DiNapoli v. Kipp

The state comptroller, Thomas DiNapoli, has issued an audit faulting the KIPP Academy charter school in the Bronx for spending tens of thousands of dollars in school money on staff retreats to the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas. To which we can only say, if the teachers in the rest of the city would only get the results that the Knowledge Is Power Program does, we'd be happy to airlift all 100,000 of them for an annual vacation in an island paradise.

The whole idea of charter schools is to liberate school leaders from the bureaucracy that stifles innovation and excellence in the centralized, government-run schools. If charters are to be subject to second-guessing from Mr. DiNapoli on the minutiae of their purchasing, accounting, and human resources practices, as his audit does in mind-numbing detail, it only strengthens the argument that charter schools are an insufficient reform, and that what are really needed are vouchers.

The results of KIPP students on state math and English tests far exceed those for other Bronx schools and other New York state schools. Parents understand the benefits of the school; the comptroller reports there is a waiting list of more than 200 students for spaces that might open up in the school. School officials told the comptroller that the off-site retreats help build a collaborative team spirit among the teachers at the school and help reinforce the school's culture.

What's more, they say they are planning to go ahead with another retreat this year. Good for them. Their plan is no doubt a relief to all of those who want KIPP to maintain its tradition of excellence rather than being cowed by meddlesome Albany bureaucrats. And the thing for Mr. DiNapoli to do is stopping picking on the children and the parents who are trying to get them the best education possible. The charter school experiments are such an illogical place to start looking for profligacy that New Yorkers are going to start wondering about his motives.