Charter schools are given a break

[steven]

Charter schools were big winners in the state budget sweepstakes. The statewide cap on the number of charter schools was doubled to 200. That allows the State University of New York and the state Board of Regents — previously constrained by the lower cap — to once again license new charter schools.

In addition, efforts to limit the growth and lower the financing of charter schools were defeated.

“The victory here is that you’ll have more charter schools and that the law remains largely intact,” said Peter Murphy, policy director for the New York Charter Schools Association. “The message will get out that we’re now back in business.”

At the same time, districts with large concentrations of charter schools — including Buffalo — got some fiscal relief after arguing for years that they suffer under the existing funding formula.

A newly created pool of “transition aid” will provide Buffalo $12 million next school year to cushion the $60 million the district makes in transfer payments to 15 charter schools.

Even so, Buffalo school officials said they would need to recover an additional $28 million to equalize transfer payments with savings the district realizes from the loss of students to charter schools. In addition, the transition aid is scheduled to be phased out over the next three years, said Gary M. Crosby, chief operations and financial officer for the Buffalo schools.

But both Crosby and Assemblyman Sam Hoyt, who was instrumental in lifting the cap, said the transition aid signals Albany’s willingness to help districts with lots of charter schools.

http://www.buffalonews.com/102/story/52874.html

[DelawareDistrict]

The Buffalo Public schools should not receive aid to offset the loss of students. They should downsize instead and save money. Giving the public schools that kind of aid is like rewarding them for poor performance.

[Genoobie]

Well here's a fine how do you do...

Take kids and parents who are concerned about their kids education and sequester them away from those who aren't...that kind of approach *should* solve all our problems...duh??

Why not great schools for all??

Regards

betcha we could use some of that $100,000,000,000 going to Iraq to help out with school costs...

btw, Americans spent about $700,000,000,000 on schools (higher ed / prop taxes the whole deal). Let's see...if I carry the zero over here....drop the bomb over there...um Haliburton here...that's right...yes Cheney...um hmm...