THE STATE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT / THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK / ALBANY, NY 12234

 

TO:

The Honorable the Members of the Board of Regents

FROM:

James A. Kadamus 

COMMITTEE:

EMSC-VESID

TITLE OF ITEM:

Regent Gardner's Motion Relating to Charter Schools

DATE OF SUBMISSION:

January 28, 2004

PROPOSED HANDLING:

Action

RATIONALE FOR ITEM:

Motion Adopted by Board

STRATEGIC GOAL:

Goals 1 and 2

AUTHORIZATION(S):

 

 

SUMMARY:

 

            At your January meeting, the Board approved the attached Motion for Resolutions submitted by Regent Arnold Gardner for consideration at the February meeting of the Regents EMSC-VESID Committee.

 

 

 

 

Attachment

 

 

MOTION FOR RESOLUTIONS

TO BE ADOPTED BY THE BOARD OF REGENTS

 

 

            I move the following Resolutions for adoption by the Board of Regents and that, pursuant to Section 21, Robert’s Rules of Order, Board action on such motion be postponed until a time during the February 23-24, 2004 meeting of the Board which shall be specified by the Chancellor:
 

1.            Commencing with the March 22-23, 2004 meeting of the Board of Regents, all applications to that Board for its approval of a new charter school or for its approval of an amendment to the charter of an existing charter school shall include a statement prepared and submitted to that Board by the State Education Department which shall describe the cumulative fiscal impact upon the school district of location should such application or applications be granted and should all previously existing charter schools in such district of location continue their operations.

2.            In order to assist the Board in discharging its responsibilities under Section 2857(3)(c) of the New York Charter Schools Act, which requires that the Board annually report to the Governor, the Temporary President of the Senate, and the Speaker of the Assembly respecting “the academic progress of students attending charter schools, as measured against [the academic progress of students attending] comparable public and nonpublic schools wherever practicable,” and also to enable the Board to provide such data on a valid basis to students, the families of such students, and to such schools, the Board establishes the following procedure:

Officers or members of the State Education Department (“SED”) as designated by the Commissioner should consult with and advise the Board as to appropriate and effective ways in which the comparative measurement of academic progress as described in Section 2857(3)(c) can be achieved.

Where the program of a charter school includes grades and content for which New York State Standardized Tests are available there will already exist a uniform and valid way to make the aforesaid comparative measurements of academic progress for charter school students and students in the schools of district location.

Where other types of tests are in use at charter schools, some of those will be of probative value and may provide the basis for a type of comparison of student progress.  The “Stanford” and “Iowa” tests have been mentioned as examples of such “other tests”—although those are more intelligence than they are knowledge tests.  Establishing ways to achieve valid methodologies, hence data, to measure academic progress on a comparable basis for students in the charter schools and those in the schools of the districts of location is surely in the interest of the students and that should also be in the interest of schools of both such types.  Achieving such validity should be their common goal, and that of the Regents, before the truly historic changes implicit in the Charter School Approach become a permanent part of the New York State education program.  It would be difficult to overstate the importance of such an accomplishment.

 

 

Regent Arnold B. Gardner

January 12, 2004