Nelson Smith with a more upbeat take on the NY cap lift:

Update on New York Cap Lift

Submitted by Nelson Smith on May 29, 2010 - 7:01pm

www.publiccharters.org/node/2766 

The final deal looks better than I let on yesterday. Three things should be pointed out:

1)    To paraphrase Joe Biden – It's a Big…. Deal.  It more than doubles, to 460, the number of charters permitted. I was venting yesterday because the Assembly seemed fixated on issues (like for-profit managers and charters' alleged failure to serve special-ed kids) that were trumped up by the opponents and not based on fact. Joe Williams of Democrats for Education Reform said it was "classic Albany sausage-making" and even though I find some of the components hard to digest, it shouldn't obscure the big victory our friends won yesterday, one that will open huge new opportunities for kids.

2)    Happily, the final package did not alter New York City Public Schools Chancellor Joel Klein's authority to authorize charters; and the poison-pill that would have removed SUNY as an authorizer was also deleted, apparently with some help from gubernatorial candidate Andrew Cuomo.

3)    With respect to the charter provisions of Race to the Top, the package is a vast improvement in the state's posture on caps – and doesn't sacrifice the points it deserves for New York state's authorizers, who [propelled] the state into the top "quality control" tier of our Model Law rankings