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Let’s hope the Commissioner Steiner is not as cautious about running the education department and improving student learning and achievement as he is on keeping the charter cap. We are much closer to reaching this cap since it’s actually two caps: 100 for SUNY, which has 19 remaining; and 100 for the Regents and school districts, including NYC, which together have only 18 remaining. Since Chancellor Joel Klein has as many as two dozen applications at a given time, this cap is likely to be reached next year. Is Commissioner Steiner afraid of being auspicious on charter school policy, and to what end? President Obama, Secretary Duncan and Mayor Bloomberg (who faces the electorate shortly) display no such reserve because they are proven to be educationally effective for children and remain in high demand by parents. And the teacher unions, historically not in favor of a strong charter climate, are acquiescing to charters as being a legitimate part of the public education system. The charter cap needs to be lifted, and Dr. Steiner should support such as part of his broader agenda as education commissioner. If and when the cap is lifted, Commissioner Steiner, the Regents and SUNY need not be any less “thoughtful” about charters, nor give into temptation of “mindlessly” approving charters just because more become available.

Charter critics should not misunderstand what Commissioner Steiner actually said. He did not say he is opposed to raising the cap at the appropriate time, nor did he say he opposes charter schools. So comments like “about time” don’t make any sense.

As Peter Murphy points out, the Commissioner may not understand how close the Regents are to hitting their cap for charters, but he has a pretty big portfolio as commissioner and may need some time to get up to speed on this and countless other issues.

As for Steiner’s desire to review each charter application on its merits, that is what the law has always required — hardly news.

So, critics should not assume that he opposes lifting the cap. Although, at the moment, he does not seem supportive of the Mayor’s desire to eliminate the cap entirely.

Yes, I would like the cap lifted.

Yes, I am opposed to mindlessly approving unqualified charters.

No, I do not think the new Commissioner is clueless. He actually possesses a formidable intellect. That does not mean, however, that he was aware when he made his charter comments about the technicality that Peter Murphy pointed out: namely, that the Regents and SUNY each have a separate cap. So, Peter is right that the Regents will run out of charters before SUNY. That will cause the Regents and Commish to have to deal with the cap issue earlier than they might think. That’s all I was saying.

Overall, I was just cautioning people against reading too much into Steiner’s brief comments on charters. Was not looking to “rag” on anyone.

Take a deep breath. We can disagree without being disagreeable.