Board Likely To Okay More Charter Schools
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The state Board of Regents is expected to give the green light today to five more charter schools in New York City. The approval would bring Mayor Bloomberg one step closer to realizing his campaign pledge of creating 100 charter schools across the five boroughs by 2009.
“We’re thrilled to have these schools, thrilled to welcome them into the portfolio of public schools that serve children across New York City,” the head of the education department’s office of new schools, Garth Harries, said. The schools likely to be approved include Community Roots, Democracy Preparatory, Harlem Success, East New York Preparatory, and South Bronx Classical.
Privately managed and publicly funded, the independent public schools are shielded from many rules, regulations, and union contracts that govern conventional public schools
In New York City, about 12,000 students attend 47 charter schools, and thousands more are on waiting lists. Of those students, more than 90% are black and Latino and 75% are eligible for the federal government’s free lunch program.
Competition to open schools next year was tough, with more than 40 applicants clamoring to be granted one of the 15 charters remaining for the entire state.
Under the Charter Schools Act of 1998, the state can authorize no more than 100 charter schools.
In addition the five schools in Harlem, Brooklyn, and the Bronx, a Board of Regents subcommittee voted yesterday to approve a school in Buffalo. The full board, which typically follows the subcommittee’s recommendations, is scheduled to vote Friday.