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thrown for a loop
May 28, 2009
New York could be boxed out of Duncan’s Race to the Top funds
There’s another round of federal stimulus dollars that local school districts can hope for, but it may be out of reach for New York schools. That’s because the state has a law Secretary of Education Arne Duncan says could jeopardize applications for the funds: a cap on the number of charter schools educators are allowed to create.
Duncan told Congress last week that, in awarding a new pot of stimulus funds meant to encourage innovation, he will give preference to states without charter school caps. He said he would also give preference to states with caps that agree to lift them.
The pot includes $5 billion to be given through a competitive grant process known as the “Race to The Top.” Chancellor Joel Klein has indicated that he wants to apply for Race to the Top funds to expand innovations such as the citywide data system and the bonus program for schools whose students show improvement on test scores.
Duncan himself said on a visit to a Brooklyn charter school the day after he announced the Race to the Top program that he hopes to receive applications from New York. “I fully expect New York City and New York State to put together a great proposal,” Duncan said that day. “In many ways, you are already setting the standard.”
The new promise to deny funds to states with charter caps could mean those proposals aren’t as happily met by the federal government. Under lobbying pressure from the teachers union, the state legislature has capped the number of charter schools in New York at 200.
The promise also could be a political tactic to offer support to charter schools. Duncan’s words will surely boost the arguments of charter school supporters like Mayor Bloomberg who have called for lifting New York’s cap entirely.
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May 28th, 2009 8:58 pm
Take a look at a meeting at IS 278K opposing the placement of a charter school
http://www.gerritsenbeach.net/2009/05/27/community-to-hebrew-language-charter-academy-hla-go-away/
If Duncan/Obama decided to deprive NYS of funds due to a charter school cap he would face a huge backlash … probably lead by Schumer and Weiner …in many communities, including Albany and Buffalo, the opposition to charter schools is enormous … ironically it is the arrogance of the charter school supporters that has galvinized opposition … the chances of the cap being lifted are about the same as the odds of the Knicks winning an NBA final game!
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May 28th, 2009 9:39 pm
Peter,
Curious to follow your name link, but not working.Ya mean the final game of any given season? 39% odds, though they did win this year’s. (wink)
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May 28th, 2009 10:26 pm
massachusetts is slated to miss out because of our cap as well.
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May 29th, 2009 5:31 am
Duncan and Obama can keep their bogus stimulus money. This is worse than NCLB. These funds are union busting at their best, and help no one but the rich philanthropists who look to benefit from charters. In essence, it’s…the charter schools get millions, while the public schools get “change”.
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May 29th, 2009 10:34 am
I am still looking for a fully thought out explantion for why charter caps should be lifted, one that accounts for the original reasoning for the caps and addresses — rather than steamrolls over — major objections to lifting the caps.
* If the caps were put in place to allow us to evaluate whether or not charters were actually suprerior to traditional public schools or what kinds of charters were more successful than others, what are the lessons that that we should incorporate into the new charter legislation that lifts the cap?
* If charters are about innovation and experimentation, what success rate do we expect on these experiments? What will be do minimize the impact of those failures on students?
* If the non-charter public schols have improved under mayoral control, as I think most charter proponents believe, why we need more charter schools? Shouldn’t we just continue on the path we are on?
Just wonderin’.
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May 29th, 2009 1:32 pm
Lift the cap with the following caveats:
1) Charter schools that are underperforming in relationship to their home district should be closed at the end of their charter. Not enough weak charter schools are closed down. Weak charter schools are a financial drain on the system and they hurt kids.
2) Charter schools that are significantly outperforming their home districts should be allowed to replicate. If your school has 70% low income kids and is outperforming the wealthiest districts in the state, you’re doing something right and should give more kids the opportunity.
3) Charter schools with new ideas or models should be allowed; new schools that mooch off older models (especially unsuccessful ones) should not be authorized. This promotes innovation.
4) Districts that don’t want more charter schools can minimize expansion of new charters (though not the replicas), by adopting the practices of charter schools that work. That forces failing schools to try to learn from their neighborhood charter schools that are currently kicking their rears. I still can’t figure out why district schools aren’t visiting my school to learn from what we do here…and why they won’t let us visit their schools that are successful.
5) The cap should be lifted with priority in districts with the greatest need.
Just some random thoughts…
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May 29th, 2009 3:05 pm
Ceolaf:
Indeed NYC NON-charters are improving too.Or so the Kleinberg PR machine would have us believe as part of justifying their permanent coronation.
To whit (District 2 results only at hand, non-charters):
ELA Grades 3-8, Levels 3+4:
2006 = 73.8%
2007 = 75.6%
2008 = 79.2%
2009 = 85.8%Just as a logic example and pending city-wide figures, I would suggest that charters need to beat that 2008 to 2009 6.6% bump (4% per year pace) by a statistically significant margin… or throw in the towel and concede a draw, despite their kid-glove treatment and infusion of billionaire eduphilanthropreneur (tax-deductible) support.
Got politically motivated grade inflation?
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May 30th, 2009 2:10 pm
If its about the success of our children a cap should never come into play here. Whatever is working for a state or city the funds should made available. There should never be a catch 22 when concerning our children. He’s only trying to stimulate more corporations to figure a way to get the money for more charter schools. If they want charter schools they should also set aside money for them to build their own schools as well and stop striking deals with the DOE for space.
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