That brings the total amount
his administration plans to spend on charters in FY2015 to nearly $1.3
billion, up from $1.06 billion this year.... Capital NY
If you don't think the ATR stuff in the contract has nothing to do with the "Big Plan" to chop down a third of union teachers, you must be "smoking something" - to use a phrase our former union chief Sandra Feldman used when we turned down the '95 contract and sent their asses back to the negotiating table - if you think we can do better - you must be smoking something. Hint - they did do better - that's why you don't have to work 25 years to max salary.
So this - almost - hidden nugget about the de Blasio surrender on charters in an important factor. Once the contract is settled, the charter gold rush will begin. People don't expect deB to close schools and turn them into ATRS. What they will do is consolidate public schools with low numbers and hand over the empty building to charters. Here is a way to end the co-loco issue -- put the public schools together in one building -- but not as different schools - and there will be excessing leading to the world of ATR for many people who do not expect it. (See Newark).
It only just begins. Problematic behavior for an ATR that can get them fired in a whisper? Not saying gesundheit when someone sneezes.
And how about making almost 120K a year? Might as well put a bulls eye on your back.
My friend had this comment:
I give you Mayor "Mike Bl.....", er, no, that's "Bill de
Blas...." oh hell, let me start again, Governor/Mayor/Charter Executive
"Andrew Moskowitz."
http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/city-hall/2014/05/8545418/de-blasio-quietly-adds-hundreds-millions-charters
When Mayor Bill de Blasio held a news conference on Monday touting his
recent educational budget commitments,
he highlighted additional money he will spend on arts programs ($20
million), after-school activities for middle schools ($145 million) and
his signature proposal, universal pre-kindergarten ($300 million).
He did not mention the multi-million-dollar boost for charter schools.
Tucked
in a 291-page document related to the Fiscal Year 2015 budget he
unveiled on May 8 are two increases to charter schools: $26.9 million
for the current fiscal year, which ends June 30, and an extra $219.7
million for next year. Those figures reflect spikes from the preliminary
fiscal plan he unveiled in February.
That brings the total amount
his administration plans to spend on charters in FY2015 to nearly $1.3
billion, up from $1.06 billion this year.
His budget spokeswoman, Amy Spitalnick, attributed the growing cost
to higher tuition and expanded enrollment in both fiscal years, in part
due to the mayor's decision to allow 14 charters approved under his
predecessor to move into existing public schools next year.
Since
the preliminary budget was released on Feb. 12, enrollment in the city's
183 charters has increased by 1,073 students for FY2014 and 4,487
students for FY2015, Spitalnick said.
The tuition went up $26.9
million in FY2014, accounting for the entire increase that year, and
$83.7 million in the upcoming year.
It's a noteworthy increase,
given de Blasio's awkward relationship with charters, which have proven
one of the most difficult political issues for him in his first few
months in office.
In February, de Blasio opted to allow 14
charters to take up space in public schools, over protests from his
charter-skeptic Democratic colleagues like Public Advocate Letitia James
and City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, who are trying to halt the co-locations in court.
De Blasio initially blocked three of the 17 schools former mayor
Michael Bloomberg approved for co-location at the end of his mayoralty,
but later agreed to help the three rent space in former Catholic schools
after a bruising political fight with their founder, Eva Moskowitz.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo also waded into the battle to defend Moskowtiz,
leaving de Blasio short of allies on either side of the dispute.
In
March, he delivered a speech at Riverside Church attempting to clarify
that he is not anti-charter, after having criticized the Bloomberg
administration's favorable treatment of charters, and Moskowitz in
particular, during his mayoral campaign.
"Time for Eva Moskowitz
to stop having the run of the place," he said, in a clip that was aired
by pro-charter hosts on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" in March.
He also spoke of the "destructive impact" of her charters on the public schools they move into.
The city has to pay $13,527 per charter student, but a recent state law increased that amount to $13,777 per pupil.
