After 13 years in operation and $28 million in public education dollars, the Ark Community Charter School in Troy was not renewed by the State University of New York Board of Trustees due to poor performance. As chair of the National Association of Charter School Authorizers board of trustees, I know how important it is for charter school authorizers like SUNY to make tough, but necessary decisions when a charter school fails to meet academic goals.
To claim this decision is about anything more than a consistent trend of poor performance is misleading.
The June 10 editorial from the Times Union shows a fundamental misunderstanding about the purpose of charter schools as outlined in state law. Unlike New York's 4,500 district public schools that try to improve year after year, charter schools have limited time to run a successful school measured by student achievement. All charter schools sign a contract agreeing to this bargain — in exchange for the chance to run a school freed from certain regulations, the school will improve academic outcomes.
By performing worse than 90 percent of schools serving the state's most at-risk students, the Ark failed to live up to its part of the bargain. This is not the kind of academic preparation the children of Troy deserve from a charter school.
It is unfortunate that Ark has also called into question the integrity of the SUNY Charter Schools Institute and its executive director, Susan Miller Barker. SUNY has built a strong reputation across the country for holding charters schools accountable. Suggesting the closure was the result of a conflict on the part of Ms. Miller Barker ignores the fact that the SUNY Board of Trustees is the ultimate decision maker. It also ignores Ms. Miller Barker's impressive national reputation for having impeccable judgment and high standards.
Undermining the ability of SUNY to be a strong authorizer undermines the high-quality education SUNY is committed to providing its charter students.
Charter school authorizers can change lives by renewing only those schools with a strong record of preparing all students to succeed.
While the Ark spends public education dollars on high-priced public relations firms and lawyers to try and spin failure as success and innuendo over facts, I stand with SUNY to keep the focus on children, and ensuring that New York's charter schools that fail to meet the charter bargain are held accountable.
The writer is chair of NACSA's board of trustees.