A01861 Summary:

BILL NO    A01861 

SAME AS    No same as

SPONSOR    Nolan (MS)

COSPNSR    O'Donnell, Lifton

MLTSPNSR   McEneny

Amd SS2851 & 2852, Ed L

Provides that during the process of submitting an application to a charter
entity for approval, a charter entity shall be the board of regents for
charters where the original charter entity was the board of trustees of SUNY.

A01861 Actions:

BILL NO    A01861 

01/12/2009 referred to education
01/06/2010 referred to education

A01861 Votes:

A01861 Memo:

 BILL NUMBER:  A1861

 TITLE OF BILL :  An act to amend the education law, in relation to
charter schools

 PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL : This bill would amend the
definition of charter entity in the Education Law.

 SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS : Sections 1 and 2 amend the Education
Law S2851 to define the board of regents as the charter entity for
charters where the original charter entity was the board of trustees
of the state university of New York. Section 3 sets the effective date
as the first July after which this act takes effect.

 JUSTIFICATION : The New York Charter Schools Act of 1998 launched an
experiment in education. Since that beginning, charter schools have
been approved and denied, opened and closed. It has been a learning
experience. After almost ten years of innovation in education, it is
time to reflect and review. This bill responds to just such a review
of the procedures by which charter schools are created. It adjusts
those procedures to make decisions about charter schools more
consistent and therefore more credible.

Under current law, applications for new charter schools are submitted
to the New York State Board of Regents, the SUNY Board of Trustees or
a local school district and, in New York City, the chancellor. These
entities review applications and forward approved applications to the
Board of Regents. The Board of Regents may accept, reject or return an
application for further development. The SUNY Board of Trustees, local
school district of New York City chancellor may then re-submit
applications. The Board of Regents may accept, reject or again return
the application approved by local school districts but it must accept
an application re-submitted by SUNY Board of Trustees even if the
board does not address the Regents' questions or concerns.

The exception of SUNY approved applications from the Board of Regents
oversight is troubling. It has introduced inconsistency into the
review of charter applications. The criteria for approval of a charter
application or the evaluation of that criteria differ. In fact,
applications rejected by the Regents can proceed through SUNY rather
than address what can be problematic flaws in their proposals.  As a
result, the credibility of some schools and in fact the approval
process is called into question. It also makes oversight problematic
and erratic. This is not good for the students in New York State.

This legislation amends the application process to assure consistent
review of charter applications. It establishes a process which is
reliable and accountable. That will serve the best interests of all
schools and their students.

 PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :  A10275 of 2007-2008

 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS :None

 EFFECTIVE DATE : This bill shall take effect on first July after the
bill becomes law.