Charters Gain in New York

Edspresso has the good news on New York State charters.

After several years of heated debate, the New York State Legislature, at the urging of the new governor, Eliot Spitzer, doubled the number of public charter schools allowed in New York State, which he labeled a “signature accomplishment.”

The approval of the charter law by wide bipartisan margins signals a growing acceptance of public charter schools across the political spectrum, and throughout the state.

Teh big support in the legislature, and the patent and documented success of the schools, allowed charter supporters to beat back a number of proposals that would have surely gutted the success of the expansion and perhaps the movement itself statewide.

The depth and breadth of this political support is why school district officials, the teachers unions, and their political allies ultimately were not able to push through various measures meant to stop or seriously impair public charter schools. And, such support has enabled the charter movement to continue to have a statewide presence, rather than having it pigeon-holed to a single region or major city.

Among the measures rejected this past week during negotiations on the charter school bill were: a cap on additional charters in Albany and Buffalo, limits on enrollment growth, a 30 percent funding cut for elementary and middle-school charters, automatic unionization, an elimination of the ability of charters to contract for management assistance, and subjecting charter school facilities (which receive no state building aid) to prevailing-wage mandates and the state education department’s onerous building code and approval process.

In a state with a solidly Democratic Governor, it is not a unreasonable hope for other states to take a cue from the Empire state and realize that charters are here and they are not going away anytime soon. The drive among parents for real alternatives will not allow unions to carry the day forever on charters.