State lawmakers OK allowing more charter schools

With a crucial deadline four days away, Albany lawmakers Friday lifted the state's cap on charter schools from 200 to 460 statewide and strengthened the state's power in auditing schools' finances.

Charter-school expansion, which passed both state houses with bipartisan support, aims to boost the state's chances of winning between $300 million and $700 million in federal "Race to the Top" grants. The state fell short in the competition's first round in March.

After closed-door sessions that began Thursday night and stretched into the early-morning hours, legislators approved two less controversial bills also intended to land "Race to the Top" dollars.

One measure will allow school administrators to evaluate teachers' performance using students' test scores; the other provides $20.4 million to track students' academic performance from one year to the next.

Gov. David A. Paterson has pledged to sign the entire package in time to meet Washington's June 1 deadline for the next round of grant applications.

In Albany, wrangling over charter-school expansion and oversight has raged since last summer, when the Obama administration warned that states such as New York, which restricted the number of charter schools, could face a disadvantage in the contest for federal money.

"This has been a long fight where the agents of Albany's status quo tried to sabotage this process every step of the way," said state Sen. Craig Johnson (D-Port Washington). He voted "yes" on Friday's legislative package, along with Democratic majorities in both houses.

One key provision - pushed by the state's powerful teacher unions - authorizes state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli's office to audit charter-school finances. Charter schools operate independently of regular school districts, with taxpayer funding based on the number of students they attract.

Under the new law, charter-school expansion will focus largely on New York City and other urban areas with concentrations of students who are poor and non-English speaking.

But expansion also could aid the Roosevelt Children's Academy Charter School in Nassau County, which hopes to build a new high school within the next year or so.

"I was so excited when I got up this morning and was listening to the news," said Roxanne Greco-Ashley, superintendent of the Children's Academy, which boasts some of the highest test scores in the state. "It shows that people value charter schools."

Many school districts, on the other hand, worry about potential losses of students and revenues.