Message sent: the New York State Senate is serious about education reform, and it showed Monday evening with a vote of 45 to 15 for legislation (bill # S.7678) to raise the cap on charter schools. The bill also would increase accountability and transparency in charter schools and contains measures to increase the number of students with special needs attending charter schools. Significantly, this bill passed by a 3-to-1 margin despite vociferous, threatening opposition by the state and New York City teachers unions.

This vote also represents a sharp reversal from the Senate charter school bill unveiled in January (here) purportedly to raise the cap, but instead would have inflicted major damage.

The Senate Majority Conference Leader, Sen. John Sampson, showed tremendous leadership by introducing a new bill in the Rules Committee late last week, and reaching across the aisle in a bi-partisan fashion to invite Senate Republicans to support the bill. It took a bi-partisan coalition of senators to pass this charter school reform bill, and Sen. Sampson and Senate Minority Leader, Dean Skelos, delivered. Sen. Sampson promised bi-partisanship to get things accomplished this year. On the charter school issue, he has thus far made good on that intention.

This bill, first discussed on The Chalkboard yesterday, would expand charter school opportunities by raising the cap from 200 to 460 and address concerns raised about transparency and increasing special needs students in charter schools. If ultimately enacted into law, New York's chances would improve for federal Race to the Top funding of up to $700 million.

Senate Floor Debate
During the debate on the Senate floor Monday evening, several senators spoke in favor of the bill while others opposed. The frustrating aspect of the whole debate is how many in opposition remain ignorant of charter schools, particularly the existing accountability provisions governing charter schools imposed the Regents and SUNY. All of this was presented last month at the Senate hearing chaired by Sen. Bill Perkins. Yet, several senators still invoked state Comptroller audits as the mantra for accountability, despite the ubiquitous oversight of the Regents and SUNY, and the Court of Appeals ruling last summer that held such audits had limits and were unconstitutional for charter schools. Senators may swear to uphold the state constitution, yet several remain ignorant of what it actually says.

Next Step: State Assembly
This Senate passage of a pro-charter bill sends a powerful message to the state Assembly, the Obama administration in Washington, and nationwide that it takes seriously the need to reform education by expanding charter schools. It also showed unusual political courage in defying the teacher unions and their ostentatious tantrum over the past several days in an attempt to defeat the bill. The unions may denigrate this effort as merely a "one-house" bill going nowhere. But, if that were all it was, they would not have tried so hard to block it from passing.

Now the charter bill is before the state Assembly, which will negotiate the charter school issue since it can't ignore it in light of the Senate's action and looming application deadline for Round 2 federal Race to the Top funding fewer than 30 days away. Assemblyman Karim Camara of Brooklyn already has introduced an identical charter bill (A.10928) in the Assembly.

Of course, the Assembly can choose to do nothing, which is better than approving a bad bill that would bury charter schools six feet under. Only then, the Assembly leadership would have to explain why no charter school reform and spurning the chance for $700 million in federal money for all school districts is preferable for public education students.

Deja Vu All Over Again (1998)?
We may well be a long way from a meaningful education reform bill including charter school expansion, as negotiations will be laborious and the end product may not be worth adopting. Nevertheless, the legislative process took a huge step forward Monday evening, just as it did in November of 1998 during the debate on the original proposed charter school law. Back then, the state Senate passed Gov. Pataki's proposed bill while the Assembly had no interest and did nothing.

However, one month later, just before Christmas, the Assembly ended up agreeing to pass a compromise bill that became the New York Charter Schools Act of 1998. The rest is history.

We'll see what occurs in the next 30 days.

Peter Murphy
for The Chalkboard
Twitter.com/petermurphy26
Facebook: "Chalkboard Nycsa"