Top SUNY official demands lift of NYC charter schools cap
A top state education official who licenses charter schools said the Legislature should lift the cap blocking more of the popular privately run, publicly financed institutions from opening in New York City.
“I stand with the children and families who want good schools,” Merryl Tisch, vice chancellor of the State University of New York, told The Post.
“To stop the charter movement in its tracks would be tragic. We have such a large waiting list. People want to see the charter school work continue.”
Tisch said she was at a meeting of the SUNY Charter School Committee last month when some charter operators were told they couldn’t open or expand because the city had hit the cap. Only seven of the 13 charter applications were approved; the others were wait-listed.
“I saw the looks on the faces of applicants who were denied the opportunity to open because of the cap. It was heartbreaking,” said Tisch, who previously served as chancellor of the state Board of Regents, the other entity that licenses charters.
“We’ve got to find a way to allow charter operators with a good track record to open new schools or expand.”
She hopes reason prevails at a time when more charter critics were elected to the Legislature and prefer to focus attention on traditional public schools.
“I hope people don’t dig in their heels here,” said Tisch. “Nothing is going to replace the larger public school system.”
She suggested a compromise.
There are 460 charter schools that are authorized statewide, but there is a sub-cap that limits openings in the city, where there are 235 charters serving 123,000 students.
Ninety-nine charter slots are available outside the Big Apple, and Tisch said some of those should be shifted to the city.
The Post interviewed several charter applicants whose plans to open in August 2020 were postponed because of the cap.
The Math, Engineering and Science Academy Charter HS planned to open a second 9-12 school. More than 90 percent of students in the first two graduating classes at its Bushwick campus graduated on time. “We’re disappointed and frustrated. We think we’re doing a good job,” said MESA head Arthur Samuels.
The proposed Minisink K-5 Charter in Harlem, sponsored by the NYC Mission Society, said it would limit class sizes to 12 students and focus on enrolling special-needs students. “We’re in limbo,” said Mission Society president Elsie McCabe Thompson.
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