Next year will be the biggest year of growth yet for New York’scharter schools, with 29 due to open in New York City alone. But Seth Andrew, the founder of Democracy Prep, a successful charter middle school in Harlem, is already starting to turn his focus to another state. The political environment in New York, he fears, is shifting.
This month, a bill to double the number of charter schools ended in deadlock in Albany. Political opposition is nothing new for such schools, but this defeat was particularly jarring, coming even as other states have loosened restrictions on charter schools to improve their chances for a share of $4 billion in federal grant funds in the competition known as the Race to the Top. As the Race to the Top deadline came and went, New York did not act.
Mr. Andrew, 31, wants to open five charter schools in the city; his second will open next year. But the current state law limits the number of charter schools to 200, and 182 are already running or have been given permission to open. While Mr. Andrew said he would not abandon his New York schools, he now plans to open three in Rhode Island, which offered him free facilities, and pledged to let him expand without limit as long as his schools show results.
“I was born and raised in New York, so I wanted to commit to New York,” said Mr. Andrew, who graduated from Bronx Science High School before getting degrees from Brown and Harvard.
This month, a bill to double the number of charter schools ended in deadlock in Albany. Political opposition is nothing new for such schools, but this defeat was particularly jarring, coming even as other states have loosened restrictions on charter schools to improve their chances for a share of $4 billion in federal grant funds in the competition known as the Race to the Top. As the Race to the Top deadline came and went, New York did not act.
Mr. Andrew, 31, wants to open five charter schools in the city; his second will open next year. But the current state law limits the number of charter schools to 200, and 182 are already running or have been given permission to open. While Mr. Andrew said he would not abandon his New York schools, he now plans to open three in Rhode Island, which offered him free facilities, and pledged to let him expand without limit as long as his schools show results.
“I was born and raised in New York, so I wanted to commit to New York,” said Mr. Andrew, who graduated from Bronx Science High School before getting degrees from Brown and Harvard.