Reform Needed For Public And Charter Schools

For  immediate release
Contact: Ken Houston: 716.854.8705

ALBANY, NY-  The New York State Senate took a vote Monday on a bill that would more than double the number of charter schools.  
 
While the bill takes bold steps forward to provide greater accountability and transparency for charter schools, the bill is unlikely to pass the State Assembly, and is distracting from the budget process.

There are students in traditional public schools and charter schools, and both deserve our support.  Parents and students deserve school choice, but reform for both school systems must be done in an open and transparent way.

New York State Senator Antoine Thompson voted no on the bill, saying “it’s a distraction from the efforts to finalize the state budget.”  Thompson also pointed out several missing key measures to such a bill.  In its current form, senate bill 7678 has no Assembly sponsor, does not allow for funds to be distributed equally,  makes no allowance for an independent audit by a state comptroller and provides no over saturation language.

Senator Thompson says charter school reforms should also be applied to traditional schools through parent involvement, afterschool programs that could address the dropout rate, low test scores and the declining literacy rate.

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