A story in today’s New York Daily News reports that charter schools will flock to New York City, thanks to Governor Cuomo’s preferential treatment of them in a state law that applies only to New York City. Charter students account for only 3% of the state’s enrollment, and only 6% in the Big Apple, but Cuomo made clear that he was taking care of the hedge fund managers who put $800,000 into his campaign chest for re-election.
In effect, Governor Cuomo shafted the 97% of the state’s children whose schools are stifled by the 2% tax cap he placed on them.
But for charter schools, it’s that “great come and get it day.”
Says the story:
“Recent state law changes are making New York City the friendlist in nation for opening charter schools.
“Get ready for a charter school gold rush.
“Recently enacted changes in state law created an environment for opening charter schools in New York City that’s friendlier than almost any other city in the nation.
“From an infrastructure perspective, things have never been better,” said James Merriman, the influential CEO of the New York City Charter School Center.
“We have the governor and state Legislature to thank for that.”
“Would-be charter school operators have already contacted the center asking for information on the benefits of the law spearheaded by Gov. Cuomo. It requires that the city provide new or expanding charters with space in traditional public school buildings or rent for privately-owned space.
“The law also increases per-pupil funding for charters from $13,527 to an estimated $14,027 by the 2017-2018 school year.
“It changes the whole game,” said Ric Campbell, 61, co-founder of the South Bronx Early College Academy. “It’s a huge advantage.”
Campbell’s middle school received its charter in December and won’t open until September 2015 with 110 kids and $300,000 dedicated to facility-related expenses.
“If Campbell qualifies for the new benefits he could spend the money on hiring four more teachers, laptops for each student, field trips to college campuses or more arts and music programming, he said.
“He’s not the only one excited by the benefits of the new law.
“Everyone who reaches out to our organization is considering whether they are eligible,” said Kyle Rosenkrans, vice president of policy and advocacy at the Northeast Charter Schools Network, which works directly with 183 schools.
“James Merriman, the CEO of the New York City Charter School Center, said that from an infrastructure perspective, things have never been better
“Gov. Cuomo has given a green light to a separate and unequal school system that favors privately run charter schools and underfunds traditional public schools,” said Zakiyah Ansari, advocacy director for the Alliance for Quality Education.
“The charter movement is counting on the continued support of Cuomo, who is listed as honorary chairman of a private education conference in Lake Placid beginning Sunday and attended by charter operators and deep-pocketed hedge fund donors.
“It’s not just about putting more money in the public school system, it’s trying something new and that’s what charter schools are all about,” Cuomo has told charter supporters.
“That doesn’t sit well with Ansari.
“Political contributions from super-wealthy ideological promoters of privatization have too much control over education policy under Cuomo’s new law — instead parents and communities should be in the driver’s seat for their children’s future,” she said.
“Rosenkrans was guardedly optimistic about the law, which he said includes a lot of vague language that still needs to be hashed out.
Still, observers expect an avalanche of applicants for the 52 remaining spots allocated by the state for new charter schools in New York City — and teachers eager to land jobs.
“That’s on top of the 21 approved charter schools set to open in the city this year.
“All told, that means 73 new charter schools in the coming years.”
NEW YORK CITY IS A NATIONAL LEADER IN PER-PUPIL FUNDING FOR CHARTER SCHOOLS.:
New York City: $13,527
Washington, D.C.: $12,306
Memphis: $7,895
Houston: $8,300
Diane Ravitch's blog 
There is GOLD in “them thar hills” of NYC!
Squatters Rights!
Walk 2000+ steps, form a square & claim the turf!
Manifest Destiny!
Open Ellis Island for new immigrants to start their own paths to charters, paved with GOLD! Mark SWD, ELL and low scoring kids with a chalk X on their coats and send them back to public schools – charter rejects!
RUSH! GOLD DIGGERS, RUSH!
American kids are worth more if they score low on mandated #ToxicTests.
ObamaLand! DuncanLand!
CuomoLand!
This should work! Finland is chomping at the bit to copy the American Education Innovation.
Sick!!
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NEPE has a new report on the propaganda mill for charts. Perhaps you can get into circulation. I am raking with a new iPad and a steep learning curve on embedding references.
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Charters, not charts.
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I wonder if Cuomo is comfortable with this, politically. The “most pro charter governor in the country” is really saying something. I didn’t know one could get more anti-public school, pro-charter school than Kasich, Walker, Scott and Snyder but I wasn’t doing a 50 state survey, and I guess she is:
“Governor Cuomo heard our parents,” Moskowitz said, before asking the crowd to applaud Cuomo, Republican State Senate co-leader Dean Skelos and the state Legislature for helping pass the state’s new charter law, which Moskowitz called “the most historic package of pro-charter legislation not only that New York State has ever seen but, I would argue, the country has ever seen.”
Was there any mention of public schools at all at the “gala” or are they still billing this stuff as “pro public education” where they simply forget to mention public schools or the other public school children? Apparently Cuomo listening to “our parents” is enough. Those other parents? Not so much.
http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/city-hall/2014/04/8544524/unions-blast-bush-headlined-charter-fund-raiser?%20Top-featured-2
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The privatization angle starts to get really interesting, because you have this attendee at the gala:
“Also present: Erik Prince, the founder of Blackwater USA and former Navy SEAL.”
So that’s military contracting, or privatization. Prince is the brother of Betsy DeVos:
PHILANTHROPY: It’s been more than 50 years since Milton Friedman wrote “The Role of Government in Education,” which made the first principled case for school choice. It’s coming up on 25 years since Wisconsin instituted the nation’s first private-school voucher program in Milwaukee. So, how do you feel about progress to date?
MRS. DEVOS: Well, I’ve never been more optimistic. Today there are about 250,000 students in 33 publicly funded, private-choice programs in 17 states and the District of Columbia. The movement’s growth is accelerating. Within the last year, the number of students in educational-choice programs grew by about 40,000. In 2012, we saw new programs in Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Mississippi, and New Hampshire, and expanded programs in Arizona, Florida, Louisiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.
This confluence of events is forcing people to take note, particularly because of the public’s awareness that traditional public schools are not succeeding. In fact, let’s be clear, in many cases, they are failing. That’s helped people become more open to what were once considered really radical reforms—reforms like vouchers, tax credits, and education savings accounts.”
http://www.philanthropyroundtable.org/topic/excellence_in_philanthropy/interview_with_betsy_devos
“Once considered really radical reforms”. She says it herself. I don’t think there’s any denial there that the goal is privatization.
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Rod Paige – he of the debunked “Texas Miracle” of the 1990’s – claimed that teacher unions are “terrorist” organizations.
It now appears that the edu-privateers took that to heart, and have brought Eric Prince of Blackwater infamy along to do something about it.
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They supposedly invented the phrase “government schools” because people reacted positively to the phrase “public schools” so they had to negatively rebrand local schools as “government schools” in order to effectively smear them.
Jeb Bush uses the phrase to this day, but only at conservative donor events:
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2011/05/21/168363/billionaires-privatize-education/
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Now that the charters are failures and the voucher programs have proven to be failures too I wonder what her highness proposes for us next? Let’s just let Betsy DeVos what the entire nation should have. I really despise these people.
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I fear I have just heard the death knell for Nee York City Public School. Thank you for that Gov. Cuomo…you will never receive my vote again.
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Whole Brain Teaching video from a charter school in Brooklyn…
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Is this for real?
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Oh my effing God. Zombies. Little well behaved trained work for walmart zombies.
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Active participation and cooperative learning. Keeps their focus on the task.
The question is whether this particular approach is effective. Do they really understand what a noun and a verb is? Or is this just verbal diarrhea?
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Public school supporters can also thank the misleadershp of the UFT for the charter gold rush, since it remained absolutely silent during the budget talks.
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, in a letter to his constituents decrying the favoritism received by charters, said that he could do little to oppose them, since he had no support on his side of the table to contest the giveaways to the privatizers.
Mandi Weingrew made sure that by sucking up to Cuomo, the teachers they ostensibly represent we’re thrown under the charter school bus, along with NYC public school students.
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Don’t forget our Mayor, who kicked the hornet’s nest and then disappeared in the weeks leading up to the budget vote so as not to upset the prospects for his signature UPK proposal.
And I assume we’re not excusing Silver himself. I haven’t seen the letter from Silver you refer to, but that’s a telling statement if he expressed it as you’ve described. Who was it on “his side of the table” whose support he lacked? I assume he didn’t lack the support of his own constituents — if he did, then he probably wouldn’t be writing a letter to them “decrying” the budget that he voted for. Whose support does Silver believe he needs before he can fight for his constituents?
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Wonder what Mario thinks of his segregationist, elitist son?
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This is discouraging and shameful. I hope the Mayor and the public schools speak up loudly about this.
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Why didn’t Cuomo just run as a Republican. He could have gotten tons of campaign money. He supports the same agenda.
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I have come to the conclusion today that the privateers cannot be beaten. Their finances run deep, as do their affiliations to Teach for America. They are backed by banks and trusts and billionaires. There are corporate ties to TFA. They run “man of the year” fundraisers in their many organizations, some you’ll never even hear about, unless you are part of them. I give up.
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I read this same article from Sunday’s paper. Afterwards, I told my colleague about it, leaving her room with the same sad words: “I give up.”
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I’ve worked in public schools which shared a building and it was uncomfortable at best and at times inconvenient and even annoying. I can’t imagine sharing space with a charter school.
It doesn’t seem like an educationally sound plan to me.
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One of the questions parents and taxpayers ought to be asking is – who elects the school board that governs a charter school? And who is allowed to run for that office? If taxpayers are funding a charter school, where the representative form of government that makes these schools accountable to the people funding them?
If a corporation wants to start a school, then shouldn’t that school be privately funded by that corporation – and not with government subsidy? Wouldn’t that be the definition of “privatization?”
Isn’t this another form of “corporate welfare?”
When a private school takes public funding (which a charter does), doesn’t that tie the school to the public regulations? (The answer is “yes.”) So why would a private corporation want to become tied to government regulation? Because they get “free” students through the vouchers that support these charter schools.
This is not the definition of privatizing. is this not the definition of corporate fascism – in which the private enterprise exists, but because it receives public funding, government controls the private enterprise. It is called a Public Private Partnership – a P3.
This is a strategy for government to control the private sector and to bring all schools under the thumb of government regulation.
Furthermore, how does the authentic private, independent school compete with a privately funded school that receives the government subsidy (the student voucher?)
Answer: It doesn’t. It either goes out of business or it applies for a charter. This is happening to Catholic schools. When a parochial school takes government funding, it is then under government regulation…and the charter school laws require secularization.
So the charter school is also a strategy to undermine religious education.
New York City taxpayers and citizens in cities and towns all across this nation need to wake up before their representative government at the level closest to the people and real choices that we already have (private, public and home) are lost.
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Cherlyn, you have hit the nail on the head! This is the argument that needs to be litigated in court; there should also be an all-out effort to oust public officials who support the pillaging of publicly-paid funds for private and/or corporate interests.
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Sorry–“Cherilyn”
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