advocates who have worked to improve education options for the city’s students.

“Every relationship is different now,” former public advocate Mark Green told the news site. “Instead of Democrats and unions brokering to have a say with the Republican moneyed insider establishment, now Democrats are the decision-makers.”

That’s certainly a scary thought, considering that most of the city’s Democrats look to the teachers union when it comes to education policy. The United Federation of Teachers has waged war against the previous administration’s work to close underperforming school buildings, remove ineffective or abusive educators from the city’s classrooms, expand charter and other education options, and virtually any other student-focused reforms.

The UFT’s sole focus is on maintaining traditional public school employment positions, and the dues those positions generate for the union. UFT leaders like Michael Mulgrew couldn’t care less about how the city’s education policy impacts students and families. The UFT cares about the UFT.

De Blasio made it clear long before his inauguration that he stands arm and arm with the UFT, pledging during his campaign for mayor to force the city’s charter schools that share buildings with traditional public schools to pay rent. He has also called for a moratorium on new charter schools looking to co-locate.

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Under Republican Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the city’s charter schools thrived, expanding from 17 to 183 schools during his time in office, due in large part to the co-location agreements.

“These are public school kids,” Bill Phillips, president of the Northeast Charter Schools Network, told the Huffington Post. “It’s perfectly appropriate for them to be in public school space.”

Unfortunately, de Blasio and his VIPs see things differently, and the anti-school choice, pro-union policies on the horizon will likely reverse the very positive education changes that transformed the city’s education system under the Bloomberg administration.