In NYC, Charters May or May Not “Backfill” Students; Public Schools Take Everybody
Who knew that New York City has a name for what lots of charter schools do or fail to do: accept new students when students drop out. Backfilling students. In NYC, “backfilling students” is a practice that is chosen or rejected by particular charter school operators.
Right now it is also the subject of policy discussions in NYC about what should be expected of charter schools and charter school networks as a condition of their charters. According to an excellent article that explains all this from Chalkbeat New York: “Charter schools (in NYC) must spell out their enrollment policies when they ask for permission to operate. But authorizers have been loath to require charters to adopt one backfill policy or another, seeing it as one way in which the schools exercise their autonomy that defines them as a charter school, and so schools frequently include vague language in their charters.”
Chalkbeat New York continues: “Now, the issue is growing in prominence as school leaders try to anticipate how the mayor will deal with charter schools in the years ahead, and especially how the city might charge charter schools rent to operate in public space.” There are important considerations of equity as the new mayor, Bill de Blasio and his education chancellor Carmen Farina try to address the privilege and favored status some charter school operators received under Mayor Michael Bloomberg. “One charter leader described the potential trade-off this way: The city provides space rent-free if the schools commit to more inclusive enrollment tactics. Then the choice becomes the operator’s: do we want to go along or stick to our model and pay a penalty for it?”
Some charter school operators in NYC and elsewhere refuse to fill places vacated by children who drop out, because they claim that it is more difficult to bring newcomers fully into the