BID TO NIX SUNY SAY ON CHARTERS
A key lawmaker overseeing New York City schools has introduced legislation that would block the opening of new charter facilities in the state, advocates claim.
The bill unveiled by state Sen. John Liu (D-Queens) would strip the State University of New York Board of Trustees of its authority to greenlight new charter schools.
SUNY officials now have dual authority with the state Board of Regents to issue charter school applications, but Liu’s bill calls for the Regents to approve any charter recommended by SUNY.
“I don’t understand the need for this bill. SUNY hasn’t done anything wrong,” said former Gov. George Pataki, who championed New York’s charter school law in 1998. “SUNY has done an excellent job in opening charter schools.”
“Taking authority away from SUNY trustees would make it much harder for charter schools to open,” the former three-term Republican governor. “If the bill passes [the Legislature], Gov. Hochul should veto it.”
There are currently 272 charter schools enrolling 145,000 students in New York City — and a statewide cap of 460 charters. Many charters outperform nearby traditional public schools and some are among the top performers in the state.
They typically have a longer school day and school year and staffers in most charters are not union members.
Liu, who chairs the Senate committee on New York City schools, defended the legislation as eliminating a “loophole” that made SUNY the only entity aside from the Board of Regents to approve charter schools. By comparison, the Regents have the sole authority to approve or reject charter school submissions from the New York City Department of Education or other school districts.
“This bill simply puts SUNY on the same level playing field as other charter authorizers,” Liu said.
Liu said the state Education Department and the Regents — not SUNY — are the experts on K-12 education.
“What does SUNY know about primary and secondary education? They have their hands full running their colleges and universities,” Liu said.
‘Weakening’ the model
But James Merriman, CEO of the NYC Charter School Center, said, “This bill would weaken a nationally recognized accountability model by effectively eliminating SUNY and its highly respected board as an authorizer.”
Columbia Law School professor James Liebman, who has conducted research on charter schools, said, “This bill is a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist.”
Liebman noted that SUNY’s Charter School Institute has a reputation of rigorously reviewing charter school applications and monitoring progress and closing those that perform poorly.
Pataki inserted language into the law that gives SUNY trustees the authority to approve charter school applications because he worried that the Regents — which are appointed by lawmakers more closely allied with the teachers union and the educational establishment — would restrict the opening of the publicly funded alternative schools for disadvantaged students.
Liu said he expects his revision to the charter-school law to pass the Senate after clearing the Education Committee on Monday. Assembly Education Committee Chairman Michael Benedetto (D-Bronx) will carry the measure in that legislative body.
United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew welcomed Liu’s bill, saying: “As the organization that sets policy for all schools, the state Department of Education should have the final authority on charter schools.”
Taking authority away from SUNY trustees would make it much harder for charter schools to open. Former Gov. George Pataki (left)