“A supernova is what happens when a star has reached the end of its life and explodes in a brilliant burst of light. Supernovas can briefly outshine entire galaxies and radiate more energy than our sun will in its entire lifetime.” —Nancy Taylor Tillman, Space.com
I am reading Astrophysics for Young People in a Hurry with my son and immediately thought about supernovas when I read Michael Petrilli’s article “Education reform in red versus blue states.” Petrilli states that New York performs poorly in “States that use A–F or 5-star ratings for their school accountability systems” and “States that provide funding for science of reading training,” but has “a particularly impressive showing” in charter school growth compared to other blue states.
Petrilli is absolutely right about New York’s failure to implement any standards-based reform. Sadly, New York has seemingly accepted pandemic learning loss as part of the “new normal” and is eliminating the New York high school graduation exam, which has been in place for 156 years. It is indeed a race to the bottom here.
The charter school growth, however, is the light of the state’s ed policy supernova, which we see now, but it is the result of activity several years ago. Unfortunately, New York won’t continue seeing the same growth in the future: Since 2010, a state law has established a cap of 460 charter schools statewide. Last year, there was a minor political deal to allow fourteen charter schools that had already been approved by an authorizer but couldn’t open because the cap had been reached. Consider this: While New York’s charter schools have added 23,346 students in the past five years, only 1,001 were added in the last year.
Growth is slowing down, but it doesn’t have to. If the charter school cap is lifted, New York educators could have the same freedom to open the schools of their dreams that other states enjoy, potentially leading to a surge in innovation and student enrollment.
It’s clear that New York families are eager for more charter schools: Between 2019 and 2023, the district schools statewide lost 6.9 percent of their student population, while New York charters grew their enrollment by 14.7 percent. This difference in growth underscores the urgent need to lift the charter school cap and meet the growing demand for innovative education options.
Regrettably, the charter school cap is also hindering New York’s ability to attract the best school innovators to our state. That was not the situation when Massachusetts had a charter cap, and New York welcomed school innovation; several charter founders relocated to our state because they could not open there.
John King Jr., currently the Chancellor of the State University of New York, founded Roxbury Preparatory Charter School in Boston, then joined Uncommon Schools while expanding in NJ and NY, and was appointed Commissioner of Education of the State of New York in May 2011. Brett Peiser was the Founder and former Principal of Boston Collegiate Charter School. He relocated to New York City and currently serves as the co-CEO of Uncommon Schools NYC.
There are now thirty-three states that offer school choice programs to families, and the number keeps growing. New York won’t be able to attract the best educators, as it did in the past if it doesn’t lift the charter cap and allow educators and families to create the educational options our kids need.
