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A renewed lobbying campaign is underway to lift the cap on charter schools. New York lost out on hundreds of millions of dollars in federal "Race to the Top" aid partly because it allows only 200 charters. Joe Williams of the lobbying group Education Reform Now says he's working in new ways to convince lawmakers to lift that cap, so the state can apply for the second round of grants in June.

"We're trying to bring a level of sophistication to the advocacy effort here that the charter school movement hasn't had in the past," Williams says.

He says he's raising money from charter supporters in the financial community for Internet ads and lobbying. But despite Gov. David Paterson's support for more charters, the teachers' union has been wary, and some Democrats still want more oversight of the privately managed public schools.