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With a few strokes of
his veto pen, Gov. David Paterson recently exacerbated an inequity in
public-school funding and dealt Albany’s schoolchildren – and the city
school district’s improvement plans – a cruel blow.
Unless the governor’s
veto of legislation that included a tuition freeze for charter schools
is reversed, our school district will be forced to fund Albany’s
charters by an additional $5 million or more this coming school year.
This on top of the $26.5
million the district already has budgeted for the 11 taxpayer-supported
charter schools that will operate in Albany next school year alongside
15 public schools.
The governor’s veto and
the possibility of the budget crisis it portends come in addition to the
$6.7 million he already has proposed to cut from the district’s state
aid. That news in January forced our district to eliminate 100 jobs. And
all of this follows the elimination of 113 jobs a year ago due to the
state’s fiscal dilemma and Albany’s proliferation of charter schools.
This latest round of wholly unanticipated cuts would be devastating –
all while charter schools enjoy a funding increase at our expense.
It’s not that we oppose
adequate funding for charter schools. We don’t.
Every Albany child
deserves quality teaching, small classes, a rich curriculum and funding
for vital programs that support high achievement – whether their schools
are public, private, parochial or charter.
But something’s
seriously wrong with the state’s charter-school funding formula when, in
a year in which New York’s public schools are laying off thousands and
eliminating long-standing programs to deal with a $1.4 billion funding
cut, charter schools in Albany and across the state are now set to
receive huge funding increases.
The debilitating effect
of charters in Albany is well known.
The state’s broken
system of funding charter schools, which again was not addressed by the
Legislature’s recent strengthening of charter-school accountability and
transparency, requires Albany taxpayers to send one in four school-tax
dollars to pay for schools that they did not approve and for which they
have no oversight or control.
The flawed system of
funding charters means that Albany taxpayers are forced to support two
public-school systems, but are only funded for one.
Since the first charter
school opened in Albany in 1999, the district has sent them more than
$126 million. However, the district is unable to realize comparable
savings, stretching already limited resources thinner each year.
For example, 200
students from across the district could transfer to charters in a given
year, taking with them about $2.3 million (at the 2009-10 per-pupil rate
of $11,712 – the figure balloons to $2.8 million at the potential
“unfrozen” rate of $14,072).
But with three students
leaving a classroom of 24, the district still must keep a teacher in
place for the 21 who remain, a scenario potentially duplicated in 60-70
classrooms district-wide. The district also must maintain classroom
space and staff for students who return from charters – about 400 over
the last two school years alone.
The governor’s veto also
threatens to undermine our hard work to continue the progress we’ve made
toward improving the quality of education we offer Albany’s children,
especially our restructuring efforts at Albany High School.
Administrators, teachers
and the school-leadership team are meeting almost daily to strengthen
Albany High and make other district-wide improvements to raise
achievement for all students. Our efforts will be seriously compromised
if we are forced to slash an additional $5 million or more.
Funding for public
education should be fair and equitable, and should recognize that
quality education for all schoolchildren should be everyone’s
singular priority. The governor’s veto – and the current politicized
charter-school climate – suggest the opposite.
Instead of valuing one
set of schoolchildren over another, the Legislature must override the
governor’s veto and provide increased funding to both charter schools
and Albany’s public schools.
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