Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Charter Schools Fear Having de Blasio for a Landlord


But with a changing of the guard imminent in City Hall, many charter school leaders are concerned that the perks they have enjoyed during the three terms of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg may be in peril.


The leading candidate to succeed Mr. Bloomberg, Bill de Blasio, a Democrat, is a no-bones-about-it critic of charter schools who rose to prominence in part by berating the mayor’s educational agenda. By contrast, the Republican candidate, Joseph J. Lhota, is a fierce defender of charter schools.


In one of his sharpest repudiations of Mr. Bloomberg’s tenure, Mr. de Blasio has said he would stop offering many of the city’s 183 charter schools free rent, a policy that has helped turn New York into one of the most vibrant hubs for charter schools in the country.


Of all of Mr. de Blasio’s campaign proposals, Mr. Bloomberg is particularly troubled by his stance on charter schools, aides said. He considers the growth of the schools a pillar of his efforts to turn around the city’s school system over the past 12 years.


Concerned that its efforts might be undone, the Bloomberg administration is racing in its final months to find space in public school buildings for two dozen additional charter schools. The board that approves school space plans will meet twice this month, an unusual step.


Charter schools, often managed by nonprofit groups, operate independently of the school system and have more freedom in deciding scheduling, staffing and curriculum.


Mr. de Blasio contends that Mr. Bloomberg has focused on charter schools to the detriment of traditional public schools, pitting parents against one another and sapping resources that could be used for after-school programs and classes like art and physical education.


“It is insult to injury to give them free rent,” Mr. de Blasio said at an education forum this summer. “They have the money.”


His aides said he was not looking to overturn all of Mr. Bloomberg’s educational policies. In recent weeks, he has arranged meetings with charter school advocates; in past conversations, he has sought to persuade them that he is not a zealot who will seek to drive their schools from the city.


Still, many charter school leaders remain uneasy about Mr. de Blasio’s plans. Some have started preparing for a City Hall that is resistant to their efforts. They are seeking donations (in case they are forced to pay rent), freezing hiring plans, and prodding teachers and students to speak out.


On Tuesday, thousands of charter school parents, students and educators are expected to march across the Brooklyn Bridge to voice opposition to Mr. de Blasio’s rent plan and to demand more money for their schools, which serve about 70,000 children, or about 6 percent of the student population citywide.


James Merriman, chief executive of the New York City Charter School Center, said plans to charge rent were “schemes to destroy the charter sector” by opponents.


“They consider charters to be, simply in their own words, parasites,” Mr. Merriman said. “Those kinds of proposals would be simply disastrous.”


Mr. Lhota has accused Mr. de Blasio of seeking to “annihilate” New York City’s charter schools. Mr. Lhota, who has said he would maintain the free-rent policy, has pledged to double the number of charter schools in the city, which would require state approval.


“If you oppose charter schools and other choice for minorities, inner city kids and children of immigrants, you cannot call yourself progressive,” Mr. Lhota said at a speech before business leaders in Manhattan on Tuesday.


The details of Mr. de Blasio’s approach to charter schools remain murky, so it is difficult to estimate how damaging it would be to charge them rent. Mr. de Blasio has not said how much he would charge, only that schools with the fewest resources would pay the least. At many charter schools, wealthy benefactors supplement the money the state provides for each student.




Al Baker contributed reporting.






Yahoo Local News – New York Times




http://newyork.greatlocalnews.info/?p=15297

via Great Local News: New York http://newyork.greatlocalnews.info

No comments:

Post a Comment