ALBANY — A furious Mayor Bloomberg yesterday blasted a charter-school overhaul plan proposed by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, calling it a “wolf in sheep’s clothing” that would victimize children and cost taxpayers as much as $700 million in federal aid.
Silver’s bill would double to 400 the state’s nearly exhausted cap on charters — but gut the program by creating onerous new hurdles to their construction, the mayor said.
The bill, he said, “would, under the guise of lifting the charter cap, halt the progress we have made providing better educational options for tens of thousands of children who desperately need them.”
CHARTER SCHOOL BILL DISHONORS MLK JR: BLOOMBERG
Any expansion of charter schools faces fierce resistance from the United Federation of Teachers and the state’s other powerful teachers unions, as well as their allies in the Legislature. They argue that the privately run schools siphon resources away from public classrooms.
Bloomberg described the bill, co-sponsored by Senate Democratic Leader John Sampson, as “a wolf in sheep’s clothing . . . that would destroy a charter law that is a national model — and surely weaken our application for federal dollars.”
“There are tens of thousands of New York City children on charter-school waiting lists, and they deserve better than this.”
He appealed to Gov. Paterson and legislators to “oppose this bait-and-switch in favor of a simple lifting of the charter cap, which is what President Obama’s Race to the Top [federal funds] competition calls for.”
The mayor is incensed at a provision that would allow the Board of Regents — a panel handpicked by charter-wary Legislature Democrats — near-total control over future school approvals.
Under current law, either the Regents or State University trustees can set up and approve charter schools. The city’s Department of Education can issue charters subject to approval of the regents or SUNY trustees.
The regents have historically been stingier in granting charters.
The board granted a charter to only one school, set to open in the city in September. The DOE initiated 16. The SUNY Board of Trustees, which is relegated to an advisory role under the Legislature’s bill, approved the remaining 12.
The hard-line legislation — introduced on the cusp of Tuesday’s Race to the Top application deadline — rejects most of the changes Paterson and Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch say are needed to win the federal money.
Paterson Secretary Larry Schwartz said the governor summoned lawmakers to meet in Albany at 8 tonight to consider a revised bill that would, among other things, make charter-school operators more accountable and restore the role of the SUNY trustees and the city DOE.
Legislative sources said Silver and Sampson might resist the move by making sure neither house could muster enough members to hold a legal session. Legislative leaders plan to vote on their own bill tomorrow morning.
“Contrary to Mayor Bloomberg’s statements, this bill would place no limit on continued charter-school growth in New York City,” Silver said.
“The only limits it places are on his and Chancellor [Joel] Klein’s unchecked ability to completely disregard the voices of traditional public-school parents in siting decisions.”
Charter advocates said the legislation would cripple the DOE’s practice of allowing charter schools to share buildings with public schools. Under the bill, charters would need the approval of parents of the public school’s students before moving in.
Additional reporting by Yoav Gonen