Charter school principals mobilize parents to lobby for Mayor Bloomberg school control

Juan Gonzalez

Charter school principals mobilize parents to lobby for Mayor Bloomberg school control

Friday, March 20th 2009, 12:18 AM

Are parents of charter school children across the city being organized into shock troops for Mayor Bloomberg's continued control of the public school system?

The state law that authorized mayoral control expires on June 30, and the debate over whether the Legislature should extend it has turned increasingly bitter in many city neighborhoods.

Supporters of Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, including principals from many newly formed public charter schools, have launched a well-financed and sophisticated effort to lobby for more charters and for mayoral control.

In recent weeks, those principals have mobilized parents from their schools for "School Choice" community rallies to demand extra space for new charters in existing public schools, and to pack a series of state Assembly hearings on school governance, the last of which will be held in Brooklyn today.

"You see the organizers and the parents brought in on buses, and the sandwiches distributed, and you can tell it's a highly organized effort," said one official who has attended several of the hearings.

Some disgruntled charter school parents have claimed their principals require them to attend such rallies.

A Harlem principal who shares space with one of the new public charter schools is furious at the "obvious double standard."

"If I tried to use my budget and resources to mobilize parents that way, my job would be in jeopardy," said the principal, who requested anonymity. "But the charters have all this extra money to do whatever they want, all with the blessing of Klein."

Asked about the practice, spokesman David Cantor said the DOE does not permit the use of school money to transport parents to political functions, but has paid for buses to take parents to Albany on school funding issues.

"Charter schools ... are independently run and can't turn to a district for this kind of funding," Cantor said. "They have to provide the funding for such activity themselves."

The biggest uproar has been sparked by DOE's aggressive policy of putting new charters in existing public schools without seeking parent approval.

"It's the same in every neighborhood," said Monica Major, president of the Community Education Council in District 11 in the Bronx. "The DOE just tells you they're putting a new charter in your building and you have to force them to even have a conversation about it."

Such directives have turned parents in some neighborhoods into warring factions. Those who favor charters claim others are denying their children the chance for a better education.

jgonzalez@nydailynews.com

LINK: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/education/2009/03/19/
2009-03-19_charter_school_principals_mobilize_paren.html