More than a quarter century after New York lawmakers let charter schools operate in the state, they continue to limit their number to just a few hundred. And strangle existing ones by denying them fair public funding.
It’s long past time for that to change — and not just because these limits are all about appeasing the anti-charter teachers unions, but to give more New York kids access to a better education.
Slam the door on the unions, ditch (or at least lift) the cap and fund these schools fairly.
This is Gov. Hochul’s chance to prove she puts students first as she eyes re-election next year — and as New York voters have shifted right — by making it a top priority in the upcoming legislative session.
The state still has room to add 84 more charters before it reaches its 460-school limit, but New York City, which fields 282 charters, has already hit its ceiling.
Plus, the Legislature’s nickel-and-diming over the years leaves charters getting far less per-pupil funding than other public schools — in New York City, roughly half as much.
Meanwhile, another glitch in the law has been depriving older charters, and those that had been filled to capacity, of reimbursements for rental costs, unlike other charters.
As a result, these schools have had to steal from their operating budgets (themselves far less than what traditional schools get) to cover the shortfall — at the expense of their 27,000 students.
Hochul should demand an immediate fix to this flaw, along with a cap lift and fair funding for all charters.
Think about it: Thousands of kids are on waitlists, desperate for a charter seat.
That desperation is understandable: Last year (much like most years), charter-school kids outperformed those in regular public schools by 9 percentage points on the state English test and 13 points in math.
Top black and Hispanic charter kids saw stunning improvements over their peers at regular schools: About 66% of blacks at charters, for instance, scored proficient, nearly double the 38% in traditional schools; for Hispanics, it was 64% vs. 40%.
Teachers unions, which dominate traditional public schools but not most charters, are embarrassed by such results and fear the competition — and a membership dip if more charters open.
And because they donate so heavily to Dem campaigns, Democrats have granted them their wishes by capping charters and depriving them of funds.
Yet New York voters are shifting rightward: In the 2022, Republican Lee Zeldin came closer to winning the race for governor than any other GOPer in decades.
And last November, Republican Donald Trump made hefty gains over 2020 in nearly every single Empire State county, including massive gains in New York City.
Do Hochul and other Dems want to risk losing more ground next year by continuing to snub voters who overwhelmingly support charters?
But never mind the politics; putting kids first should always matter most.
Here’s hoping Hochul makes a charter-lift and funding-fix top requirements in her legislative agenda, which she’ll outline in her Jan. 14 State of the State address.
And then sees they get passed, despite inevitable opposition from teachers-union water-carriers like Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins.
New York kids deserve nothing less.
