This academic year, debates about how much space charter schools should receive in city public school buildings, along with the fight for federal education dollars, have kept Harlem schools in the spotlight—and local State Senator Bill Perkins is still standing in the middle of Harlem’s charter school wars, in many ways polarizing the fight.
Charter schools, which are public schools overseen by private boards of directors, have exploded in Harlem over the last few years, with 24 of Manhattan’s 29 charter schools located north of 96th Street.
The area is home to two equally passionate factions: those who believe that charters provide a focused quality of education better than Harlem’s district schools provide, and those who believe the growth of charters starves traditional schools of resources. Perkins has firmly aligned himself with the anti-charter activists, a position that came into focus at hearings he held on April 22 as chairman of the New York State Senate Committee on Corporations, Authorities, and Commissions.
A few days after kicking off his re-election campaign, Perkins alleged that the ways in which charter schools compensate their directors and employees are not transparent enough. “Schools should be in the business of teaching our children, not enriching corporations,” he said.
Perkins remains the area’s staunchest anti-charter school advocate, while statewide momentum seems to be moving in the other direction. This week, the State Senate approved a measure to double the number of charter schools allowed in the state, although it was unclear whether this would also pass in the State Assembly.
In early April, backlash against charters spread to the Upper West Side, where Community Board 7 approved a resolution that would make putting a charter school in public school space much more complicated. Morningside Heights State Assembly member Daniel O’Donnell introduced a bill—which the CB7 resolution supported—that would make public school buildings subject to the city’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure before they can lease or sell space.
The ULURP process, a city protocol for land use review, includes community input, something that anti-charter advocates say has been lacking when the city’s Department of Education decides to give a charter school space in a traditional public school building. Supporters of the bill argue that they are not opponents of charter schools, but rather support a more thorough process with neighborhood feedback. But ULURP is a lengthy process with many chances for requests to be denied, which CB7 member Cara Volpe worried could have drastic consequences.
“I think the end result will be charters not being able to use public space,” she said.
At a January meeting of District 3’s Community Education Council, which represents schools on the Upper West Side and in West Harlem, many parents—and Perkins—advocated for exactly that.
“We know you can’t put five schools in [one building] and make them work equitably,” CEC President Noah Gotbaum said at the meeting. “A lot of our public school students are coming last.”
Throughout the year, the city’s Department of Education, in conjunction with Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, held “war room” discussions with politicians and school affiliates. The DOE also carried out physical walk-throughs of buildings that hold more than one school to help determine how to divide space fairly.
Still, charters boast that their students score higher on New York state exams and that more of their students matriculate at colleges.
Teachers College, which is starting its own public school in the fall of 2011, has said it will attempt to use some of charter schools’ tactics, like a longer school day and year, while remaining a traditional public school.
“We’re looking to adopt features of charters that have been successful, based on research,” TC spokesperson Joe Levine said in March.
But Perkins has not wavered in his advocacy against charters, and Harlem parents like Kim Burke, who said that her son has been succeeding at KIPP STAR College Prep Charter School after leaving a district school, could pose a problem for Perkins in his re-election campaign.
Referring to KIPP, Burke said, “When I spoke to them about my concerns, they [school officials] were excellent. He is doing much better.”
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