The Network for Public Education and the New York State Allies for Public Education—a consortium of 50 parent and educator groups—have issued a joint statement calling on the state’s two authorizing agencies to stop authorizing new charter schools. The agencies are the New York Board of Regents and the State University of New York.
NPE and NYSAPE invite you to support their action.
The New York State Board of Regents just approved six new charter schools.
Concerned with the drain of funds from public schools, as well as the problems outlined below, several Regents abstained from voting for approval. This is not surprising given all of the problems that the continual expansion of charter schools causes.
SUNY also has the authority to grant charters and the SUNY Board is the authorizer for the Success Academy charter chain that continually seeks to expand.
Enough is enough. Send your letter to the Regents and the SUNY Board today telling them we need a moratorium on charter school approvals.
Here are four reasons why:
Charters do not want all students and often engage in practices that push students out.
Unlike public schools, charters can expel students under the age of 17. Many engage in repeated suspensions and harsh discipline to push students out. They do not have to follow NYS public school rules for student discipline and appeal.
Charters can control their enrollment. No charters, for example, were obliged to take any of the displaced children of Puerto Rico. That is because they are not required to fill seats when students leave, unlike public schools that welcome all any time during the year.
Charters are not held to high standards of accountability, including the charter law.
Although the New York State charter law says that a “charter school shall demonstrate good faith efforts to attract and retain a comparable or greater enrollment” of students with disabilities, English language learners and students eligible for free or reduced priced lunch, many fail to do so, and yet do not have their charter revoked. The Hebrew Language Academy Charter School chain, was just given permission by the Regents to open another school in Staten Island, even though their flagship school in Brooklyn enrolls about only half of the English Language Learners that it should. HLAC also exacerbates segregation in the area schools– while 31% of the the neighborhood district’s students are white, the percentage of white students at HLAC Brooklyn is 52%.
A recent analysis showed that only 10% of all New York City charter schools actually meet the standard in the law when it comes to English language learners.
Charters are not transparent in governance and reporting.
Unlike district meetings, which are open to the public, the meetings of charter management companies like KIPP, SUCCESS and other chains can be held behind closed doors, even though these CMOs receive tax dollars.
Every year, Success Academy schools flout requirements and do not accurately fill out their Violent and Disruptive Incidences Reports (VADIR). There is a wide discrepancy between their suspensions rates and reported incidents. That violation is ignored despite the repeated complaints by parents of harsh discipline and frequent suspensions.
There is no accurate reporting of the financial impact that charter schools have on district public schools, who are their primary funder.
A research paper commissioned by the New York State Education Department estimated substantial reductions (up to $1000 per student) in Albany public schools in 2010 due to the city’s charter schools. It is time that the fiscal impact on public schools be transparent and taken into account before authorization.
For all of the above and more, it is time for a moratorium on charter schools in New York State while both Boards and the legislature address all of these issues and more. Please send your letter, sponsored jointly by NPE and the New York State Allies for Public Education (NYSAPE) to the members of the Board of Regents and the SUNY Board today.
Please post this link to the letter on social media.
Yay. Thank you NPE.
New York should address all the problems that charter expansions cause as well as the inequities built into so-called choice before expansion. I hope the change in the New York State legislature will force the state to demand more accountability from charter schools, and look at measures to protect public schools from excessive charter drain.
I shared the NPE letter on social media.
Charter schools in New York City and state are not only doing great things for the many tens of thousands of families who opted in, they are increasing per-student funding, parent/teacher satisfaction, and test scores at the traditional public schools they are located closest to: https://www.educationnext.org/charters-and-common-good-spillover-effects-charter-schools-new-york-city/
I have a feeling that the special interests that protect the traditional public school payrolls are about to learn the same kind of lesson “progressives” like Cynthia Nixon did when they floated the idea of getting rid of the property tax cap.
That’s strange. WordPress seems to be repeatedly vanishing my on-topic, TOS-compliant comment.
Well-regulated and thoughtfully authorized charter schools in NYC and NYS are not only delivering excellent outcomes for the tens of thousands of families who opt in to them, they are also increasing parent/teacher satisfaction, per-pupil funding, and test scores at nearby traditional public schools!
https://www.educationnext.org/charters-and-common-good-spillover-effects-charter-schools-new-york-city/
I suspect that as was the case with Cynthia Nixon’s terrible read on public opinion and very quick recalibration on the state property tax cap, politicians will quickly see that actual voters in NYS strongly support charters and following the laws that govern their operation. The special interests that oppose charter schools know this, hence this attempt to circumvent the law and legislative process.