Education Week - March 12, 2014 - 10

N.Y.C.'s Charter School Debate Moves to State Capitol
Pro-charter groups
rally to share space
By Katie Ash
Thousands of charter school advocates
in New York rallied in the
capital city of Albany last week to
protest a decision by New York City
Mayor Bill de Blasio to rescind a
handful of agreements that allowed
charters and other schools to share
space, rent-free, with other public
schools in his city.
Although the recently inaugurated
mayor decided to move forward with
a majority of the co-location agreements
under his jurisdiction, he
denied space to two charter schools
set to open next fall and withdrew
an agreement with one existing
middle school. All three are part of
the Success Academy charter school
network, a city-based network of 22
schools run by Eva S. Moskowitz, an
outspoken critic of Mr. de Blasio.
The city's action, which will affect
about 700 charter school students
in the 1.1 million-student school
system, makes good on Mayor de
Blasio's campaign promise to revisit
the co-location policies of his predecessor,
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg,
under whom the charter school community
in New York grew from 22
schools in 2003 to 159 by 2012-13.
During his campaign last year,
Mr. de Blasio vowed to review the
dozens of co-location agreements for
both charter and district-run schools
that were approved near the end of
the Bloomberg administration.
Critics of the co-location policy
have said that the agreements force
district-run schools to cut programs
because of lack of space and create
rivalries between the regular
schools and the charter schools that
move in, sometimes pouring their
own funds into renovations and improvements
that make students attending
the regular schools feel like
second-class citizens.
Of 49 co-location proposals, Mr. de
Blasio's team announced decisions
on 45, deferring four proposals for
schools scheduled to open in 2015-16.
Thirty-six of the plans were allowed
to proceed (although one was
revised), including 14 proposals for
charter schools, five of which are
part of the Success Academy network.
The administration rescinded
agreements with a total of nine
schools-three charters and six district
schools. Alternative plans were
announced for three of the district
schools, while the other three were
nixed altogether.
Reasons for Rescinding
In a memo announcing the deci-
sions, the city's department of education
said it focused on rescinding
co-location agreements for schools
that would mix elementary and
high school campuses, schools that
had fewer than 250 students, and
schools that would require significant
construction.
"We've said that we would have a
standard of fairness that requires
us to say if a charter school happens
to be well resourced, that
we're going to ask them to help
us out," Mayor de Blasio said at
a Feb. 28 press conference. "And
if they don't happen to be well resourced,
we're not going to charge
them a dime in rent." The Success
Academy schools are considered a
well-resourced charter organization
with its leader, Ms. Moskowitz,
coming under fire for her $475,000
salary in 2011-12, which is about
twice as much as the city's schools
chancellor.
One major sticking point for the
charter school community was
Mayor de Blasio's decision to end
the co-location agreement with Harlem
4, a Success Academy charter
middle school that has been operating
since 2008. On the 2013 state
mathematics exam, Harlem 4's students
performed in the top 1 percent
of all schools in the state.
"To revoke a charter that had been
in place since 2008 from a charter
school that had performed so well on
the state's math and science tests is
unfortunate and one of the worstcase
scenarios that is coming to
play," said Nina Rees, the president
EDUCATIONWEEK WEBINAR
and chief executive officer of the
Washington-based National Alliance
for Public Charter Schools.
Andrew Malone, the principal of
the 194-student Harlem 4, called
his response to the decision "a mix
of deep heartbreak and also anger
and confusion."
Because the enrollment process
for middle schools for the upcoming
school year has already been completed,
most of the students now attending
Harlem 4 would be forced to
attend their zoned middle schools if
the school closes, he said. That is not
a good option for those families, said
Mr. Malone, since the district-run
schools in the neighborhood have
single-digit passing rates on state
exams.
Joining the Rally
In response to the de Blasio administration's
action, Ms. Moskowitz,
the founder and CEO of the
Success Academy network, closed
schools March 4 in order to bus students
to the pro-charter rally in Albany.
She called it a "civic field trip"
and promised to hold classes on
the bus. Ms. Moskowitz also closed
schools last October for a march
across the Brooklyn Bridge in support
of charter schools following
Mayor de Blasio's election to office.
The Albany charter school rally,
which drew thousands of supporters,
coincided with a long-planned
event at the state capitol organized
by Mayor de Blasio with the intention
of drumming up support for his
plan to impose a new tax on wealthy
New Yorkers to expand prekindergarten
and after-school programs in
city schools.
Faced with the competing rallies,
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo-
who, like Mr. de Blasio, is a Democrat-joined
the pro-charter group
and pledged to "save charter
schools."
One faction of the charter school
community in New York City, however,
is taking a more moderate approach
to the new administration's
moves. The currently unnamed
group, which has the support of
34 charter school organizations
that operate 43 such schools, condemned
the pro-charter rally, saying
it "is not the right approach at
this time."
Richard Berlin, the executive director
of Harlem RBI charter school,
which is a part of the coalition, told
Education Week that while he was
in "broad agreement" with those
marching in support of charter
schools, the day had been long set
aside to promote universal prekindergarten.
He said that "we felt it
should be kept that way, both for
the sake of supporting the agenda
and ensuring that charters were
not seen as undermining the very
important goals ... championed by
the mayor."
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Education Week - March 12, 2014

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