Federal officials yesterday tipped their hats to New York’s proposal to lift the cap on charter schools.
The proposal by Buffalo Assemblyman Sam Hoyt — first reported in yesterday’s Post — contains a host of other measures that aim to put New York in better standing in the competition for an unprecedented $4.3 billion in federal education aid.
These include calls for more equitable funding of charter schools — particularly for building space — and changes that would allow teacher tenure decisions to be based at least in part on how their students perform.
With less than 40 charters remaining unclaimed, New York could hit its cap of 200 as early as January if no action is taken.
“It sounds like New York is making some great steps toward the administration’s reform agenda, and we look forward to seeing their application,” said Peter Cunningham, a spokesman for the US Department of Education.
“Certainly these are all the kinds of reforms we’ve been urging states to adopt.”
The nationwide budget crunch coupled with the dangling of oodles of dough has already spurred a number of states to adopt measures similar to those proposed in New York.
It’s left charter school supporters wondering why the state has yet to act.
“You have to ask yourselves, why are these getting off the dime and our state has not?” said Peter Murphy, policy director for the New York Charter Schools Association. “Comparatively speaking, New York has done nothing.”
Despite the trend elsewhere, plenty of state lawmakers said they were still eager to take a more measured approach on the issue.
Senate Education Committee Chairwoman Suzi Oppenheimer (D-Westchester) said she would back lifting the cap only after it has been reached or if maintaining it would bar New York outright from the federal funding.
Finalized eligibility rules are expected to be announced next month.
“It’s very important to me that we are at least in the running for the Race to the Top funds,” she said.
“[But] it isn’t like all the opportunities for chartering have been utilized. They haven’t.”
As far as the broader changes proposed for charter schools — such as raising their funding — Oppenheimer called for a “non-biased, non-political” study on the effectiveness of charter schools before such a move was taken.
A spokesman for Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver also emphasized that there was still breathing room under the charter ceiling, and that conversion of traditional schools to charter schools didn’t count toward the cap.
“Speaker Silver remains focused on the state’s budget problems,” said the spokesman, Dan Weiller.