The tide of battle in New York's school wars tipped unmistakably in favor of choice, charters and new work rules long before Education Secretary Arne Duncan's visit Tuesday to several inner-city schools.

What often looks like an intractable standoff - the teachers union and Democratic pols on one side, the city Education Department and rich private-sector supporters of charters on the other - is being settled by parents.

By the tens of thousands, parents have been voting with their feet, searching for alternatives to low-performing schools.

"It's hard to argue with the thousands of parents who want to explore the option of charters for their children," said Assemblyman Karim Camara of Brooklyn, sponsor of a bill that would more than double the number of charters in New York State.

Camara knows better than anybody. His mother, Ora Razzaq, founded a private institution, Cush Campus Schools, during the bitter 1971 teachers strike in Ocean Hill-Brownsville.

The school grew for more than 30 years, sending graduates to top-flight colleges, including Boston University and Johns Hopkins. Camara, an ordained minister, ended up at Xavier and earned a master's from New York Theological Seminary.

Cush is one of several private inner-city schools that have closed recently, said Camara, along with the elementary schools of major central Brooklyn churches, such as Concord Baptist and Bridge St. AME.

Camara thinks parents who once struggled to come up with tuition at these private institutions are selecting the simpler - and free - charter school alternative.

He could have added Catholic schools to the list. In Bed-Stuy, New Beginnings Charter School is to open in what was once St. John the Baptist School, and the Riverton Street Charter School will be in the old St. Catherine of Sienna school in Queens.

A large, active group of parents has long supported alternatives to public schools. By bringing their voices and influence into the debate, forces favoring reform won powerful, respected supporters.

They are the parishioners of solid, well-attended black churches that are mandatory stops for politicians seeking office.

That adds clout to the pro-charter forces. Not to mention their Ally in Chief, who lives at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

Duncan's tour of a charter school yesterday was only partly about encouraging New York to make changes that will boost our application for Race to the Top money.

It was also a sign that the stalemate over school reform is breaking decisively in the direction of charters.

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