THIS weekend, the New York State Legislature authorized the creation of 100 more public charter schools in New York state – with 50 for New York City – bringing the total number to 200 and handing Gov. Spitzer a major victory that had eluded his predecessor.
The adoption of the law capped a week of high drama during which various interest groups tried to kill off charters or at least make them more difficult to start or operate.
Under legislation adopted in December 1998 at the urging of then-Gov. George Pataki, the state authorized an initial 100 public charters for schools. Such schools, which operate independent of local school districts and typically do not have unions, have generally outperformed local districts. By the end of Pataki’s tenure, all 100 charters had been handed out.
Last week, however, school districts and unions, with Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) as their prominent ally, attempted to stop the burgeoning charter-school movement in its tracks with several tactics – but failed:
* Silver tried to revoke the State University of New York Board of Trustees’ status as one of the state’s chartering entities. He sought to have all charter applications sent to the New York State Board of Regents, whose members he selects. With a few notable exceptions like Regent Merryl Tisch, the board is extremely hostile to charters, especially any applications that draw opposition from unions or local districts. In the end, the governor, who appoints the members of the State University board, joined with Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno to preserve charter-friendly SUNY as a chartering entity.
* State and city teachers unions sought to require all charter schools to be unionized. Despite aggressive lobbying by United Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten and others, however, this effort was blocked by Spitzer, Bruno and Senate Democratic Minority Leader Malcolm Smith, a charter enthusiast and a key ally last week.
* Construction unions attempted to force all charter schools to pay “prevailing” (i.e., union) wages on all construction projects, a proposal embraced by Spitzer and Silver but blocked by Bruno, who pointed out that these schools do not receive any state money for their facilities, making the extra costs burdensome.
* The speaker also attempted to require charter schools to follow the State Education Department’s costly and burdensome building code and require State Department of Education approval of any charter facilities, which would have caused expensive delays in construction timetables. This proposal was defeated, too.
* Assembly Democrats attempted to cap the issuance of public charter schools in Albany and other cities that have a density of charter schools. Surprising local officials, however, this proposal was roundly rejected on a bipartisan basis by the governor, Bruno and Smith. The Albany district’s credibility in pushing a cap was undermined by its record as one of the worst-performing districts in the state, and the fact that the top-performing public school in the Albany district is a public-charter school – the Brighter Choice school that I chair.
In all, a powerful bipartisan consensus is evolving in favor of giving parents more options and public-charter schools a chance.
Thomas W. Carroll is president of the Albany-based Foundation for Education Reform and Accountability.
