(From the New York Post, August 21, 2009)
By THOMAS W. CARROLL
NEW York is lagging behind as other states move to make their laws more charter-school friendly to compete for $4 billion in federal Race to the Top aid.
Several states already answered the challenge with pro-charter actions, notes Joe Williams, executive director of Democrats for Education Reform. Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana and Tennessee raised the caps on the number of authorized charter schools in their states — and Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick pledges to do the same. Connecticut and Rhode Island recently reversed cuts in charter-school funding.
The Race to the Top will reward states for policies that encourage the growth of charter schools. Public comment on Education Secretary Arne Duncan’s draft guidelines for the challenge ends this month, with final rules to be published in October.
New York already has a problem in that a law (passed in April 2008) bans the use of student-test data in decisions on granting tenure to teachers. Both Obama and Duncan have condemned such laws — with Duncan specifically citing New York’s, along with California’s and Wisconsin’s, as a Race to the Top liability.
According to a report at gothamschools.org, Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch is challenging the president and Secretary Duncan to a “verbal duel” over this issue. Maybe she can talk them around that one — but she’ll need more luck when it comes to the Race to the Top challenges on charter schools.
New York recently froze charter-school funding, costing charter schools around the state more than $50 million. Repeated promises from Gov. Paterson and the state Senate Democratic leadership to restore $30 million so far haven’t been honored. And the demand to create charters will bump against the state’s cap on the total number of these schools (200) as early as 2011. What could New York do?
First, Paterson needs to carry through on his promise to restore that $30 million in charter-school funding. The state should also finally give charter schools funding parity with regular public schools, including support for facilities.
Second, raise the cap on charters.
Third, the state’s two chartering entities need to be tougher in closing charters that aren’t working out. One of them, The State University of New York, has done a pretty good job closing down low-performing charters, shuttering eight schools thus far. But the Regents, although frequently critical of charters, have closed only two — when at least three other Regents-authorized schools clearly should be closed.
Fourth, the state’s charter-school law and the state’s chartering entities should no longer treat all charter applicants equally. Once a charter has established a strong track record, it should be eligible for a fast-track process for charter renewal, have the option of a longer charter term than the standard five years and be given priority for expanding.
Fifth, really good schools backed up by mature networks that provide crucial backup support should be given “super charters” that give them greater freedom to innovate and the ability to expand much more rapidly.
The threshold for “super charters” might be schools that post 90 percent or greater proficiency rates on state tests while serving 90 percent or more minority populations — in effect, the schools doing the best job of closing the racial-achievement gap.
These proven, super-performing schools should be able to open multiple campuses, receive longer charter terms, be trusted with greater flexibility from state teacher-certification requirements (which have little or no correlation with teaching ability) and relieved of various paperwork burdens.
New York’s chances of competing for Race to the Top dollars already are impaired by the state tenure law. State leaders shouldn’t compound its problems by failing to implement needed charter-school reforms.
Thomas W. Carroll is president of the Foundation for Education Reform & Ac countability.