Chancellor Tisch Stands By Charter School Rejections

Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch defended the decision by the New York State Education Department to reject applications from 15 prospective charter schools, 12 of them in New York City.

She said the charters were rejected because they had problems, such as inadequate teacher preparation plans, adding that six or seven of them could apply again in June.

"The last thing we want to do is open up a charter school that cannot succeed, that we had worries about at the beginning," she told reporters on Thursday. "We have approved enough continuations of charter schools that are struggling to not worry about this thoughtfully. I want quality charter schools. I want quality charter seats."

The news, first reported by ChalkbeatNY, came as Albany lawmakers grappled with whether to lift the cap on the number of charter schools allowed in the state. Gov. Andrew Cuomo has proposed allowing 100 more, for a total of 560. Assembly Speaker, Carl Heastie has said he's inclined to stick with the current limit.

The pro-charter group Families for Excellent Schools questioned the timing of the decision.

"The last thing parents would want to see is the politics of the moment standing in the way of opening more high-quality public charter schools for students," said Jeremiah Kittredge, the group's chief executive.

But Tisch called it "really shameful" to disparage the work of the education department. 

"There has been no greater champion of charter schools in a public role than I have been for years now, before charter schools became popular," she said. "I do not want to create a process that ensures that in the next five years we have lists of failing charter schools. That will undermine the efficacy of the movement."

Tisch made her comments after a breakfast speech hosted by Crain's, in New York City.