Cuomo closing off best Pre-K

hope
By BILL PHILLIPS
Last Updated: 12:57 AM, February 6, 2013
Posted: 10:29 PM, February 5, 2013
Why is Gov. Cuomo hobbling one of his
signature initiatives?
Drawing on a core recommendation of his
education-reform commission, Cuomo is
targeting pre-K education in New Yorks
worst school districts. Hes moving to create
a competitive grant process to set up strong
pre-K programs for students in New Yorks
most troubled areas New York City,
Buffalo and more.
But his proposal prohibits the states most
innovative public schools, charter schools
which eagerly and successfully serve
these very same students in these very
same tough communities from even
participating.

Helayne Seidman
Cuomo: Ruling out best hope for his own initiatives
success.
Its not that hes locking out a set of schools
so much as hes locking out parents who
want to choose charters for their children,
as well as the beneficiaries of their choice
their kids.
We hope he changes his mind or that the
Legislature intervenes.

Heres why:
* Parents love charter schools and are
choosing them for their children. This year,
some 75,000 students attend charters
statewide, while another 53,000 children are
stuck on waiting lists in New York City
alone.

* Charter schools are working: Statewide,
84 percent of charters exceeded the
average Math proficiency of their local
district last year, and 78 percent exceeded
the average proficiency in English
Language Arts.
* Charters serve the neediest children. More
than 90 percent of the 209 charters
operating statewide are in high-needs
districts a response to the failure of those
districts to adequately serve their students,
as well as a loud vote by parents to choose
public schools that emphasize school
culture, academic accountability and focus
on college and career readiness.
Cuomo has been fair to charters. Thats why
this change puzzles charter educators and
advocates, including the 1,200 or so who
attended our annual Advocacy Day in
Albany yesterday.
Locking out charter parents stifles success.
After all, these schools are successfully
overcoming the very challenges these
grants aim to fix.
Rather than close the door on them, we
should be expanding access to funding, and
letting charters go head-to-head with district
schools and each other for the same
opportunities.
Charter advocates love Cuomos
competitive-grant proposals. Weve long
embraced competition and accountability
charters have to produce results or else
face closure. Weve long known that New
York can no longer afford its public
education system as now structured, and
cheer the governors call for schools to find
ways to educate children more effectively.
Which is why the charter lockout makes no
sense. Because district schools are
shackled by bureaucratic rules and
regulations, they cant always innovate or
find new ways to better educate children
within modern cost constraints.
By contrast, charters are built for innovation,
creativity and flexibility with a record of
success that make them prime
candidates for a competitive process that
rewards the most effective methods. We
even agree with Cuomos insistence on
using data to measure performance; in fact,
its built into our contracts.
And charters already do more with less
theyre the least-funded component of New
Yorks public schools, receiving on average
70 percent of what districts get for the same
child.
The charter community is on board with the
governors push for more pre-K and
extended learning time, particularly with his
focus on high-needs districts. His
competitive-grant approach is the right one
for fiscally challenged times.
But not when you leave charter-choosing
parents and their children out in the cold.

Bill Phillips is the president of the Northeast
Charter Schools Network, which represents
charter schools in Connecticut and New
York.