OUT OF CLASS

Charters’ ‘special’ gap

A WHOPPING 80% of special-needs kids who enroll as kindergartners in city charter schools leave by the time they reach third grade, a report by the Independent Budget Office released Thursday shows.

But the publicly funded, privately operated charter schools, which enroll 6% of city students, hold on to general education students at a slightly higher rate than district schools, according to the study, which covered retention rates for kindergarten through third grade.

The report followed students from 2008 to 2011.

About 70% of students attending charter schools in the 2008-2009 school year remained in the same school three years later, compared with 61% of kids at district schools.

Critics have said for years that charters push out needy kids and serve fewer difficult students. Overall, just 9% of charter school students have special needs — much lower than the citywide average of 18%.

District schools also had a tough time holding onto special-needs kids in the time period covered during the report. Just half who enrolled in traditional public school as kindergartners remained in the same school at the end of grade three.

New York City Charter School Center CEO James Merriman said the study included a sample of just 25 charter students with special needs and said the charters’ overall retention rates were good.

“The narrative that we attrit all kinds of kids at a greater rate just turns out to be false,” said Merriman. “That is really amazing, given that opponents have been so adamant about it.”