Political Whisperer
By Robert Hornak
There is a battle going on in New York over control of who can approve a charter school, and who wins could determine if charters will continue to increase and offer an important educational option for poor and minority families, or if they will be suffocated and left to wither on the vine.
New York passed the New York Charter Schools Act in 1998, creating a type of tuition-free, taxpayer-funded public school that operated independent of the existing school systems and offered many different educational options.
They have been consistently outperforming traditional public schools across the state, especially in NYC where they serve mostly poor and minority communities. And this has angered the teachers unions to no end. They will do just about anything to eliminate this option and keep every child trapped in the failing system they help run.
The ongoing struggle has been between who has the final authority to approve new charter schools. In a 2010 amendment, the cap on the number of schools was increased to 460 statewide, with strict limits on how many of those can be in NYC.
Both the Board of Regents, whose members are appointed by the legislature (and who are overwhelmingly controlled by the teachers unions and their contributions), and the trustees of the State University of New York, who are appointed by the governor, can approve charters. But the Charter Schools Act also gave SUNY the power to override applications denied by the Board of Regents.
And this is at the heart of the current battle that could ultimately determine the future of charter schools in NY.
The Board of Regents tried to block a new charter proposed to open in the Bronx this fall. But SUNY overrode their objections and approved the Strive Charter School, a unique school that will operate 7-days a week, 12-months a year, from 7am to 7pm to provide incredible flexibility and support for working families who may have different needs and schedules.
The technical issue is that while the state only has around 352 charters operating in NY, NYC is currently at its limit with 285 operating charters. However, this is not a new charter but rather a transferred charter from a Success Academy school that was closed and moved to Strive to renew. Both schools are run by former NYC Councilwoman Eva Moskowitz.
So naturally the Board of Regents is parroting the objections put forth in a joint lawsuit by the NY State United Teachers union boss Melinda Person and United Federation of Teachers, Local 2 head Michael Mulgrew where they claim this “scheme” disregards the intent of the law “which is to limit the drain on district resources and wreaks havoc with the New York City Department of Education’s (“DOE”) budget.”
Meanwhile, the school is set to open this fall to serve K-4 students and has received 270 applications with plans to serve 540 students. And since charter schools only receive $16,600 per student while traditional public schools are receiving an incredible $42,168 per student – the highest in the country. And not for the best results either. Recently, US News ranked NY 17th in the nation on education, and testing has shown in NYC that barely 50% of primary school students are at grade level.
Cost per student shows that charters are a bargain, not a strain. The only thing that appears to be wreaking havoc are the actions of the Board of Regents, the teachers unions, and the NYC DOE by working against the best interests of NY’s students and struggling families.
Nevertheless, the very well paid heads of the teachers unions will push this ridiculous lawsuit, fronting for the Board of Regents, who have approved far fewer of the states charters than SUNY – 220 by SUNY and only 92 by the Board of Regents.
Not to mention that there was great opposition to even allowing the reauthorization of charters issued to closed schools, so their agenda has been clear from the start.
Ultimately, this comes down to who is interested in helping poor and minority children get a good education and who only wants to protect their institutional power. Let’s hope the people fighting for our children win.
Robert Hornak is a veteran political consultant who has previously worked for the NYC office of the Republican Assembly Leader and served as Executive Director of the Queens Republican Party. He can be reached at rahornak@gmail.com and @roberthornak on X.
