Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Wednesday outlined his charter school platform if he is re-elected to a third term next month, as part of his keynote speech at the 10th anniversary of Sisulu-Walker Charter School. (The Chalkboard reported on this event, below.)

The Mayor wants to see the statutory charter cap raised, the schools chancellor to approve new charter schools independently, and added facilities money in the city's capital plan along with private sector investment. He envisions one hundred more charter schools opening in the next four years in the city--double the current number--to meet the current demand of 40,000 students on charter waiting lists.
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The Mayor's enthusiasm for charter schools is welcome and encouraging. The concern I raised in today's New York Daily News is that facilities will be the biggest hindrance to the Mayor's vision of more charter schools, more so than the charter cap (though that also is a concern in light of the less than alacritous support expressed by the just sworn-in state education commissioner, David Steiner). Facilities already are a huge challenge for the City's charter schools, and Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Klein have done a tremendous job in allowing available district-own space to be used by them. About two-thirds of the city's charter schools are housed in district buildings.

Similar concerns on facilities were raised by Joe Williams, head of the Democrats for Education Reform, and Eva Moskowitz, former chairperson of the city council's education committee and now head of the Success Charter Network, which operates four charter schools in Harlem.

In addition to lifting the charter cap, a facilities funding stream from the state is essential to help charter schools meet their space needs. This will reduce charters' dependence on district space, and tensions with district schools. Charters that continue in such space can pay real money for a long-term lease - effectively transmitting additional state aid to the city's education coffers.

Assemblyman Vito Lopez (D-Brooklyn) has introduced legislation (A.7518) to provide facilities aid to charter schools, which also will largely eliminate the funding inequity--a decade-long injustice--that charters have with district schools which get such building aid.

That's the ticket; and the Mayor and charter community should continue to raise facilities concerns and support Assemblyman Lopez' bill. Moreover, this funding gap, and the fast-approaching charter cap will severely diminish New York's chances for federal Race-to-the-Top funding as long as that program maintains its integrity and President Obama's vision.

Peter Murphy
for The Chalkboard