Under Attack from School Boards, Education Officials Defend Charters

During a panel with high-ranking education officials, the moderator could not complete his first question about charter schools before the crowd, made up of mostly public school board members, started booing.

Charters schools, like the controversial Success Academy network, present a polarizing policy question. Many public school officials argue that charters, which are also publically funded and open to all students, steal resources from traditional schools and are not constrained by the state regulations and rules traditional schools are bound by.

That greater latitude allows charter schools more freedom to experiment with teaching practices, and Board of Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch pointed out that charters have outperformed their troubled public school counterparts in high-need areas.

“I know it isn’t popular with districts, but I do want to say that I think there is a way for charter schools and the rest of the schools to cohabit well together,” Tisch said. “But to remove charter schools as an option, I think, would be a mistake.”

Joining Tisch for a panel discussion Tuesday at the New York State School Board Association’s 95th convention in New York City was state Education Commissioner John King, New York City Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña, Harvard Professor Paul Reville and NYSSBA Executive Director Timothy Kremer.

This past March the divisions over charter schools were on full display as Gov. Andrew Cuomo held a pro-charter school rally in Albany at the same time New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, a critic of charter schools, traveled to the state capital to hold a universal pre-kindergarten rally.

King said charter schools play a role in an education system in which fewer than 20 out of every 100 black and Latino students graduate college- and career-ready after four years.

“That’s 60 years after Brown v. Board of Education,” King said about the statistic. “Charters should be, from my perspective, a part of the array of options we make available and we have, as a society, a tremendous urgency of creating more seats in good schools.”

Professor Reville said that Massachusetts had trouble convincing officials at charter schools and traditional public schools to work together, but the factions have since gotten over their early enmity and now work together.

“It takes a willing audience. The mainstream school system was, frankly, hostile to the charter schools so there was no audience in the mainstream school system for practices charter schools had pioneered and found successful,” Reville said. “[Massachusetts] Gov. [Deval] Patrick and I used to say it shouldn’t be about a battle between mainstream schools and charter schools. It should be about seeking out good practices and good schools and shame on us if we don’t do everything we can to imitate this.”

In New York City, Fariña has already started a new program aimed at achieving this end.

“We started something called 'Learning Partners' where we learn from each other—keeping in mind that charter schools' original purpose was to share innovative practices,” Farina said. “We also need them to come to the table and tell us what they’re doing. I really look at it for what’s best for the city and for the kids.”

Going forward, the next challenge for the state will be to expand charter schools in upstate New York, Tisch said. Currently in New York City there are about 200 charter schools; upstate there are around 50.

Last month five upstate families filed a lawsuit against the state claiming the state shortchanges students in charter schools upstate by not providing money for space.