Charter advocates block charter bill to shirk fairness, accountability

clipped from www.uft.org Charter school advocates, including the New York Charter School Association and Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, this week blocked legislation that would have made charter schools more transparent and more accessible to high-needs students. Lawmakers were under pressure to pass legislation by Jan. 19, the deadline for New York State to apply for the first round of federal Race to the Top funds. new restrictions on how charter schools are created and managed to make them more fair and transparent. Charter schools would have been required to admit and retain high-needs students. The bill would also have taken the power to approve charters away from the New York City schools chancellor and the board of trustees of the State University of New York. For-profit companies would have been prohibited from running the schools and charter schools would have been placed inside district public schools only if the parents of the students already attending those schools approve.