Among the many efforts to reform public education in the United States, the charter school movement has gathered considerable support in some parts of the country. Many states have passed legislation to allow the establishment of charter schools, and the New York State legislature is currently considering a bill that would, regrettably, allow our state to join this national trend.

Two weeks ago, the Roslyn Board of Education passed a resolution expressing its strong opposition to charter school legislation. The New York State Schools Boards Association and many other educational organizations, including New York State United Teachers, are also opposed to this charter school bill and are urging Assembly members to vote against it.

What are charter schools and why should we be concerned about them? Charter schools are schools which are paid for with public funds but which are not subject to the jurisdiction of the local school board. According to the bill, which has already been approved by the New York State Senate, charter schools would not be accountable to the Commissioner of Education or the Board of Regents, could hire teachers who are not certified and would not have to meet the academic standards which apply to all other public school students in the state.

At a time when the commissioner is in the midst of a comprehensive effort to raise academic standards, and when teachers are also expected to be better trained and more accountable, the charter school bill is a giant step backwards. It is difficult to find any philosophical consistency in a school reform effort that maintains, on the one hand, that every student in New York needs to be held to a higher standard of achievement, but, at the same time, that parents are free to enroll their children in charter schools and thereby avoid being held to those same standards.

It is generally argued that charter schools will introduce "competition" or "market forces" into the arena of public education. Without a level playing field, however, comparisons between the performance of charter schools and public schools will be subjective and meaningless. Once again, there is no consistency: the Commissioner has tried to equalize educational opportunities and outcomes by mandating strict standards and holding schools accountable by publicizing testing results, while charter schools are going to get a free ride. This is not competition, but a barely concealed attempt to undermine the public schools.

One of the most controversial and troubling aspects of this charter school legislation, and one which perhaps most clearly demonstrates the underlying agenda of the charter school movement, is the method of funding. Resources for charter schools would be taken from the budgets of local school districts. The cost of educating every student who leaves a public school to attend a charter school will be deducted directly from the local school budget and given to the charter school.

What this amounts to is nothing more than public funding for private education. Right now, parents have every right to send their children to private or parochial schools, but taxpayers aren't obligated to pay their tuition. Charter schools would take money directly from taxpayers pockets and give these funds to schools which are not accountable to those same taxpayers.

In passing its resolution, the Roslyn Board of Education clearly expressed its belief that free public education is an essential component of our democracy and the use of public funds for private schools which have no accountability to any educational authorities is misguided and unconstitutional. Charter schools, like school vouchers, have been used as a political weapon by those who would rather ignore the enormous success of school districts like Roslyn so they can weaken the public schools and divert public funds to private and parochial schools. The establishment of charter schools, therefore, poses a serious threat to the integrity of the public school system.

At the risk of sounding overconfident, I am not worried about the long-term prospects for the Roslyn Public Schools. Our exceptional record of student achievement and college admissions is among the highest in the nation and would be difficult for any charter school to duplicate. Our faculty and staff can compete on an equal footing with any other school. Furthermore, the meager amount of aid we receive from New York ¬ less than four percent of our total operating revenues ¬ means that the Roslyn community has already been shouldering the burden of education almost entirely on its own for many years.

Nevertheless, the issues of funding, separation of church and state, accountability and standards are too important for us to ignore. Many school districts could suffer enormously from the anti-public school bias which is built into this legislation. While the Assembly has not voted on the charter school bill thus far, it could pass a different version of charter school legislation before the end of the year or during the next legislative session. It has been widely reported that the governor has threatened to veto the legislators' pay increase unless the Assembly passes the charter school bill.

We therefore urge all parents, teachers and community residents to write or call the legislators listed below to voice their opposition to charter school legislation. If you telephone the offices of any of these elected officials, you will speak to a staff member who keeps records of every call and the caller's opinion. Your call matters! The fate of legislation is frequently decided by the volume of calls and letters arriving at legislators' offices.

Please write or call right away. Let our elected officials know that the education of our children is too important to be sacrificed to political expediency. Make no mistake about it: supporters of this legislation are enemies of the public schools. Supporters of the Roslyn Public Schools, and public schools everywhere, need to make their voices heard on this critical issue.

Governor George Pataki

Executive Chamber

633 Third Avenue, 38th Floor

New York, NY 10017

212-681-4580

Senator Joseph Bruno

Senate Majority Leader

State Capitol ­ Room 909 LOB

Albany, NY 12247

518-455-3191

Senator Michael Balboni

166 East Jericho Tpke.

Mineola, NY 11501

516-873-0736

516-873-0759 (fax)

Assemblyman Sheldon Silver

Speaker of the Assembly

Room 932 LOB

Albany, NY 12248

518-455-3791

Assemblyman David Sidikman

146-a Manetto Hill Road

Plainview, NY 11803

516-822-5590

516-822-5597 (fax)

Assemblyman Thomas DiNapoli

11 Middle Neck Road, Suite 200

Great Neck, NY 11021

516-482-6966

516-482-6975 (fax)