Raise the Cap

Last week, as co-chairman of the Charter School Committee of the State University of New York, I joined my colleagues to approve the final four available charters to open new schools in underperforming communities across New York State.I felt pride, because the 50 schools that will now be operating under a SUNY charter resoundingly confirm all that we had hoped for in 1998, when the New York State legislature first approved this major educational reform. Throughout New York City and State, charter schools have significantly improved educational outcomes, in some cases dramatically so. More importantly, they have belied the notion that, somehow, nothing could be done to help students, who were falling behind. In this way, they have infused hope into the system, while also pointing the way to new areas for reform that can improve public education for all children.As we approved these last four schools, I also felt sadness, because while we were able to grant the four charters we did, we also had to reject applications from two additional schools, both of which have outstanding track records in helping inner city children excel academically. With the charter school cap set at 50, I had to tell the applicants for the Carl. C. Icahn Charter School-Far Rockaway East and the Collegiate Charter School in Brooklyn: Sorry, we cannot help you. Unfortunately, unless and until we can reverse that decision, 421 young children, who would have been slat ed for those new schools, will now be denied a chance at a better future. Moreover, because education reformers now fear that the door has been shut on new applications, they are likely to focus their limited resources on finding opportunities elsewhere. This will further retard the pace of change and innovation here in New York.Lastly, I also felt anger. The need to raise the cap on charter schools has been widely acknowledged across the political spectrum for some time. Governor Pataki has called for raising the cap. So has Mayor Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Joel Klein. State Senate Minority Leader David Paterson is also a supporter. Last summer, I was under tremendous pressure to deny a charter to the United Federation of Teachers, which was seeking two charters, apparently in an effort to demonstrate that union work rules are not an impediment to educational achievement. Because I believe that educational opportunity must come before politics, I approved the charters, while noting that there was no better way for the UFT to express its commitment to charter schools than to acknowledge that the cap would have to be lifted. I had the distinct impression at the time that the UFT president, Randi Weingarten, understood my point of view and also saw an increase in the number of charter schools as inevitable.Here we are, though, well into the new session, when everyone is talking about change and reform in Albany, and the State Assembly under the control of Speaker Sheldon Silver still appears indifferent to raising the cap, in effect demonstrating a lack of compassion for the children, who remain in underperforming schools. And, distressingly, we just learned that in New York City the number of Schools Under Registration Review (which will close unless they improve) has increased to 40 from 33. This development appears to confirm the underwhelming National Assessment for Educational Progress results late last year, which called into question earlier State tests that had appeared to indicate significant progress. Clearly, New York City has a long way to go in the effort to improve our public schools.While I do not doubt that Mr. Silver also understands the importance of raising the cap, the problem, as everyone familiar with Albany knows, is that politics there does not work that way. If past practice is a meaningful indicator, and there is no reason to doubt otherwise, the speaker is carefully weighing how much importance education reformers place on raising the cap, so that he can trade his consent for consideration on some other issue, which he alone probably has in mind. Typically, the merit of the actual legislation counts for little. This kind of narrow political calculation must come to an end. It’s time to raise the cap now.Mr. Daniels is vice-chairman of the Board of Trustees of the State University of New York and co-chairman of the Charter School Committee.

Raise the Cap

Raise the Cap

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