Our friends at the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools have a new report out that ranks that states’ charter schools law. New York comes in at #8 out of 40.
The report mentions two problems: no money for school facilities, and a restrictive cap on the number of charter schools. We couldn’t agree more.
The real highlight, though, is the report’s ranking of New York at #2 in “quality control.” As the New York Times also recognized this week, strong authorizers are part of what sets New York apart. That means authorizing solid applicants, monitoring achievement, and closing down charter schools that don’t perform (as will likely happen again soon).
Strong authorizers are also why it was always absurd to claim that lifting the cap would set off some kind of chartering free-for-all. If the Legislature raises the cap this week, our authorizers won’t abandon their posts ñ they’ll just have permission to keep doing their jobs.
(Click here to download ”The Class Ceiling,” our report on the charter cap issue.)
