Regents chief: Time to raise charter school cap |
On Board Online • December 14, 2009
By Marc Humbert
Senior Writer
Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch says the cap on the number of charter schools in New York State should be raised to 300, up from 200.
“Let’s do something that gets us another couple of years,” she told On Board.
Tisch said she was calling on the governor and the state Legislature to begin the process of raising the cap because the state was likely to run up against the current limit in January or February. Part of the reason is that New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has become a major charter school advocate and the city Department of Education has authorized numerous charter schools.
Also, raising the cap now could help New York win a share of the $4.35 billion Race to the Top funds being offered up over the next two years by the Obama administration, Tisch said. Both President Barack Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan have been critical of states that don’t allow charter schools or have strict limits on their numbers.
Under the federal scoring system that will be used to evaluate state applications for Race to the Top funds, the treatment of charter schools counts for almost 10 percent of the total score, Tisch noted.
“If the federal government outlines the fact that this is a significant piece of the pie in terms of our ability to attract these dollars, I would simply make the case that since we’re going to be there (raising the cap) anyhow, why bite off your nose to spite your face?” Tisch said.
But Tisch said she is against removing the cap entirely, as some charter school advocates have suggested.
“The cap has allowed us to have a thoughtful expansion and it has attracted the best charter providers in the country,” she said.
When lawmakers and Gov. David Paterson begin considering raising the cap, they should also consider revisit how charter schools are financed, Tisch said.
School districts including the Albany school district have long complained that the current system unfairly siphons resources from them. Disputes over the accuracy of enrollment figures, which determine the size of districts’ payments to charters, have led to contentious relationships.
Tisch said she wants to allow charter schools to operate pre-K programs, to have single boards overseeing multiple schools, and to make it easier for top-performing charter schools to expand, a grade at a time.
On the other side of the coin, Tisch said charters must do more to help English language learners, special needs students and those struggling academically.
While Tisch had previously said she believed it as time to begin a discussion about raising the cap, her interview with On Board marked the first time she had gotten so specific about what she thought should be done.
“I could see expanding by another 100,” she said.