Let charter schools flourish

As schools chancellor for almost eight years, I have found that while parents have many different views about education, they all want a great school for their children. To help make that a reality for every family in the city, Mayor Bloomberg and I have set about giving parents more choices - both because choice makes it more likely that parents will find what they want for their children and because competition creates better outcomes for children.

Since 2002, we have opened more than 400 new schools: 335 traditional public schools and 82 public charter schools. The major difference between the two is that the school district operates the traditional schools, while independent educators operate charters. But in either instance, the school is free to students and subject to the same academic requirements.

For most parents, the distinction between a traditional public school and a charter school isn't relevant. Parents are concerned about whether a school is high-achieving and fits their children's needs. Particularly in high-needs communities where choice is rare, families deserve greater opportunity than they typically have to decide among options for their children.

Indeed, they're already demanding better options now. More than 30,000 children are now on waiting lists to get into a charter school. Yet there is a growing gap between those children's parents and the critics who view charters not as a great option for underserved children but as a threat that needs to be limited.

Tonight, there is a vote on whether to locate nearly a dozen new public, independently run charter schools and two new small public district schools in the same building as existing schools. These sites have room for more students, but critics are fighting our efforts to open new schools, citing space concerns.

These opponents are some of the same people who recently blocked a meaningful charter cap lift proposed by Gov. Paterson, which would have allowed many more charters to open up here. Their opposition could end up costing the state $700 million in federal school funds.

Why would people seek to prevent new schools from opening, even if that means denying choices to families? Because while educators in traditional public schools here are by law required to be unionized, those in charters decide for themselves whether they want to join a union. For union leaders, this is a fight to remain in control.

One of their central arguments is that charter schools shouldn't be able to move into public school buildings without the consensus of all the parents at the existing schools. Yet the teachers union - which runs two charter sites of its own - never asked for other parents' approval when we gave these union-run schools free space. And as we all know, getting a group of New Yorkers to agree completely on anything is virtually impossible - and requiring that will kill some charter schools, and deny choices to local families.

In a city with more than a million schoolkids and limited real estate, more than half of our schools - both traditional public schools and charter schools - are already required to share space. A school building with capacity for 500 students will have 500 students whether they're in one school or divided between two or more at the same site. And because a third of our charter schools are in their own buildings, they've actually created more public school seats - and on their dime, not the taxpayer's.

Instead of pitting schools and parents against each other, we should be asking how to make all of our public schools better. One of the reasons so many parents are applying to charter schools is that quite a few of them are getting extraordinary results, typically with black and Latino children who have long underperformed their white peers. Likewise, the graduation rates of our new small schools are 15 points higher than the city average.

These schools are great options for our children. We should be trying to replicate some of their best aspects rather than make excuses to prevent their creation. Indeed, let's encourage schools to share space; hopefully, it will lead to shared ideas.

Charters are not single-handedly going to fix public education, but they are a vital part of the solution. Demand for more will certainly be on display tonight. But if you need more proof that charters are positively influencing entire communities, just visit the Harlem Education Fair this Saturday. There will be at least 10,000 families there "shopping" for the right public schools for their children - both traditional and charter - in one of the nation's poorest school districts.

For education truly to be the great equalizer requires that all students have access to high-quality schools. By creating options in long underserved neighborhoods, charters are helping to level the playing field.

Klein is New York City's schools chancellor and EEP Co-Chairperson.

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