NYC Charter School Center expands beyond NYC

The city charter sector’s leading resource and advocacy center’s latest initiative is aimed at helping charter schools outside of the city.

The New York City Charter School Center is expanding an existing program called “Replicating Quality Schools” to help charter operators set up new schools across the country, the center announced in a press release today. Previously, the program had been used to help charter operators duplicate promising schools in the city.

The national program, which the Dell Foundation is funding, will start in New Orleans and expand to other cities where charter advocates request assistance. The center plans to run the eight-week program in four cities over the next three years.

The charter center’s national look comes as New York City’s charter sector faces an uncertain future. With Mayor Bloomberg, a longstanding charter supporter, leaving office at the end of the year, it is likely that the next mayor will not make it as easy for charter schools to open in public space, a cost-saving measure that has allowed the charter sector to flourish over the last decade.

At a panel discussion hosted by the Manhattan Institute on Tuesday, Democrats for Education Reform Executive Director Joe Williams said not many people want to start charter schools in the city right now. But charter operators continue to flock to other cities, including New Orleans, where conditions seem more favorable.