The Senate Education Committee meets tomorrow afternoon at its usual time and, lo and behold, the omnibus anti-charter school bill introduced by Senator Bill Perkins, S.6469, is on the committee's agenda.

This bill is a punitive measure that would effectively abolish charter schools as they presently exist. This is not hyperbole. The bill would impose mandatory unionization and district union contracts upon charters; would require district approval of new charters and renewal of existing schools; restrict space sharing and impose prevailing wage for building costs (though charters get no building aid); would ban approval of a charter school if (no exaggeration) too many students from minority families might attend; and a host of other inane and costly measures which have nothing -- zero -- to do with improving student learning and achievement.

The New York Charter Schools Association Memorandum in Opposition to S.6469 is here.

At this writing, the outcome of this bill in the Education Committee is uncertain. The New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) supports this bill and included it as part of its anti-charter school report released recently. NYSUT will forever claim it supports charter schools, but any remaining credence given to this falsehood should be erased by its support of this anti-charter school bill that would render charter schools as charter in name only. In effect, charters would become de facto district schools. NYSUT is lobbying senators hard because it knows this bill would vitiate charters and they would use it to influence any charter legislation being negotiated for the federal Race to the Top funding.

Anti-Climatic
The Senate Education Committee should soundly reject this bill, or it will appear foolish. Simply put, approval of such a malevolent bill at this point would be supremely anti-climatic in light of the full Senate's approval of a pro-charter school bill, including a cap-lift; Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's support for charter schools on the eve of his gubernatorial nomination; and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan's visit tomorrow to the Kings Collegiate Charter School in Brooklyn.

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