I am living proof of how an excellent education can transform a child’s life.
My journey began by chance on the streets of Harlem. My father, a West African native, was handed a flier promising a free, world-class education. At the time, it sounded too good to be true. My family lived in a neighborhood where the local zoned school was failing — a school with abysmally low reading and math proficiency rates, which have only declined since then. Like many families, there was a desire for better; moving to a wealthier district or paying for private school was an impossibility. We thought we had no choice.
But then came a call with Eva Moskowitz, founder of Success Academy, who spoke with my father and explained the charter model and the school’s mission to provide an exceptional education to every child, regardless of their ZIP code. My father was sold.
From day one, expectations were set high for us. Our classrooms were aspirationally named for different colleges. It was 2007, and I wasn’t a kindergartner; I was part of “the class of 2024,” the year I would graduate from college. Our days and school years were longer than those in traditional public schools. It was hard work, but it paid off.
To date, 100% of all Success Academy graduates have been accepted at four-year colleges. I myself graduated from Middlebury College, and my classmates attended schools like UPenn, Yale, Duke, Tufts, and Rice University. Peers of mine are now at companies like JPMorgan, Quorum Software, and Mastercard. I am currently a part of Success Academy’s Advocacy Team, dedicating the start of my career to ensuring other children have the same open doors that I did.
That mission recently brought me to Tallahassee. I traveled there to meet with legislative leaders who are proud that Florida leads the nation in school choice and have sought to make the state a magnet for the highest-performing schools through the Schools of Hope program. I shared my story to put a face to the policy and to demonstrate what that access meant for a kid like me. If not for Success, I would have been stuck in a failing school; instead, I attended a network that is #1 in math and #2 in reading out of all 730 districts in New York, outperforming the state’s most affluent communities.
My peers and I are the embodiment of what’s possible in Florida when backed by intentional, high-quality education policy.
And that is precisely what is happening. Thanks to the leadership of Gov. Ron DeSantis, Speaker Danny Perez, Rep. Jennifer Canady, and other champions of choice in the House and Senate, Florida has removed some of the biggest obstacles to opening high-performing charter schools and has implemented funding accountability for these schools to ensure they deliver on their promise of quality. This focus on excellence has once again demonstrated Florida as the national leader in educational opportunity.
And, with these changes, my own alma mater plans to open five schools in Miami in the 2027-2028 school year.
This is a defining moment for education and opportunity in the state of Florida. It means that a free, excellent education is no longer a dream—it is a reality that is increasingly within reach in communities across the state. It means that families no longer need to feel trapped, as my father may have felt all those years ago. With higher standards, better schools, and more opportunities, Florida’s children will feel prepared and empowered to pursue brighter, bolder futures they deserve.
Lamine Cisse is a graduate of Success Academy in NYC, and today serves on Success Academy’s Advocacy team. Success Academy is NYC’s largest charter school network, serving over 22,000 children in 59 elementary, middle, and high schools. Nearly 90% of Success Academy students are children of color, and 74% come from low-income families.
(Courtesy of Success Academy)