In one of the thorniest issues in state budget negotiations, NYSUT successfully fought for some charter school reform and reduced the number of possible new charter schools to 100.

Legislators resisted the governor's proposal to increase the cap by 150 new schools and refused to authorize the New York City schools chancellor as a chartering entity.

Charter schools will continue to be approved by the State Education Department and the State University of New York Board of Trustees, with some new restrictions in place.

Up to half of the new schools will be in New York City.

Transition aid

NYSUT also successfully pushed for more "transition aid" to public school districts that lose students - and the per-pupil aid tied to them - to publicly funded, privately run charter schools. In late negotiations, the Legislature added $7 million in transition aid for a total of $22 million in the final budget.

Districts are eligible if their charter school enrollment or payments exceed 2 percent of the resident district's enrollment or expenses.

NYSUT Executive Vice President Alan Lubin said the transition aid is a start, but nowhere near enough.

"A school district like Albany, which has a heavy concentration of charter schools, is paying $20 million to charter schools but is slated for just $2 million in transition aid," Lubin said. "We're going to keep fighting for more realistic aid."

Other new provisions for charter schools include:

• When more than 5 percent of a district's students are enrolled in charter schools, the applicant will have to show "significant educational benefit" for a proposed charter school or get sign-off by the host district;
• Charter schools must make "good faith efforts" to enroll students with disabilities and limited English proficiency so percentages are more comparable to those in the local public school district.
• School districts must hold public hearings on charter schools that are newly proposed, revised or renewed. If districts fail to hold hearings, the state Board of Regents must.
• Proposed charter schools would have to give more notice to local school districts. For a school to open in the fall, it would have to be approved by March 15.
• Leaves of absence from public schools for teachers to work in charter schools are increased from two to three years.
• All staff, including School-Related Professionals, will be unionized at new charter schools that are approved after July 1 and have at least 250 students in the first two years. Previously, SRPs were not included and unionization was only required for schools with 250 students in the first year. This led to anti-union manipulation - charters opening with enrollments just under 250 in the first year, then vastly larger the second year.

The debate over charter schools is far from over, Lubin said.

"We'll keep fighting for an improved law that gives local school districts and communities a voice in the process," he said. "We'll also keep calling for a moratorium on more charter schools in communities like Albany and Buffalo that are already oversaturated and suffering financially."

- Sylvia Saunders