New York is at the frontline of the latest controversy over charter schools, and its growth as a parallel school system using public money to fund privately operated schools largely independent from government and taxpayer oversight.
New York’s largest charter network, operated by the State University of New York, is intent on creating new charter-only teacher certifications, which they want to be interchangeable with traditional, state-issued licenses. State officials are trying to block this move.
The chair of the SUNY Charter School Committee, Joe Belluck, intends to confer probationary licenses to teachers following three years in a SUNY charter school, which he believes should convert into officially recognized New York state teacher licenses, because they are “close enough.”
State Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia is currently the only state official who can make changes to licensing requirements. Elia is standing with opponents of the new avenue to teacher certification, refusing to lower standards. New York charters serve less than five percent of all New York students and offer lower pay, fewer benefits, and zero job security.
The controversy has important implications to the governance of charter schools everywhere.
Because most states require charters to have some or all of their teachers be fully certified, charter schools have to work to attract teachers who might otherwise opt to teach in better-paying public schools.
New York charters serve less than five percent of all New York students and offer lower pay, fewer benefits, and zero job security.
Charter schools have much higher levels of teacher attrition than public schools, especially in New York where they lose teachers at more than double the rate of district schools, and where the retention gap between district and charter schools has been widening over time. Fifteen percent of charters lost at least half their teaching staff in recent years. And even larger shortfalls are imminent, with an impending 40 percent teacher shortage projected to impact all schools across the state.
This is why the power to grant licenses is so coveted by charter operators—their current levels of teacher turnover are unsustainable.
Belluck claims he has a “moral” authority to compete for public education resources, including recruitment of new teachers.
He called it “condescending” when asked by Susan Arbetter on WCNY if these SUNY charter school teachers might find themselves trapped in one network with teaching licenses valid only in SUNY charter schools (currently 185 schools statewide). But he also admitted he hopes ultimately to persuade the New York State Education Department and the NY State Board of Regents to allow “portability” of the licenses.
If granted, this would allow teachers to transfer into any public school statewide (currently over 4,600 schools) making SUNY charters an easy and cheap alternative to current degree and certification requirements. It would also fix SUNY’s charter school teacher retention problem in a hurry.
Belluck’s efforts align with those of charter CEOs, particularly Eva Moskowitz who founded and runs Success Academy, the state's largest charter school chain. They intend to waive any requirement to student teach, to pass state certification exams, or get a Master's Degree (which can cost over $30,000) for teacher certification. These teachers would need to just get through three years in a SUNY charter that posts adequate standardized test scores.
Moskowitz has previously proposed the idea of unlicensed teacher hiring schemes to mitigate Success Academy’s ongoing hiring dilemmas.
Asked in the interview about the high numbers of teachers leaving charters, Belluck blamed the neighborhoods, claiming that inner-city public schools, if you go district-by-district, generally see the same levels of attrition. This is untrue.
One teacher who left Success Academy found Belluck’s comments offensive, having left for a public school in another challenging, high-poverty neighborhood:
“Because charters are inhospitable to labor organizing, most teachers have no union protection. This gives administrators carte blanche and encourages managerial practices that put the bottom line before the well-being of students or staff,” she told The Progressive.
"This contributes to trends of students, especially black and brown students and students with learning differences, being given detentions and suspensions and being funneled into the school-to-prison pipeline."
She saw firsthand the impact of unqualified teachers in Success Academy schools. While her training in classroom management enabled her to ameliorate dicey behavioral situations, her un-degreed colleagues were quick to resort to Success Academy’s draconian ladder of punishments.
“I was able to recognize and respond to diverse student needs, where other teachers viewed any deviation from expectations as defiance and thus responded using the strict standardized disciplinary system. This contributes to trends of students, especially black and brown students and students with learning differences, being given detentions and suspensions and being funneled into the school-to-prison pipeline,” she said.
Other teachers who resigned from Success Academy cited flaws in the test-based metrics SUNY charter schools use to rate performance and justify expansion, confirming that Success Academy schools dedicate large amounts of time to intensive all-day preparations for the test taking.
In their efforts to block Belluck’s plan, the state’s education department and the Board of Regents filed a lawsuit, which follows on two earlier suits filed by the state’s biggest teacher unions, New York State United Teachers and its New York City affiliate the United Federation of Teachers.
Belluck alleges collusion and misinformation from teacher unions, but he does not address the large campaign donations made to Governor Cuomo, Senate Republicans and the IDC by pro-charter PACs and astroturf groups. Perhaps that’s because Belluck is a $150,000 donor himself, with no qualifications or experience in actual pedagogy, but fiercely loyal to the oligarchs behind the U.S. school privatization effort.
Belluck knows Commissioner Elia has direct standing and can show harm to her office if SUNY is allowed to gut current professional requirements.
It's bewildering that SUNY is letting Belluck sabotage enrollment at its own teaching colleges. SUNY’s world class education degree programs include critical study of the history, theory, and science behind education, as well as rigorous courses in child development, special education, assessment, and classroom management methods that are essential to training effective teachers.
Jake Jacobs is a New York City school teacher and education blogger. He has written for Washington Post, Diane Ravitch’s Blog, AlterNet, the BAT Blog and elsewhere.