NY State Assembly's Assault on Charter Schools

The NY Senate and Assembly are reviewing Gov. Spitzer’s proposed budget, which includes a proposal for 150 more charter schools statewide. The Senate, to its credit, is following the Governor’s lead, but the Assembly is proposing charter school legislation that, when I first read it, I thought must be some sort of sick joke – it would utterly devastate charter schools in the state! As the email (see below and attached) from Peter Murphy of the NY Charter Schools Association points out, the proposed legislation would, among many other things:

- Sharply reduce annual funding growth for existing charter schools; this, despite over $1.4 billion in additional aid for traditional district schools;

- Require unionization of all employees (without employee input) with limited exceptions;

- Limit management’s ability to discipline underperforming employees;

- Eliminate entirely SUNY-CSI’s role as a charter authorizer, with the State Education Department assuming SUNY’s current role.

Think about it: this legislation would strip teachers of their right to choose for themselves if they wanted to unionize – how is that pro-teacher?! And it would be crazy would it be to strip SUNY of its chartering authority – it’s become a national model!

Among the 40 states that permits charter schools, New York’s current legislation is among the best: there’s a rigorous process to get a charter and real accountability, which weeds out bad operators, the funding levels are OK, etc., which is one of the main reasons why some of the very best charter operators in the country have come to New York. The main problem is that the number of charters is limited to 100, which has been reached, so until the cap is lifted, thousands of low-income, minority children who are suffering every day in failing schools will not be given a fair shot in life by having the opportunity to attend a KIPP, Achievement First, Uncommon Schools, Village Academy, Harlem Success Academy, etc. – all world-class charter operators that seek to expand in NY.

When 50% of black men who fail to graduate from high school end up in prison at some point in their lives, I am not engaging in hyperbole when I say that lives are at stake here. Of course, the teacher union’s primary interest is not the lives of disadvantaged children. That’s not to say it doesn’t care about children – just that they’re a distant second on its priority list to maintaining its power and influence so it can negotiate for its members higher pay, shorter work hours and greater job protection (even for the most incompetent teachers), regardless of whether these things are good for students (here’s a hint: THEY’RE NOT!).

Recognizing that some sort of cap lift is probably inevitable, the teachers union – which publicly claims not to oppose charter schools but in fact has done everything in its power to destroy them – is waging a campaign to stuff the cap lift legislation with onerous restrictions and regulations that will effectively kill charters in the state.

THIS MUST NOT SUCCEED!!! Folks, it is time to get PISSED OFF and let the Assembly know what an outrageous piece of trash it’s proposing. Here’s what you need to do:

1) Go to http://assembly.state.ny.us/mem, type in your zip code, find out who your Assemblyperson is, and then call both the district and Albany offices to register your anger over this proposed legislation.

2) Forward this email to everyone you know who cares about educational opportunities for disadvantaged children, and ask them to call as well.

3) If you work at or are on the board of a charter school, please get the parents involved! They’re the ones whose children will be directly affected by this legislation – and their anger carries much more weight than ours. Attached is a draft letter that you might share with parents, for talking points or to mail/fax.

If you have any questions, please call the New York Charter Schools Association at 888-465-4401 or the New York City Center for Charter School Excellence at 212-437-8300.

Thank you!

Whitney