CHARTER SCHOOLS DUMPED

A January 13, 2004 article by the Associated Press reported that none of the three charters for the original three Charter Schools in New York has been recommended for full renewal. The SUNY institute responsible for renewing charters - the New York Charter Schools Association - has declared that the John A. Reisenbach Charter School in NYC "is not an academic success, that it is not an effective, viable organization, and that its fiscal soundness is marginal." One of the other charter schools was told to close its seventh and eighth grades, and the other's charter was renewed for two years instead of the full five. These institute recommendations must soon acted upon by SUNY trustees.

Governor George Pataki called the Charter Schools Act the "single greatest improvement in education in New York State history" when he approved it in 1998 (nice call, George). According to their own website (nycharters.org) there are currently 51 public charter schools in New York "educating" [editor's quotes] over 16,000 students. Of those, the State University of New York has authorized 30, with another four schools set to open in 2004.

The Charter Schools site advertises that they are "free to deploy their resources to best address the needs of the students they teach, to hire a staff that is dedicated to the mission of academic excellence, and to design (and amend) their curriculum and pedagogical approach to improve student teaching and learning." [and that's just some of it]

As of October, 2003, the Charter Schools Institute of the State University of New York has received ten applications to open new schools at proposed locations. These are:

Capital Academy -Troy

School for the Arts - Buffalo

Dr. William Knox School for Experiential Learning - Rochester

Franklin Academy - Rochester

Girls Prep - Manhattan

Grand Concourse Academy for Boys - Bronx

KIPP Tech Valley - Albany

Manhattan - Manhattan

Oracle - Buffalo

Young Women's Leadership - Buffalo

James D. Merriman IV, Executive Director of the Institute notes that "The number and variety of charter applications the Institute and other authorizers have received are notable. Parents, teachers and community leaders continue to hunger for school choice, especially if it means schools that are accountable for results. Public charter schools give them that choice."

The ghost of P.T. Barnum must have moved up to Albany where, we hope, he is enjoying a good laugh putting words like these into Director Merriman IV's mouth. The Journal hopes to tell you more about the "progress" of New York's charter schools in our April issue.

We view charter schools as a national and state attempt to undermine public education. We urge the Commissioner and the legislature to hold charter schools to the same high standards and requirements as the public schools.

RAL