Pol a charter ‘fool’
Critics blast bill to veto school locations
Last Updated: 5:19 AM, April 13, 2012
Posted: 1:05 AM, April 13, 2012
PrintA powerful state lawmaker has proposed a new bill that would block the opening of new charter schools and limit educational options to parents and kids, critics charge.
The controversial legislation — advanced by Harlem Assemblyman and Manhattan Democratic Party Chairman Keith Wright — would give 32 community-education councils the power to veto plans to put charters in buildings also used by traditional public schools.
Under the bill, which is backed the influential teachers union, the 11-member parent CECs would vote to approve or reject such co-location plans.
If they disapprove, the mayoral-run Board of Education would be prohibited from even voting on charter locations.
“Co-locations by executive fiat has not worked. It has torn communities and neighborhoods apart. I have seen police officers called in to go after parents. That doesn’t make for a good educational environment,” Wright said.
“This bill provides a better way to satisfy space concerns and educational concerns of the entire educational community. Mayor Bloomberg doesn’t know better than Harlem, Bedford-Stuyvesant and the South Bronx,” he added.
Principals, parents and staffers often complain their school has to give up space when a charter moves in.
But school-choice advocates worry that giving the local councils veto power
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