Could Limit Pupils Early
Charter Unionizing: Size Does Matter

By MEREDITH KOLODNER

One-third of the city's charter schools launched in 2006 would be forced to unionize if the changes passed April 1 as part of the state budget had been law last year.

RANDI WEINGARTEN: New rule a plus.

The new regulation includes a provision that mandates union representation for employees in charter schools where student enrollment is higher than 250 within the first two years. The law only applies to schools opened after July 2007, however, and some charter school proponents suggested the new rule would cause them to limit enrollment early on.

'Virulently Anti-Union'

"Statements made by charter school advocates after the budget agreement show that they are virulently anti-union," said United Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten. "This agreement is a way of trying to stop that in an age when Federal rules and regulations on union organizing have become increasingly hostile to labor."

Prior to the change, the law said that automatic union representation kicked in only if a charter school had 250 students in the first year. Since charter schools tend to start small, that rule did not prompt any of the city's 58 charter schools to automatically become unionized.

But nine of the 38 charter schools started during Mayor Bloomberg's tenure had or will have more than 250 students by their second year. Of the 12 charter schools started last year, four will go over 250 students next year.

Ironically, one of the schools that would have had to contend with union representation, Brooklyn Excelsior, is accused of firing one Assistant Principal and demoting another earlier this year for trying to bring in a union. National Heritage Academies, which manages the school, declined to comment on the new regulation.

Likely to Limit Growth

Several other charter school officials said that the new rule would be a factor in how they developed their growth plan.

The Achievement First Crown Heights Elementary Charter School, started in 2005, reached 258 students this year, which would have triggered the new unionization rule.

"I think it's definitely something we have to consider," said Leslie Redwine, director of external affairs for Achievement First schools in the city. "A lot of provisions in a union contract would prevent us from doing what we're doing."

Ms. Redwine said that the longer school days at Achievement First schools have been an important part of their success and that Principals have greater authority to hire and fire Teachers.

"To what extent would they be limited to make sure the best Teachers are in the classroom?" she asked, "and if they are not yielding positive results, we would want to make sure they are not stuck in the system or stuck in the charter school."

When the city opens a traditional public school, new employees automatically become part of existing unions that currently represent Teachers, Principals and other school staff.

Charters Have Latitude

But charter schools are exempt from this process. They are publicly funded, but are freed from many state and local regulations that apply to traditional public schools.

There are currently eight unionized charter schools in the city. Three of them chose to bring in a union with the consent of the school's management (one of those schools is run by the UFT). The other five were traditional public schools that converted to charter schools, a process which legally requires them to maintain the same union representation that had existed prior to their being chartered.

The new law would mandate that not only the instructional staff but all employees become unionized. But employees at each new charter school would have to negotiate their own contract; they would not automatically become part of the existing agreements covering the tens of thousands of employees in the other public schools.

The changes to the state charter regulations also raised the previous cap of 100 charter schools statewide to 200. The law allows 50 of the new schools to be located in the city, but because of the long application process, only two new schools will open this fall, neither of which is slated to have more than 250 students in its first two years.

Other 'Small' Incentives

Some charter school advocates say that regardless of the new law, many city charter schools will tend to start small for reasons other than avoiding unionization.

"They have a real-estate problem," said Peg Harrington, the chief operating officer of Victory Schools, which manages eight charter schools statewide and five in the city. "I do think people will take the new union rule into account when they're planning to grow, but there's no capital aid in the new budget, so that's really the issue."

Advocates also say that experience has shown that beginning with fewer students has educational advantages.

"One of the lessons that we've learned is it's often better for charter schools to start out smaller," said Cynthia M. Proctor, the spokeswoman for the Charter School Institute for the State University of New York, which monitors and makes recommendations on charter applications to the Board of Trustees.

Ms. Proctor said that trying to build up a school too quickly over too many grade levels can make it more difficult to establish a culture and sense of community, which is often crucial to success.

Bigger Wasn't Better

Charters are up for renewal every five years, and of the 50 charters originally approved by the SUNY Trustees, only five have not been renewed for failing to meet achievement standards. Four of those schools began their first year with more than 275 students spread across multiple grades.

The Mayor and Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein had been pushing hard to raise the charter school cap, believing that charters are an integral part of improving education in the city. But Mr. Bloomberg bristled at the new regulations that were attached to the increase.

Responding to a question about the new unionization rule at an April 2 press conference, Mr. Bloomberg declared, "It is a disgrace that when you have such demand that there's anybody, at any level of government, who's trying to limit parents' options, particularly given the success of most charter schools."

UFT officials, of course, see the situation differently. "It is terrible," said Ms. Weingarten, "to see people publicly fight against giving workers a way to organize for fairness and good economic conditions."

There are currently eight schools in the pipeline to receive charters and looking to open in 2008. The Department of Education is holding an open house to discuss all new school proposals on April 26 in Manhattan.