EDITORIAL: New York needs Race to the Top funds

A second chance. That's what a vote by the State Senate potentially earned for New York on Monday, a second chance for as much as $700 million in federal funding for schools in the Race to the Top competition. The bill now moves to the Assembly, where passage will be much more difficult.

The Senate voted a bipartisan 45-15 for the measure, which raises the allowable number of charter schools in the state from 200 to 460. The Obama administration has built incentives into Race to the Top precisely because it wants educational competition to flourish. But New York lost points in its first-round application for the money, partly because of the charter school cap; a second round begins June 1.

The Senate bill responded to important criticisms from charter opponents: It now creates incentives for the schools to enroll English-language learners and special education students. The bill also requires more financial reporting by charters, which are, after all, funded with public money.

But the teachers' unions are threatening to campaign against any lawmaker who votes for this bill, a threat that weighs heavily with Assembly Democrats. It's a shortsighted position that exposes the unions' desire for self-preservation at the cost of money for teachers' jobs and student programs.

The Assembly, which botched this reform in January, is going to have to be the grown-up in the room. Its members mustn't waste New York's shot at a second chance. hN