The United Federations of Teachers took the State University of New York’s board of trustees to task for its proposal to lower teacher qualifications for SUNY-authorized charter schools.
Following the Alliance for Quality Education’s lead from earlier this month, the UFT released a letter written by union president Michael Mulgrew objecting to a SUNY board proposal that could let charter schools create their own teacher certification programs to circumvent state certification standards and combat teacher shortages.
“The state requires prospective cosmetologists to receive 1,000 hours of specialized instruction and real estate brokers to get 120 hours of instruction and two years of field experience,” read Mulgrew’s letter. “But SUNY’s proposed regulations would, in essence, let charter schools—many of which have admitted having difficulty hiring and retaining certified teachers—create their own special teaching licenses for anyone who finishes one week of specialized instruction and works only 100 hours in a classroom under the supervision of another teacher or administrator, including those who are not themselves certified.
“These standards are far less rigorous than those demanded of regular public school teachers,” wrote Mulgrew.
According to SUNY, the proposal would require prospective teachers to acquire 100 hours of teaching experience under an experienced teacher’s supervision along with 30 hours of sit-in instruction. Mulgrew notes that Article 56 of New York Education Law, which governs charter school operations, states, “Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, to the extent that any provision of this article is inconsistent with any other state or local law, rule, or regulation, the provisions of this article shall govern and be controlling. Relevant here is that Article 56 requires that the board of trustees of a charter school, with minimal exceptions, employs teachers who ‘shall be certified in accordance with the requirements applicable to other public schools.’”
Last year, when the state Legislature gave SUNY greater control over its authorized charters, New York State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and Assembly Education Committee Chair Cathy Nolan said SUNY’s board shouldn’t see it as carte blanche to remake schools in its own image.
“The Legislature did not intend to delegate to SUNY broad authority to regulate charter schools it oversees,” Heastie and Nolan wrote in a letter addressed to New York State Gov. Andrew Cuomo. “Nor did it intend to empower SUNY to adopt regulations that are inconsistent with current laws governing charter schools, including but not limited to laws related to teacher certification requirements, participation in prekindergarten programs and co-location of charter schools within traditional public schools.”