The elected school board of New York has asked state authorizers to grant a three year moratorium on new charters.
“Buffalo is losing resources, losing funding, and seeing its own efforts handicapped. The board also wants money refunded when charter students return to public schools.
“The new school year brought a new charter school to the city’s Willert Park neighborhood, while another Buffalo charter added a second location on Hertel Avenue.
“One broke ground for an elementary school on Great Arrow Avenue, while two more charters are scheduled to open next year, bringing the total in Buffalo to 18.
“At least three more are on the horizon.
“The flurry of local activity surrounding charters is refueling tensions with Buffalo Public Schools, which has petitioned the state to slow down the charter expansion across the city.
“Frustrated by the loss of more students and funding to new charters, the Buffalo Board of Education has requested that the State University of New York and the state Board of Regents – the two authorizing entities – issue a three-year moratorium on charters in Buffalo.
“It also asked that school boards be allowed to sign off on charter applications and recoup funds from charters whose students return to Buffalo schools.
“We just don’t want this to be seen as some symbolic gesture that doesn’t go anywhere,” said Barbara A. Seals Nevergold, School Board president. “We’d like to have some feedback, some dialogue.”
“Buffalo had more than 7,100 students enrolled in charter schools three years ago, but the district estimates that number is upwards of 9,000 this year.
“The district then pays the charters per pupil, a budgeted amount that has reached nearly $124 million and accounts for about 14 percent of the district’s general fund.
“In fact, district funding to charters is up by more than $14 million from last year, because of the new charters coming on board. And that doesn’t include other associated costs provided by the district, such as transportation and special education services, Nevergold said.
“More and more of the district funding is going to charter schools,” said Nevergold, who sponsored the charter resolution that passed in a 6-2 vote, “and yet, while that’s happening, we’re losing resources needed for schools in the district.”
“The proposed moratorium will be perceived as anti-charter – but so be it, she said.
“We’re not bashing charters, but charters aren’t the saving grace for public education,” Nevergold said. “While certainly there are charter schools that are successful, they’re not uniformly better than the district schools – some do better, some do worse, some are on par.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Education.
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So Happy to see this being done. I grew up in Buffalo and attended public schools from K through 12th.. I’m hoping the board gets their request granted. It’s a start.
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Back in 2008, Andy Smarick (working for the Fordham Institute at the time) listed Buffalo as one of the most “potentially fertile” districts for the conversion to total privatization via charter schools. I’ve always thought of his article here as the privatizers “Master Plan.” http://educationnext.org/wave-of-the-future/
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From the Master Plan: “The only course that is sustainable, for both chartering and urban education, embraces a third, more expansive view of the movement’s future: replace the district-based system in America’s large cities with fluid, self-improving systems of charter schools.”
There it is again, the neo”liberal” Third Way.
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Charter Schools should have NEVER been funded by public monies. The DFERS opened up the door for this kind of BS. Sorry, but I cannot stand the DFERS.
And …I am NOT a Republican; I am a registered Democrat. I CAN’T vote GOP and have NEVER voted GOP.
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My guess is that the decision of the SUNY Charter Institute will depend on whether the politically connected charter networks whose billionaire supporters donate to their boss, Andrew Cuomo, are interested in opening charters in Buffalo.
If the rich Cuomo donors want more charters in Buffalo, SUNY will authorize more charters in Buffalo.
If the rich Cuomo donors believe that charters have already saturated the market of students they WANT to teach, and tell SUNY it is okay for them to stop opening more charters, SUNY might say “okay, no more charters” because the rich billionaires they answer to have told them it’s fine not to have more.
Despite the “master plan” for Buffalo noted above, the charter folks don’t really want the entire district. They need a dumping ground for students and they don’t want to provide it themselves because then they’d be responsible for their low test scores. That doesn’t work at all to drive their lie that they welcome every student.
Unless and until the SUNY Charter Institute approves a new Buffalo charter district that can just model themselves after New Orleans and pretend the kids who they’ve dumped from all charters don’t exist, they need enough public schools to handle every student they don’t want. Every student who is not profitable to teach.
The reason they are drooling over NYC is that with 1.1 million school children, there are many “profitable” students out there for them to teach even if they expand to twice their size.
That’s not the case with smaller cities. There are a limited number of students and once charters have found the ones they want to teach, they find it unnecessary to expand.
I will be interested to see what SUNY says about this because it will tell us what the billionaire privatizers want. More charters upstate or market of “worthy” students exhausted?
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Multiple charters means that those attending public schools get fewer resources. It also makes it hard for the public schools to “complete” if the buildings are in disrepair due to depleted funding, especially when charters can offer shiny new buildings and smaller classes.
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Yes this is true.
But I believe that billionaires whose marching orders SUNY seems to follow may not care about “competing” with publics for a large swath of at-risk kids who are not profitable to teach. The pnes whose test scores won’t give charters bragging rights.
If those billionaires believe the market for the students in Buffalo who the rich charter networks want teach is exhausted, they won’t care if SUNY has a moratorium. Sure there might be some unconnected charters willing to teach any child who wins the lottery — the ones with low attrition rates. But since those charters also have terrible test scores, SUNY doesn’t really care what they want. Those charters don’t promote the reform agenda because they do worse than public schools. They teach the wrong students instead of the ones who are worthy.
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The charters in Buffalo that are questionable are the ones in impoverished minority neighborhoods with populations that reflect the area. Their assessment results are the same as (or worse) than similar city public schools with the same sort of student population.
The charter with the best results is the South Buffalo Charter in a largely white neighborhood which, I believe, has a larger white population than any other city school (excluding the private schools). Its test scores are the closest to the top Buffalo Public Schools. Nearby Discovery School #67 is a public school with similar results.
(Please note that Buffalo has open enrollment which allows students to go to schools outside their neighborhood, if space is available).
Better teachers? Or?
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I hope you hear yourself, NYC public school parent. You are saying that NYS public schools– perhaps the last bastion of local control in the state– are already in the pocket of big-donor campaign-funders: that even municipal schools cannot be run by municipalities altho in many cases their municipal taxes fund the majority of local school costs– that their local votes mean nada.
Just trying to remind folks on this forum that our biggest issue is campaign-funding/ repeal Cit-United…
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Of course I hear myself.
But I am NOT saying “NYS public schools– perhaps the last bastion of local control in the state– are already in the pocket of big-donor campaign-funders..”
I live in NYC and our public schools are still under control of the Mayor. And the Mayor is not in the pocket of big donors. He believes in public schools. Although the same propaganda that got people to believe that moderate Democrat Hillary Clinton was “in the pocket of big-donor campaign funders” is desperately trying to do that to Mayor de Blasio. They fooled some of the same people — I have seen posters on here repeating the nasty right wing anti-de Blasio talking points (he’s a sell out!). Right now, the Mayor is all who is standing between NYC public schools being completely in the pocket of big donors. But I have no doubt that won’t stop foolish self-described “progressives” from helping to push the right wing propaganda about how corrupt de Blasio is. The pro-charter, pro-privatization movement thanks those progressives for helping them destroy public education.
And they also thank those self-described progressives who repeat the right wing propaganda for making sure Citizens United is never repealed. After all, there is no difference between Trump and Hillary, so good thing they voted 3rd party. And they thank the progressives who repeated their non-stop propaganda while holding their nose as they voted for the corrupt rabid dog that is Hillary. Which hurt her even more since they gave what would have been perceived as lying propaganda legitimacy and truth. “Even the democrats keep telling me she is no better than a rabid dog’ so why should I vote for her?” Great job there, Bernie bros!
Imagine Merrick Garland instead of Gorsuch. I agree with you about campaign financing and Citizens United. Which is why I despair when I hear progressives repeating right wing propaganda to slime every Democrat.
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^^I should have added that while the public schools are controlled by billiionaire donors (yet), the charters are, and Albany has forced NYC to subsidize them by charging public school students for the costs of their rent. maintenance, overhead, transportation, and numerous other boondoggles that the poor public school students give as charity to rich charters.
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“We’re not bashing charters”
This is their mistake. You can’t put out all fires with water. Sometimes you have to fight fire with fire. That means bashing charters repeatedly by using the massive data that shows how horrible most corporate charters are.
If the corporate reformers bash a public school teacher or public school once. we slam back ten times with ten times the force.
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I agree, Lloyd. The time for being polite is past.
We don’t need Miss Manners. We need Malcom X.
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We NEED a heavily armed special forces team with all the support and infrastructure that took out Osama Bin Laden or the entire Marine Corps on a combat footing with orders to fire on contact.
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We may need that, but we’re not going to get that.
I would be happy to get loads of parents and teachers marching in the streets, demonstrating, clogging up school board meetings with their demands, sitting in at Congress peoples’ offices, etc.
Make noise, make the complacent feel uncomfortable.
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For people that have jobs, earning a living often gets in the way of joining physical protests. Many people get their chance to protest when they vote or don’t vote in elections.
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Yes, that’s all too true, Lloyd.
But at least I would hope that they vote, and maybe call or email their reps about important issues. At least.
I don’t expect most people to be out demonstrating. Heck, even during the anti-Vietnam War protests, most people weren’t out there (although Mr. Zorba and I were, but then, that was before we had kids).
But a call or a quick email or two would help.
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From all that I’ve read, the odds are against the Democrats taking back even one House of Congress in the 2018 election.
But, if the Democrats beat the odds and take back both or even one House, that will send a loud message
What would the response be from the far right?
They will start to spin more conspiracy theories through the Alt-Right Lying Media Machine and spend even more money to get back what they lost and take even more.
I do not think anything will stop the Waltons and the ALEC machine except a bloody revolution like the one Thomas Jefferson suggested should happen on a regular basis to get rid of tyrants.
The Alt-Right has built a Psy-Ops propaganda machine with their conspiracy theory generating alternative media machine designed to fool people who are the easiest to fool.
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Lloyd
I think Dems have a good chance of winning the House. Then Trump gets no funding for any of his retrograde plans
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When I want to see what the odds are for something like the 2018 elections, I usually read what FiveThirtyEight has to say. They were one of the few that said Trump had a slim chance to win and explained how he could win against the odds.
“The GOP’s House Majority is Safe … Right?”
This piece explains what might happen both ways.
Here’s a couple of pull quotes:
Why Democrats will gain House seats in 2016:
Why Republicans will probably keep their majority:
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-gops-house-majority-is-safe-right/
This piece was written before the election back in 2016. Where does it stand now?
A more recent piece says, “The Recent Rush of GOP Retirements Is Good for Democrats … But don’t read too much into them.”
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-recent-rush-of-gop-retirements-is-good-for-democrats/
It’s still a long way to the 2018 elections and anything can change at any time even up to the last minute.
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Zorba,
Let me assure you that the Buffalo Teachers and many of the parents have been a vocal group which includes speaking out at school board meetings and picketing city hall as well as other strategic locations. More than one speaker has been force ably removed when voicing their concerns (if interested there’s some stuff on utube). The smirking board member is Quinn (former GM of the Buffalo Sabres). For his point of view see the article in the Buffalo News from Sunday, October 1 (warning: it will make your blood boil).
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Charterizers constantly whine that districts won’t collaborate with them. Privatization is evil, however, and good people don’t collaborate with evil. We fight them with all means available. Saving public education from harm is not collaborative, not bipartisan, not nice. It’s an all out fight for good.
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Yes, exactly.
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LCT,
Agreed.
NPE Actuon endorses candidates. It will not endorse any candidate that supports charters or vouchers.
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Lloyd: “physical” protests aren’t really that big a deal even for 2-career working families w/kids. My local NJ [Rep] Congressman’s office is only 3 blocks from my house– right across from a main nbhd grocery. All last winter, every Wed night for 2 hrs, sign-carrying locals crammed the sidewalk[working Moms spelled by working Dads], encouraged by honks & waves from passing cars, protesting Trump & in particular his attempt to repeal Obamacare. Our Rep rep ended up holding many town hall mtgs, & has voted against repeal as well as both Rep proposed healthcare bills, & has published his opinion in the local rag, which boils down to, ‘I support my constituents’.
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Nevergold knows which end of the bread is buttered. She has been against charter schools since day one, but the school board with Paladino (who stood to profit from additional charters) and his cronies, were proCharter with a capital C. Luckily during the last school board election there was a concerted push by the teacher’s union and many of the Charter advocates were ousted as witnessed by the current 6-2 vote (of course, Paladino, who only squeaked by to get elected, was removed by the state due to breaking the confidentiality rules).
One of the chapters,Tapestry, was started by parents well before the charter movement. Their children were a part of the gifted and talented program and they wanted more of a say. What started as an elementary school has now expanded and one of the new sites is to create more room. This school has a great reputation and performs better than most, possibly due to a larger than average white population (compared to the majority of Buffalo public schools which are mainly minority with a large free/reduced lunch population). At one point they were all set to take over Bennett High School but the idea was rejected by the interim superintendent (who later resigned due to the negative reaction of the proCharter board members). It seems the administrators were attracted to All High Stadium which had been renovated and contained a lighting system appropriate for night games, but not to the large minority population who were currently attending the school. They wanted the building but not those students. So now they are building their own high school.
There are other charters, including a Gulag School. The ones in the minority neighborhood are almost 100% minority and the test results reflect that. One was closed a week before school started and there was a mad scramble to find places for all the displaced students.
Only one charter is not in Buffalo proper, but on its border, although many of its students come from Buffalo. A friend of mine brags about her grandchildren who attend. It seems her daughter prefers a school away from the behavioral issues (read minority students) found in her local school. The school is not highly rated but, of course, the parents don’t look up the rankings. They’re just happy it’s not in Buffalo.
Anyway, Buffalo has some excellent schools which provide unique opportunities. They also have superb teachers (you have to be dedicated to survive in the more difficult school environments) despite what the test scores imply. Many of the services which were stripped away are now in the process of being returned – such as health care in the schools and light house after school programs. The real answer is to involve parents in the education progress of their children, changing attitudes to pro-school instead of a philosophy that school doesn’t matter.
It takes a village and skimming away the parents who do care to a charter school does affect the school environment of the remaining public schools. Not to mention the money which is needed to reduce class sizes and provide extras such as instrumental music, library services, and interesting electives for high school students (vs numerous study halls).
Anyway, that’s some of the Buffalo backstory.
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They admit that the Buffalo charters don’t actually outperform the public schools -on the whole- some are better and some are worse.
But they’ve so seamlessly transitioned from the original argument, which was “better” schools to the current argument, which is “different” schools that it doesn’t matter if the charter schools are better anymore.
It’s a huge bait and switch, really. They sold this as “better” schools and now that they want to expand and get rid of public schools completely they’ve moved the goalpost- just has to be different schools.
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Yep! Exactly correct.
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Remember Mary Landrieu? She was in the US Senate as one of the Democrat’s most enthusiastic charter cheerleaders. She lost her seat but don’t worry! She has a new lucrative career working for the Walton heirs selling charter schools.
This is why people hate politicians. Even when they’re unseated they never go away. Instead of taking a federal salary they get paid directly by their donors.
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Why am I not surprised? As Mr. Zorba just said, it’s another form of prostitution.
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124 million for 9,000 charter school students sounds like a lot. That’s $13,778 per kid.
How much does that leave for Buffalo Public Schools kids under the 2017-2018 adopted budget? A mere $28,917, well over twice the national average, in a district that was never truly right-sized during the white exodus of the 70s and 80s; where the local cost of living is estimated to be 11% below the national, not state, level; and where about 18% of grade 3-8 students are proficient in math/ELA.
The democratically elected board is entitled to pass whatever moratoriums it wishes. It is not entitled to play the “our schools are starved of resources” card.
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Tim,
Your devotion to public schools is heart warming.
Let me know when charters start enrolling the kids with cognitive disabilities and the ELLs
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Does Buffalo also have to pay for all kinds of charter freebies with their $28,917? Or that reserved for the NYC public school students who donate some of their own per pupil allocation so that rich charter schools can have even more.
It’s rather Trumpian, isn’t it? Rob from the poor to give to the rich. Isn’t that why you admire Eva Moskowitz so much? Moskowitz herself told us how alike she and Betsy DeVos when she demanded the Senate confirm DeVos.
To Eva Moskowitz, Betsy DeVos is the epitome of a woman of valor. They share some same values. I agree with Eva Moskowitz that she and DeVos share the same values, but i disagree with what those values are. To me, the values they share are a desire for power, money, and how to use children to get what you want. Moskowitz says they value kids and schools the same. Actually, I agree with Moskowitz about that. She and DeVos do value students and schools the same.
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HI Tim!
I don’t see a problem with asking for a moritorium on Charter Schools. According to a recent article in the Buffalo News, compared to NYC, Buffalo actually has a larger percentage – one out of four students – attending a charter school.
Of course, after the BEDS day in October, when students are counted to determine NYS funding, the exodus begins. With a higher than average rate of minority suspensions, it is the high risk students who are returned to the public school system.
Please note that Buffalo not only has a large special education population, but also is a refugee center with several schools filled with ESL children dealing with more than a language difference. There’s a reason that the average cost per student is higher than most districts and I can assure you its not going for some of the enrichment found in the suburbs, such as full time librarians, instrumental music, and staffed computer labs. More likely PT, OT, Speech, Title I, ESL, personal aides, Psychologists, Special Ed Teachers, etc, and not enough of them to go around.
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New Jersey’s taxpayers and students would benefit from the state taking the same action. Any charter school approval process that permits the Gulen Affiliated Charter Network to flourish in NJ is suspect. NJ media and an entire chapter in a recently released book called The Empire of Deceit have documented the very questionable use of public funds, insider deals, hiring practices, real estate transactions, etc. of the Gulen Network.NJ should halt all charter applications until it can fix the major flaws in the approval process that enable schools like this to expand, leaving the state’s taxpayers and even worse, young students, holding the bag. #transparency #keepthemaccountable
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As a public school employee, it breaks my heart to see dissension to this magnitude when it comes to educating students. While I don’t agree with some charter school antics, sometimes they do a better job educating students where the system has failed.
We have truly moved away from doing what’s best for kids. When do charters and public entities come together to work as one body to help students? We do more damage fighting then finding a way to improve both systems. We need to remember what’s at stake when either system fails: KIDS.
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