The head of the New York chapter of the NAACP has made headlines for bluntly excoriating the concerned parent of a charter school student. The background: The NAACP is part of the teachers' union lawsuit against the Department of Education, which wants to close 22 failing schools and open charter schools in their place. One concerned Bronx mom, Janette Ramos, recently emailed NAACP head Hazel Dukes to urge the NAACP to drop the lawsuit. "If you and the NAACP continue on this horrible lawsuit against my daughter's school and the fellow 18 charter schools, it will not be the best legacy to leave behind," Ramos wrote. The Post reports that Dukes's reply was swift and, well, to the point. more ›

The polls are really not being nice to Mayor Bloomberg today. Though he once said improving the city's schools was his top priority, a new poll says 49% of New Yorkers believe he failed in doing that. But we thought graduation rates were grea—Oh. Right. more ›

New York submitted its second application for Race to the Top grant program yesterday after a long, controversial battle to raise the cap on charter schools. The previously low cap was just one of many problems with the state's initial application, which came in close to last and contained some really strange furniture requests. 35 states and the District of Columbia have all applied for $3.4 billion in funding, but Todd Ziebarth, vice president of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, told the Daily News, "My sense is that New York has significantly increased their competitiveness." more ›

Now that the Assembly has agreed to raise the cap on charter schools, perpetual charter opponent Bill Perkins is singing a different tune! He said yesterday that "this bill makes important progress in providing independent auditing making charter schools more accountable [and improves New York's chances of obtaining federal aid] at a time when . . . our budget situation is worse than ever." But charter-school parent Karl Willingham says it's all an act, and that "It would've been political suicide for him to continue on the path he was on." more ›

The State Assembly has reportedly agreed to lift the cap on charter schools from 200 to 460 over four years, which would enable NY to compete for "Race to the Top" funds. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver says the Assembly will vote on the contentious issue this morning (well, the Senate had passed raising the cap, while the Assembly opposed it). The Daily News reports, "Senate Democratic Conference Leader John Sampson (D-Brooklyn) met with Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver at about 2 a.m. to discuss the measure and afterward said only 'we’re working on it.'" Wow, lawmakers actually working! How's that budget coming along? more ›

Having clearly exhausted every other option of luring local children into their charter school, officials at JHS 126 in Greenpoint have resorted to a foolproof method of recruitment: cash bonuses! The school has posted signs promising a "$100 reward" for any student who convinces another to attend one of three charters in the area for at least one term. more ›

Perhaps Albany was just taking their bizarre spending cues from the state's charter schools. Amid the debates over raising the cap on charter schools in order to be eligible for federal education funding, the NY Times reports that some of the state's charters haven't been using their public funding too well. Niagara Charter School reportedly spent $100,000 on consulting contracts, but had to hold a fundraiser to buy new playground equipment. more ›

Mayor Bloomberg and Andrew Cuomo have both come out in favor of a bill to raise the cap on charter schools, despite much resistance from teachers unions. Bloomberg said, "There are 40,000 kids trying to get into 10,000 places in our charter schools and the Legislature won't let us add more charter schools," and encouraged residents to complain to lawmakers via 311. Raising the cap on charter schools could make the state more eligible for Race to the Top funding, but it has been opposed by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who says it will be difficult to raise support. The bill has already passed the state Senate. more ›

The controversy over charter schools, whether they're truly effective or run in a corrupt manner, came to a head yesterday at a public hearing that devolved into a shouting match between supporters and critics. And much of the vitriol seems to be directed toward "Judas" State Sen. Bill Perkins. more ›

Though charter schools have wildly outperformed public schools in Harlem, State Sen. Bill Perkins has attempted to block the expansion of the publicly funded, privately run charter program, and will continue his fight at his hearing challenging "the business of charter schools" in Manhattan this week. This comes as the state is being pressured to expand the program for Race to the Top funding. Local parents are pissed Perkins would put teachers unions interests before their kids. "Perkins is going against the majority of parents. He is hindering progress. Why is this nut hindering progress?" said one Harlem mom. About one in five Harlem children is enrolled in a charter school. more ›

After submitting what many legislators considered to be a sub-par application, New York state was named one of the finalists in a $4.35 billion federal education funding contest. In a surprising decision, federal authorities chose New York as one of 16 finalists in the competition, even though the state officials failed to increase the number of charter schools and couldn't agree on a policy for evaluating teachers by their students' test scores, the Post reports. New York will make a presentation to federal officials for the cash on March 15. If New York isn't given awarded funding then, the state can reapply in a second round in June, according to 1010WINS. more ›

Albany lawmakers missed the 4:30 deadline today to agree on a plan that would allow more charter schools in New York, hurting the state's chances to win up to $700 million in federal education funds, the Post reports. "It's dead in the state Assembly," said pro-charter Assemblyman Michael Benjamin (D-Bronx). more ›

Mayor Bloomberg has been a vocal supporter of charter schools, but he says a new bill that would double the number of charter schools allowed in the state is "a wolf in sheep's clothing." Though the new legislation would increase the number of charter schools permitted in New York from 200 to 400, it would also add restrictions that would require greater openness from charter schools, bar for-profit corporations from opening them, and give public school parents the power to stop charters from moving into public school buildings — restrictions the Mayor claims would halt their expansion. more ›

With the prospect of having to close 14 more Catholic schools within the Diocese of Brooklyn on top of the 32 they have already shut down since 2005, Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio has turned to the city in an attempt to secularize at least four of them into public charter schools. At a press conference alongside DiMarzio, Mayor Bloomberg said about the potentially closing schools, “Many if not most of the students would be likely to seek admission in Brooklyn and Queens public schools that are already at or near capacity, which gives us all a shared interest in finding innovative ways to keep these school doors open.” The mayor says that he supports any legislation needed to make it happen since such a conversion would currently be prohibited by statewide regulations. A similar plan was enacted in Washington DC where seven parochial schools have been converted into charter schools. Catholic schools throughout the five boroughs have been closing in rapid succession with enrollment declines over the last few years. more ›

New York City Catholic schools are seeing their enrollment numbers dropping dramatically, leading to fears that more schools will have to consolidate or join the 1,300 that have closed nationwide since 1990. Enrollment within the Archdiocese of New York has dropped almost 7% in the last year alone. Catholic schools have long been considered a vital cornerstone in educating New York's kids, especially in lower-income areas of the city. But with more charter schools opening and the average Catholic high school tuition at $5,500, one former charter school principal told the Post, "If you're a middle-income family, you can pony up five grand a year for your kids to go to a Catholic school that's decent. Or, if you can find a charter school that's actually pretty good, then why not take a freebie?" more ›