Last week the State University of New York's Charter Schools Institute celebrated its 10th anniversary by hosting a luncheon at the Grand Concourse Charter School in the Bronx. The Institute is the administrative arm of the SUNY Board of Trustees to implement the Board's responsibilities under the New York Charter Schools Act.

The Institute was actually founded in January 1999, just weeks after the state legislature approved the Charter Schools Act, which authorized charter schools and empowered SUNY to approve and oversee up to 50 new charters. (School districts and the Board of Regents were authorized for another 50 schools; in 2007, the legislature doubled the respective numbers of charter schools for a combined total of 200.)

SUNY chose June as the time to have the ten-year celebration to coincide with its annual renewal ceremony to recognize and congratulate those charter schools receiving a maximum five-year renewal without conditions. It was a delightful two-hour event with SUNY Board Chairman, Carl Hayden and newly-appointed SUNY Chancellor, Nancy Zimpher speaking. A pre-taped video of Gov. David Paterson was shown, where the Governor acknowledged that he opposed the Charter Schools Act in 1998 as a state senator but changed his views by 2002 and has supported charter schools ever since.

Students from the several charter schools receiving five-year renewals also performed splendidly, including the choir from Grand Concourse Charter School.

Other SUNY Trustees were in attendance, including Robert Bellafiore, himself a former Institute executive director; and former SUNY Vice Chairman, Randy Daniels, who spoke powerfully of education empowerment and excellence and the role of charter schools in making that a reality for thousands of students throughout the state.

Charter Schools Institute Beginnings

The Institute's creation was the brainchild of its first Director, Scott Steffey, at the time a SUNY Vice Chancellor; and two SUNY Board members, Edward Cox and Randy Daniels. Trustees Cox and Daniels were named co-chairmen of the SUNY Charter Schools Committee while the Institute was empowered to administer SUNY's new charter school responsibilities apart from SUNY's large central administration bureaucracy, which played no role. This was a brilliant move that enabled the Institute to operate efficiently and independently while having direct accountability to the SUNY Board.

I was the first staff person hired by the Institute in January 1999, and served as its Vice President overseeing the review and approval of new charter schools until 2001. We processed more than 150 applications in the first two years, resulting in nearly two dozen charter schools approved. As these numbers show, we said "no" to a whole lot of applications for charter schools by establishing a rigorous, non-partisan and professional review process.

Nearly all the charter schools approved in these early years continue their superb performance today, including Tapestry in Buffalo, Eugenio Maria de Hostos in Rochester, Bronx Prep, Roosevelt Academy and many others. The process, however, wasn't perfect as some schools were since closed while others given conditional renewals. These closures do, however, also reflect the high standards and rigor that the Institute has demanded from the beginning.

National Recognition
The Charter Schools Institute has an overall impressive ten-year track record. It's certainly made its share of mistakes (yes, even when I was there!) but now has received national recognition by the current U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan. More impressive to me, however, is the Institute's stated willingness to further improve itself and not stand still -- the very thing charter schools must do to survive and thrive.

The current Institute Director, Jonas Chartock, appointed just last year, announced at the ten-year event that the Institute is exploring ways to streamline its review and oversight process, which is more essential to overseeing its 64 approved charter schools, and growing. This is particularly important to allow charter schools to operate independently and mitigate the bureaucratic penchant for oversight to become superintendent-like micromanagement. Chartock also announced the establishment of an Institute policy center to provide more data and research for policymakers and charter schools alike to access.

New York State's charter schools have been well-served overall by having multiple charter school authorizers, the Regents, SUNY and school districts. The SUNY Charter Schools Institute has confirmed the wisdom of that design in the Charter Schools Act.

Peter Murphy
for The Chalkboard