Below are exerpts from the online NYCOSS service about this issue. We all have copies of the full text of the bill through Bob Oaks's office if we are in his district. Anybody else need it?
CHARTER DEAL INKED
Bill passes in middle of night
The legislature returned to Albany Thursday to enact a new piece of
charter school legislation. The action was taken presumably in time to
permit the Governor to sign the pay raise legislation by Monday. Working
into the wee hours of the morning, the Senate and the Assembly each
passed a new charter school bill which would provide for the following:
Governance
- Total of 100 new schools, 50 by (Republican controlled) SUNY and 50 by
the (Assembly controlled) Regents or local boards of educa-tion. The
Regents would have sign off pow-ers on local school plans, but can only
comment on SUNY plans. There is no limit on the number of public schools
which could convert to charter status (but such conversion would be
subject to a form of local referen-dum);
- Charter schools would operate on a renew-able 5 year charter;
- The schools must serve at least 50 students with at least 3 teachers;
- Charter schools would be subject to Freedom of Information and Open
Meetings Laws;
Teachers
- Schools with average daily attendance of more than 250 pupils would be
required to unionize and must be represented by the same organization
(NYSUT or NEA) as the district in which they are formed. They would
receive retirement benefits like regular school teachers and be subject
to the Civil Service Law.;
- No more than 5 teachers (or 30% whichever is less) of the teachers may
be uncertified;
- Student attendance would be determined by lottery. Only students
living in the district or previously attending the school (or their
sib-lings) could have preferential treatment;
Financing
- Charter schools would receive the approved operating expense
associated with the district of residence of every student who attends
the charter school;
- Districts would be required to make the payments in 6 equal
installments beginning in July or risk having the amount deducted from
state aid;
- The charter school would estimate the num-ber of students expected for
purposes of de-termining this amount, any reconciliation would not take
place until a year later;
- Charter schools would be tax-free entities and would be empowered to
issue bonds and other debt without voter approval;
Accountability
- Charter schools would be required to hold students to at least the
same graduation re-quirements as regular public schools;
- They would also have to meet all health and safety requirements, civil
rights laws, and student assessment requirements required of other
regular public schools.
ANALYSIS
Albany has become less of a city where weighty policies are debated
and decided on their own merits and more of a bazaar where rug merchants
haggle price and barter their wares. Last year, when the Senate,
Assembly, and Governor couldn’t agree on whether they could afford the
STAR and LADDER programs and tax cuts (respectively), they simply agreed
to a 3 way swap and enacted them all. This cynicism has reached a new
level in this special session of the Legislature. After trying several
possible combinations of trades (Pay raises for charter schools, Pay
raises for charter schools, school discipline and principal tenure) the
Legislature and Governor finally hit on a winning combination: the
Governor will sign the pay raise bill passed by the Legislature last
week and in return, the Legislature has passed the Northeast Dairy
Compact, some modest budget process reforms, and charter school
legislation.
While the charter school bill meets many of the tests we outlined
in our Policy Report (on the web at www.nyscoss.org), it still contains
may flaws which render objectionable the package as a whole. Probably
the worst feature is the financing mechanism devised by the Legislature.
Funding Issue
Charter schools estimate the number of pupils expected from each
surrounding district, and receive both the state aid and local levy
associated with each pupil (calculated as Approved Operating Expense) in
their dis-trict of residence. If the charter school overestimates its
enrollment the reconciliation isn’t performed until the next school
year.
Worse is the realization that this will simply be an erosion of
resources in the public school. The marginal cost of each additional
student is essential nothing. Another chair is added to a class, the
student already lives on a bus route and the building is heated and lit
anyway. By the same token, the marginal savings from the elimination of
a few students is also negligible. Removing a portion of a school
district’s revenue without a corresponding drop in expenditures will
mean that the difference will have to be made up somewhere.
As a result, we see this charter school legislation as having one
of two possible effects: either it will result in higher local property
taxes as districts backfill revenue holes created by the charter
schools, or it will result in degradation of the program of the district
as it struggles to make due with fewer resources.
Either scenario is unacceptable.
The New York State Council of School Superintendents, while not
opposed to the concept of charter schools generally, finds that this
legislation will have a detrimental effect on public school districts,
particularly in poor, rural and urban areas, and therefore cannot be
supported.
Furthermore, we take exception to the manner in which legislation
with such broad implications was rushed to a vote in the waning moments
of the year by a lame duck Legislature intent on ensuring their own pay
raises.
NYSCOSS will work in the upcoming session to enact changes to this
legislation which will render charter schools funding neutral to the
local school district. In this way, the charter school itself can thrive
or die on its own merits with less impact on the public school districts
nearby.
--
Thomas Rogers
Associate Director
New York State Council of School Superintendents
518-449-1063