New teachers eye mayoral debate on charter schools

By LAURA D’ANGELO

Lisa Queally, an education major at Brooklyn College who is about to graduate and look for her first teaching job, does not want city officials to create more charter schools.

“They are not addressing the needs of public schools, and they think that by opening up new charter schools instead of public ones that they are fixing the problem,” Queally said.

Queally is one of many soon-to-be teachers whose careers will likely be affected by the outcome of the upcoming mayoral election, since the nominees have strong but opposing stances on charter schools. The mayoral race offers voters a clear choice on education, and the candidates’ differences over charter schools have emerged as one of the campaign’s major debates.

Democratic mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio wants to charge rent to charter schools, air jordan 14 which are publicly funded but privately operated. Currently, the city provides the schools with space, rent-free. De Blasio also would stop opening new charter schools, and he opposes Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s policy of turning low-performing public schools into charter schools.  He said the focus should be on improving the public schools.

Republican candidate Joe Lhota wants to double the number of charter schools in New York. To him it is “disgraceful” that so many children remain on waiting lists for charter schools. He proposes looking to former Catholic school buildings to house these new schools, as the Bloomberg administration also has done.

Students entering he education field have varied views on how opening charter schools will affect them.  Some see it as a threat to their employment, but others e don’t believe it necessarily affects them and do not see it as a problem.

“I think that charter schools are a benefit to me as a future teacher because of more job opportunities,” said Nicole Attardo, a Brooklyn College education major on the verge of graduating.

There are currently 183 charter schools operating in New York City, with about 70,000 students.  Students are accepted through a lottery process, and for the 2013-2014 school year 50,400 students were wait-listed.

One of the biggest issues surrounding charter schools in this election is the cap that has been imposed by New York State. The cap oreates a strict limit on the number of schools that can be opened. In 2010, New York State lifted the cap again to authorize up to 460 charter schools to open in the state.

Lhota has made it clear that he wants to open more charter schools, while de Blasio said that “we don’t need new charters” and that he won’t favor them over traditional schools.

The administrations for charter schools have many concerns about the upcoming election. One  is that charter schools will have to  pay rent, as de Blasio has suggested. According to Gotham Schools, there are over 100 charter schools operating for free in school buildings owned by the city. The schools are concerned that if they are forced to pay rent, they may not be able to serve their students properly.

Those contemplating or starting out in a teaching career are watching these development closely.

For a teacher, working for a charter school differs from working for a traditional public school. “You do not have the teachers’ union, which is very important, and the salary is much lower than a teacher’s salary working for the city,” said Alexandra Andreakos, who teaches autistic children at a New York City public school and has formerly worked in private schools. “You do not get the necessary support from a charter school as you would in a public New York City school.”

Charter school teachers often have short careers – by choice, according to advocates for charter schools. But research suggests that teacher turnover can negatively affect students, and for a teacher seeking a long-term position, charter schools may not be  very appealing. A study found that although about half of the teachers in city middle schools leave their positions within three years,  the turnover rate is lower in elementary and high schools, according to the website Gotham Schools.

While the turnover in teachers is troublesome, an opportunity to work in a charter school can be a welcome one. “As an unemployed teacher who graduated from college a charter school can provide you with a job opportunity faster than a job working for the city and provide beneficial experience teaching,” Andreakos said.

The administrations for charter schools have many concerns about the upcoming election. One concern is that charter schools will have to  pay rent if de Blasio is elected. According to Gotham Schools, air jordan 1 femmes there are over 100 charter schools operating for free in school buildings owned by the city. The schools are concerned that if they are forced to pay rent, they may not be able to serve their students properly.

Students entering he education field have varied views on how opening charter schools will affect them.  While some don’t believe it necessarily affects them and do not see it as a problem, others see it as a threat to their employment.

“I think that charter schools are a benefit to me as a future teacher because of more job opportunities,” said Nicole Attardo, another Brooklyn College education major on the verge of graduating.