NY Daily News: City stops accepting charter school applications due to state cap, funding could be cut
The state of New York has a state-wide cap on the number of charter schools allowed in the state. Recently they most graciously raised the limit from 100 up to 200.
One must ask for justification of the cap in the first place. Clearly it is done to protest the existing "government operated school" establishment. A monopoly does not like competition. The hidden hand of the teachers unions and the elected officials who seek to protect them is clearly visible. Lost in this debate are the best interests of the children and their parents.
Charter schools, by definition are public schools. The are funded by the government, just as "government run public schools". They are operated by an individual school administrative staff which is typically suplemented with direct parental invovlement. The standard government operated school is administered by a centralized school board. Quite clearly the main threat posed by the charter school is to the power establishment who does not desire to yield their power.
The main driving force behind the charter school movement is the failure of the government operated schools to deliver quality educational services to the community within which they operate. There is plenty of blame to go around and most certainly the parents of some students deserve some of this. The parents of the charter school students have proactively chosen to send their children to the charter school. They believe that with more localized management better outcomes can be had out of their child's education. They, in essence have chosen to be the managers of their children's education. This is how it should be.
The claims of "school overcrowding" are not enough for some charter school opponents to allow a batch of students to 'escape' to a charter. Instead they want more government operated schools constructed as a means of reducing this crowding.
This present conflict requires visionary leadership. The charter school movement should be supported and encouraged. The government operated schools that exist in parallel need to be reformed so that they can offer a better outcome. Certainly strategies that result in more effective parental invovlement need to be deployed within these government operated schools.
NYC "Peace And Diversity School" Receives an "F" on School Report Card
(Note - This video is from Chicago not NYC)
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