The state legislature has approved a bill to raise the charter cap from 200 to 460 over the next four years.  By a vote of 45 to 14, the State Senate approved the bill this afternoon.  Earlier today, the Assembly passed the bill by a margin of 91 - 43.   The bill's passage comes in the nick of time for New York to bolster its application for the second round of Race to the Top before the June 1 deadline.

Front and center in the contentious battle to raise the charter cap has been the thorny issue of co-located charter and traditional public schools. Community Education Council (CEC) members from across the city urged state legislators to grant CECs the authority to approve or deny co-location plans, arguing that "a mere 'advisory' council that would have no real power is simply unacceptable," according to letter signed by 27 CEC members submitted to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver earlier this week.

The approved bill falls short of CEC demands. It provides for the creation of school leadership teams that will have input into building usage plans, but it does not grant them veto power.

The New York Charter Schools Association (NYCSA) opposed the bill, objecting to provisions that undermine charter school autonomy, including one that bans for-profit organizations from managing or operating new charter schools.  <!--more-->Peter Murphy, the policy director of NYCSA, the called the bill "governance at its worse," according to the New York Times.

Other key provisions:

  • require charter schools to admit English language learners, students with special needs and those qualifying for free or reduced price lunch in numbers comparable to those in the local school district;
  • authorize the State Comptroller to audit charter schools; and
  • ensure parity in school facilities by requiring that matching capital improvements be made to a traditional public school's section of the building whenever capital improvements in excess of $5000 are made to a co-located charter school's portion of the premises.

Read the full bill here.  Check out more news coverage here, here,  here, and here.