SRC approves some additional charter school seats
by Dale Mezzacappa on Jun 16 2010
Apparently responding to a furious lobbying campaign that started last Friday, the School Reform Commission approved some charter expansions for next year, although not to the level the operators had requested.
More than 20 charter schools has asked for an additional 1515 seats, and the SRC approved 1042 for the 2010-2011 school year.
Overall, the charters had requested and additional 9,262 seats over five years, which they said they needed to adequately plan and secure funding for facility needs.
The decision still left the charters with long-range planning issues. But the SRC and Superintendent Arlene Ackerman said that the District too has planning issues because of budget uncertainties. It is still awaiting approval of the state budget to see how much it will get in basic education aid and how much is included for charter reimbursement.
"We can’t plan either," Ackerman said. "Right now, we’re all in the same boat." She said she felt the limited, one-year expansion was "fair, which is why the SRC voted for it."
SRC members and chief business officer Michael Masch said that granting the full five-year requests made by the charter schools would cost the District an