Instead of heading home after the bell rang Wednesday, thousands of New York charter school teachers donned gold shirts bearing the words “Teachers Demand Great Schools” and headed to Foley Square to eat hot dogs, wave signs and call on Mayor Bill de Blasio to expand the number of students in charter classrooms.

WASHINGTON — U.S. Education Secretary John King on Wednesday weighed in on a swirling schools controversy, criticizing what he called “arbitrary caps” on the growth of high-quality charter schools, publicly funded but, in many cases, privately operated K-12 schools in 42 states and the District of Columbia.

The NAACP, arguably the nation’s most influential civil rights organization, has approved a resolution that calls for a ban on new charter schools.

It is unfathomable that the NAACP is trying to halt a movement working to reverse the achievement gaps for black and brown children in public school education nationwide.

The city Department of Education just beat a temporary retreat from its clumsy plan to desegregate schools on the Upper West Side — but the whole sorry tale exposes DOE’s more fundamental failure to offer good schools in minority neighborhoods.

Thousands of parents and teachers descended on Foley Square Wednesday to demand that Mayor de Blasio get behind charter school proponents’ plans to increase the number of charter seats across the city to 200.000 by 2020.

Charter school teachers and administrators packed into Foley Square on Wednesday to demand the city provide more space for their facilities.

Wearing T-shirts that read “Path to Possible,” the crowd cheered and listened to a panel of educators discuss the growing need for charter schools — especially in low-income areas with poorly-performing traditional public schools.

Thousands of city teachers will rally Wednesday afternoon in Foley Square to demand that Mayor de Blasio not stand in the way of opening good new public schools in neighborhoods that desperately need them.

The NAACP’s opposition to school choice isn’t new but it’s now official. And it is not going over very well with other black organizations and families who have been working tirelessly in recent decades to expand educational options for low-income blacks and close the racial achievement gap.

After months of negotiation over expansion needs, a coalition of charter-school backers demanded concrete action from city leaders Thursday.

Parents and advocates rallied outside City Hall on Thursday and continued their call for the de Blasio Administration to provide more space for charter schools.