By Carl Campanile & Yoav Gonen
Department of Education is preparing for 100000 charter school students within four years
According to a NYC Department of Education document the city is preparing for 100000 students to be served in public charter schools by 2013.
That would mean nearly one in every 10 city public-school students could be attending a charter as early as 2013. A DOE spokeswoman cautioned that the current state legislative cap on the number of charter schools 200 statewide could limit such ambitious growth plans.
The public charter school movement got another boost this past weekend with educational philanthropist Eli Broad announcing he will donate a combined $2.5 million to two charter-management companies -- Uncommon Schools and Success Charter Network. He also endorsed continuing mayoral control of the schools. The state law that gave Mayor Michael Bloomberg authority over the schools is set to expire on June 30.
I think mayoral control is vital said Broad. He suggested that a dramatic increase in New York Citys public charter schools could not happen without mayoral leadership.
People say its taking money away from the public-school system he said. Thats nonsense. These charters are public schools. Theyre laboratories for success that others can emulate within a public-school system. So Im a very strong believer in mayoral control.
The Department of Education is preparing space for a whopping 100000 students in charter schools within four years -- quadrupling the number of kids in charters today according to a DOE personnel document.
Asked at a Harlem event about his goals for charter-school growth Schools Chancellor Joel Klein said In an ideal world parents will have . . . great choices for their kids. He added I think this debate about what the label on the school is is a debate about politics and special interests and everything else.
The teachers union and its allies are campaigning to slow the expansion of charters -- privately managed schools mostly exempt from union and other bureaucratic rules.
Under Mayor Bloomberg and Klein the number of charter schools will have grown from 17 in 2002 to at least 99 this September with about 32500 students enrolled. But a DOE spokeswoman downplayed the 100000 figure saying the city would seek to enroll a minimum of 50000 students in charters by 2012 with enough seats available to serve twice that amount. She cautioned that a state legislative cap on the number of charter schools -- 200 statewide -- could impede that growth.
The citys charter expansion plans were buoyed after prominent educational philanthropist Eli Broad announced yesterday that he had agreed to donate a combined $2.5 million to two charter-management companies -- Uncommon Schools and Success Charter Network.
I regret that Los Angeles where I live does not have mayoral control. I look across America and I see 14000 to 15000 school boards frankly made up of political wannabes well-meaning parents people representing labor organizations -- many of whom think theyre in the business of giving jobs away rather than educating kids said Broad.
Broad said major improvements in urban education have come only when mayors have been given direct control and he suggested that a dramatic increase in New York City charters wouldnt happen without Bloomberg in charge.
