This was sent out today by Peter Murphy, NYCSA's director of policy:

Dear Charter School Colleagues:

The state legislature completed its Jan-June 2006 session last Friday night without lifting the statutory cap on charter schools, nor providing building aid to charter schools. However, we were fortunate that the State Senate voted to approve a cap lift from 100 to 250 schools, with no limit on the number of schools which can be approved by the NYC Schools Chancellor. The State Assembly, unfortunately, refused to act on this legislation.

Senate Approves Cap Lift

The Senate approved the cap lift by a vote of 44 to 17, with both Democratic and Republican senators in support. This vote came in spite of enormous pressure by the New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) and other labor union lobbyists to try and stop the Senate from accomplishing this for New York’s many families seeking better public educational opportunities. In fact, the pressure from charter school opponents was such that legislators were warned that support for their re-election was in jeopardy. Nevertheless, the Senate did the right thing by charter schools and deserves our thanks for its courageous vote, overcoming pressure from very powerful opponents of charter schools.

The roll-call of how each senator voted on lifting the cap (Senate Bill 8472) is shown below. If you are not sure who your state senator is, please contact the Association.

Assembly Refuses to Lift Cap

The same cannot be said of the Assembly, which refused to take up this cap lift bill. The Assembly Speaker, Sheldon Silver, was very candid for why his half of the legislature refused to act, as he was quoted by the Associated Press on Friday: "We have a number of [Assembly] members that are absolutely opposed to any charters ...[w]e have a number of members who believe there should be union representation mandated. We have a number of members who think local school districts should make determinations as to locations of charters. That is not what the governor has in mind."

Judging by the Assembly Speaker’s long-standing opposition, we have much further to go in convincing enough assembly-members to follow the Senate’s action and vote to lift the cap. We feel that it is unacceptable to agree to any cap lift that has any such “poison pill” conditions that could threaten the viability of your’s or any charter school. It is sad to see such continued opposition in spite of the documented success charter schools have had and the fact that many parents desire this opportunity for their children in legislative districts represented by Speaker Silver and a number of his member colleagues. At this time, it is evident the Assembly will not buck the opposition by NYSUT and other establishment interests, nor do our supporters in the Assembly have a sufficient number of votes to lift the charter cap.

Next Steps

It should be noted that the legislation passed by the Senate to lift the charter school cap also provided an early retirement benefit for public school teachers and other public employees, thus linking the two issues. The Governor proposed this linkage as a means to strike a balance and get both issues done. Although the legislature also passed another bill providing an early retirement for public employees, the Governor is likely to veto this bill so as to maintain linkage between the two issues. Thus, for NYSUT to achieve an early retirement incentive for its members, and for the Assembly to secure this benefit for them, they both will have to rethink their ideological opposition to the cap lift.

We do not expect the state legislature to return to Albany before September, when the Senate comes back to act on appointments. In the meantime, the Association will continue to advocate for charter schools and work to expand this important public education reform.

We will be in touch with you as we plan our next steps to get cap lift accomplished. If you have any questions or concerns about the just concluded legislative session, I would be delighted to address them as you can contact me through email or by calling (518) 694-3110 x104.

Finally, our profound thanks to all of you who worked so hard with us on this very important issue. We made important progress last week, but we are not there yet!

Roll Call Vote on Charter Cap Lift Bill

S8472 Senate Vote Aye: 44 Nay: 17

Aye	Alesi	Nay	Andrews
Aye	Balboni	Aye	Bonacic
Nay	Breslin	Aye	Bruno
Nay	Connor	Nay	Coppola
Aye	DeFrancisco	Aye	Diaz
Nay	Dilan	Nay	Duane
Aye	Farley	Aye	Flanagan
Aye	Fuschillo	Aye	Golden
Aye	Gonzalez	Aye	Hannon
Nay	Hassell-Thompson	Aye	Johnson
Aye	Klein	Aye	Krueger
Aye	Kruger	Aye	Larkin
Aye	LaValle	Aye	Leibell
Aye	Libous	Aye	Little
Aye	Maltese	Aye	Marcellino
Aye	Marchi	Aye	Maziarz
Aye	Meier	Exc	Montgomery
Aye	Morahan	Aye	Nozzolio
Aye	Onorato	Nay	Oppenheimer
Aye	Padavan	Aye	Parker
Aye	Paterson	Aye	Rath
Aye	Robach	Nay	Sabini
Nay	Saland	Aye	Sampson
Nay	Savino	Nay	Schneiderman
Nay	Serrano	Aye	Seward
Aye	Skelos	Nay	Smith A
Aye	Smith M	Aye	Spano
Nay	Stachowski	Nay	Stavisky
Aye	Trunzo	Nay	Valesky
Aye	Volker	Aye	Winner
Aye	Wright	Aye	Young