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This article is mainly about characteristics specific to those charter schools that are in New York State.

Governing state law

State laws govern the establishing and supervision of charter schools. The New York Charter Schools Act of 1998, as amended, is codified as Education Law, §§ 2850–2857. Regulations appear in New York Codes, Rules and Regulations (NYCRR).

Any locality that has authorization to establish charter schools may have local law governing the process.

Schools lists

A list of charter schools is available from the Charter Schools Institute. A list of charter and public noncharter schools is available from the New York State Education Department.

For charter schools in Misplaced Pages, see the category page for New York charter schools.

Growth of schools

In New York City, the numbers have grown from 17 charter schools serving about 3,200 students in 2002 to 78 charter schools serving about 24,000 students in 2008.

Criticism

Draining of resources from public noncharter schools

Arguments include that innovations in the charter schools should be provided in the noncharter public schools, smaller class sizes require more financing and public noncharters need that finance, and benefits should be provided to the many students in noncharter public schools rather than to just the few attending charters, especially since students who are rejected by charters must be accepted by the public schools, so more support should go to public noncharter schools.

Competition for space in public noncharter schools

There has been criticism that charter schools are often given space in public noncharter schools, constraining the latter. A counterargument is that, at least in New York City, the schools losing space are generally not educating well and the space is going to charter schools that generally do better at educating students. A counterargument to that is that the two sets of schools are not educating the same students, leaving students in the noncharter schools with fewer resources for their needs. A counterargument to that is that noncharter students generally may apply to other schools to get access to better education. A counterarguument to that is that space is limited in many schools.

Closing public noncharters & accommodating charters

A court ruled on March 26, 2010, that the City of New York government could not phase out or close certain public high schools currently. The number of schools subject to the court's decision is 19 and that includes 15 high schools. As a consequence, charter schools may not find space in those schools to move into at this time.

The court was the New York State Supreme Court, specifically the court for New York County, i.e., Manhattan; the decision was by Justice Joan B. Lobis.

The order not to close the schools was granted by the court because the City had not complied with the recently-amended state law on Mayoral control of the public schools, requiring "meaningful community involvement" in the decision to close a school. "The judge wrote that the impact statement for Robeson , for example, did not say where young mothers . . . could find similar programs ." A 20th school, a vocational high school, was slated for closing but the City had opted not to close it because of community feedback favoring preserving its automotive program; the court cited that as an example of what might result from proper procedure for community involvement. While the impact statements were provided online, respondents didn't deny that they were not distributed to parents and others as "hard copies . . . . Although some parents . . . may have computer and internet access, certainly not all do." Impact statements were often boilerplate in disclosing information about numbers of seats but not about specialized programs, some participants in the process were scripted when they should instead have been "part of the process of structuring those meetings", and question-and-answer sessions were not allowed at all the meetings where they should have been.

The ruling did not mean, in general, that failing schools couldn't be closed or that these 19 schools were not failing, but that the process applied for deciding on these closures at this time had not been complied with, and that compliance must be "strict". This decision does not prevent the City from closing the schools in the future if the proper procedure is followed.

Among the petitioners or official supporters of the lawsuit were the United Federation of Teachers (UFT), the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and Alliance for Quality Education, elected political office-holders Scott M. Stringer, Eric Adams, Bill Perkins, Hakeem Jeffries, Alan Maisel, Robert Jackson, Charles Barron, Erik Martin Dilan, Mark Welprin, and Lewis A. Fidler, several parents and school officials, and a teacher. Co-plaintiff Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer and UFT president Michael Mulgrew supported the court's decision.

The New York City Schools Chancellor nonetheless intends to close the schools, although probably not as soon.

(In the state's court system, the Supreme Court is not the highest in the state, that being the state's Court of Appeals, with the state Supreme Court's Appellate Division coming in between.)

The City has "promised an appeal" and "will appeal immediately."

The Department of Education hopes to find other space for the charter schools (and new public schools) that would have moved into the public schools had they closed. "The New York City Charter School Center said in a statement that it will work with the city 'to assure that charter school students, teachers and parents aren't impacted by this turn of events.'"

CEO compensation

Some chief executive officers of charter schools have been criticized for accepting pay that is substantially more than that of the New York City Schools Chancellor or the former State University of New York (SUNY) Chancellor for running many more schools or colleges, respectively, with many more students. The New York City Chancellor shared management and support with approximately 62,000 nonteaching personnel in Fiscal Year 2009–2010. SUNY's Chancellor shared responsibility with 87,362 employees, including 54,162 non-faculty and 283 in system administration (estimates), as of Nov., 2009. The compensation has also been compared with that of first-year law firm associates and supported with the argument from political liberals that teachers and school leaders should be paid well for valuable and challenging work.

Union representation

Most charter schools in the state do not offer union representation of teachers.

Admission lottery

When qualified applicants outnumber available capacity, a lottery is required, leaving some families disappointed when admission is denied despite otherwise qualifying. A film about the admission lottery at the Harlem Success Academy, possibly typical of many admission lotteries, has been shown as The Lottery. It was inspired by a 2008 lottery.

References

1. New York Consolidated Laws Service (LexisNexis, hardbound) (including pocket part for use in 2010) (CLS) (Educ L). A similar collection of statutes is published under the short name McKinney's Consolidated Laws of New York Annotated. The former set carries a certificate that it may be read into evidence in court; the latter probably also qualifies. Another set, which has no such certificate apparent but is online and free, is at http://public.leginfo.state.ny.us/menugetf.cgi?COMMONQUERY=LAWS (click "EDN", then "Article 56"), as accessed Mar. 24, 2010.
2. These sections are also known collectively as Education Law, Article 56.
3. As accessed Mar. 24, 2010.
4. As accessed May 6, 2010 (organization determined from the http://www.nysed.gov/ home page, as accessed the same day.
5. 18 New Charter Schools to Open This Fall, in The Culvert Chronicles (possibly vol. 3 & no. 33), Aug. 28–Sep. 3, 2008, p. 7, Education, in ProQuest Ethnic NewsWatch.
6. ^ Charter Schools and the Opposition, by Maryam Abdul-Aleem, in N.Y. Amsterdam News (possibly vol. 100 & no. 41), Oct. 8–14, 2009, p. 32, Education Today, in ProQuest Ethnic NewsWatch (database) (Full Text - PDF), <http://proquest.umi.com>, as accessed Feb. 16, 2010.
7. ^ Eva Moskowitz Has Special Access to Schools Chancellor Klein - and Support Others Can Only Dream of, by Juan Gonzalez, in N.Y. Daily News, Feb. 25, 2010 as accessed Mar. 7, 2010.
8. ^ Protests Continue For P.S. 123, by Maryam Abdul-Aleem, in N.Y. Amsterdam News (possibly vol. 100 & no. 28), Jul. 9–15, 2009, p. 32, Career Opportunities, in ProQuest Ethnic NewsWatch (database) (Full Text - PDF), <http://proquest.umi.com>, as accessed Feb. 16, 2010.
9. N.Y. state statutes online (click "EDN", then "Article 65", then "Part 1", then § "3204"), as accessed Apr. 7, 2010 (see subdivision 1, 1st sentence) (this source is provided by the state but may not be usable in court as prima facie evidence of the laws).
10. ^ Locals Ask State For More Charter Schools, by Tanangachi Mfuni, in N.Y. Amsterdam News (possibly vol. 97 & no. 14), Mar. 30–Apr. 5, 2006, p. 3, in ProQuest Ethnic NewsWatch (database) (Full Text - PDF), <http://proquest.umi.com>, as accessed Feb. 16, 2010.
11. ^ Mulgrew v. Board of Education, Sup.Ct.N.Y.Co., 101352/10 or 101352/2010, Mar. 26, 2010, decision & opinion, in N.Y. Law Journal, vol. 243, no. 59, Mar. 30, 2010, pp. 49–50, Decisions in the News, & news story in State Judge Halts Closure of 19 City High Schools, by Jeff Storey, in N.Y. Law Journal, vol. 243, no. 58, Mar. 29, 2010, p. News in Brief (NYLJ.com) (ct. is Supreme Court, N.Y. County, viz., a state court for the county; defendant is listed as "Board . . .", not "Department . . .", in these publications).
12. ^ Judge Blocks Closing of 19 New York City Schools, by Sharon Otterman (with Nate Schweber), in N.Y. Times, Mar. 26, 2010, as accessed Apr. 1, 2010 (a version printed Mar. 27, 2010, p. A1).
13. ^ Court Blocks NYC School Closings, by WNYC Newsroom, on WNYC radio, New York, N.Y., Mar. 26, 2010, as accessed Apr. 1, 2010 (or WNYC.org to drill down to news story).
14. Judge Blocks Closing of 19 New York City Schools, by Sharon Otterman (with Nate Schweber), in N.Y. Times, op. cit., with bracketed quotation "educational" and bracketed "in the city" both from Mulgrew v. Board of Education, decision & opinion, in N.Y. Law Journal, op. cit.
15. ^ Manhattan Supreme Court Saved 19 Schools, Education Department Plays Musical Chairs with New Schools, by Rachel Monahan, in N.Y. Daily News, Mar. 28, 2010, as accessed Apr. 1, 2010.
16. Charter School Executives Earning Big Bucks Education City's Poorer Students, by Meredith Kolodner & Rachel Monahan, in N.Y. Daily News, not clearly dated online but prob. Dec. 13, 2009, as accessed Mar. 10, 2010
17. Former City Council Member Eva Moskowitz Makin' a Bundle at Nonprofit Schools, by Juan Gonzalez, Feb. 27, 2009, as accessed Feb. 28, 2010.
18. Preliminary Mayor's Management Report (N.Y.: City of N.Y. Feb., 2010) (also titled The Mayor's Management Report: Preliminary Fiscal 2010), portion for Dep't of Educ., pp. 15 & 20, as accessed Mar. 10, 2010 (138,822 personnel (p. 20) minus "approximately 77,000 teachers" (p. 15)) (also as full report, as accessed Mar. 24, 2010).
19. SUNY Fast Facts 2009, as accessed Mar. 9, 2010.
20. Charter Crusader: Eva Moskowitz, by Charlotte Eichna, exec. editor, in (East Side (Manhattan), New York, N.Y.) Our Town (vol. & no. not found), Apr. 1, 2010, pp. & 10–11 Q&A (title inside is Eva Moskowitz, Charter School Champion) (OurTownNY.com & ManhattanMedia.com).
21. Charter School Chief Keeps a Hand in Politics, by Elissa Gootman N.Y. Times, Nov. 3 or 4, 2008, as accessed Jan. 10, 2010.
22. The Lottery Documentary Shows Education Is a Sure Bet ("The Lottery" in single quotation marks in original title of article) (Opinion), by Errol Louis, in N.Y. Daily News, Apr. 29, 2010, as accessed May 1, 2010.
23. ^ Charter Kids Star: True Story of Lottery Hits Tribeca Fest, by Yoav Gonen (educ. rptr.) (add'l rptg. by Lachlan Cartwright), in N.Y. Post, Apr. 28, 2010, as accessed May 1, 2010.

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