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NEW YORK, NY February 16, 2006 —Two-thousand-six is a critical year for the future of charter schools in New York State. Governor Pataki has proposed lifting the cap that allowed only 100 charters statewide. Supporters claim these publicly-financed but privately-managed charter schools are strong alternative to regular public schools, and they’re seeking to convince state lawmakers to allow more of them. WNYC’s Beth Fertig went to Albany this week with a group of charter advocates on a lobbying mission.

The snow was still fresh on the streets of midtown Manhattan early Monday. But that didn’t deter a small group of educators from hiring a bus to Albany.

GAVIN: There are 150 Assembly people and 62 Senators. And of the 150 today we think there are 30-35 who are very pro-charter.

REPORTER: Paula Gavin heads the New York City Center for Charter School Excellence, which organized the lobbying trip. The Center is a resource for those who currently run charter schools and for those applying to open them in the future. The fifteen people who made the trip on Monday were a mix of both – an organized group armed with blackberries, performance data, and laptop computers.

ROBERTSON: My name is Spencer Robertson. I’m trying to open a Kindergarten through 8th grade public charter school in South Brooklyn, specifically in the Red Hook community.

REDWINE: My name is Leslie Esters Redwine and I’m the director of development and governance for Achievement First. And Achievement First operates schools in Connecticut, and New York and we’re excited to build a network of schools in Brooklyn.

GRAVES: My name is Conrad Graves and I’m with Central Harlem Interagency Program Incorporated and we are in a partnership with the region to try to get a charter school.

REPORTER: Opening a charter school is a long process that requires state approval. And now it’s impossible. The state has reached its limit of 100 charter schools, the maximum allowed under the 1998 law. Governor Pataki wants another 200 charter schools with 50 more in New York City alone. Mayor Bloomberg and some lawmakers support the plan. But others worry that charters are draining money from existing public schools.

WOMAN: She's LOB...

REPORTER: The charter school advocates arrived at the Legislative Office Building in Albany by 10 a.m. and they hit the ground running.

MAN: Here you go. LOB 729.

REPORTER: A handful of school operators had a meeting scheduled with Brooklyn Assembly Democrat Annette Robinson. But she was delayed because of the snow storm. The group met with her intern instead.

ELEVATOR: “ Going up…”

REPORTER: They had better luck at Senator Velmanette Montgomery’s office. The Brooklyn Democrat wasn’t in town yet, either. But her chief of staff and another deputy were.

SANTIAGO: “Good morning. I’m Nancy Santiago. This is Sandy Stewart…”

REPORTER: The five advocates sat on sofas in Montgomery’s office, holding their briefing papers. They spoke of achievement scores that outpaced those of neighboring schools and parents desperate for options. Leslie Esters Redwine of the Achievement First charter management company and Max Koltuv, who’s opening a school in Brooklyn this fall, said constituents want more charter schools.

REDWINE: By law we’re all mandated to petition the community, and so we all have been out there talking to parents and getting petitions and getting parents to sign up.

KOLTUV: All of the schools not just in BedStuy but in Central Brooklyn have significant waiting lists. Most of them get twice as many applicants as they have slots. Excellence at Bedford Stuyvesant which is all boys has 92 boys they weren’t able to give slots to whose families are waiting for those slots. And that’s a single-sex school.

REPORTER: But the Senator’s communications coordinator, Sandy Stewart, suggested Montgomery would need more convincing.

STEWART: She’s always been a very strong supporter of public education and it’s important to her. And charter schools do siphon some of the monies away from the public education system. And she’s been so passionate and energetic and committed to trying to improve the public education system.

SCHWARTZ: And I think all of us here are supporters of that too, and I understand that concern.

REPORTER: Rick Schwartz – who wants to open a school in Fort Green - tried to assuage those fears.

SCHWARTZ: What we’re creating here with these charter schools is exactly the kind of schools that you’d want to create with in a public school reform. You’d want smaller class sizes, you want to have teachers who are committed to the students, you want to have parents....

REPORTER: Senator Montgomery’s aides listened and took notes. Stewart, the communications coordinator, said this was the first time she could remember so many charter school representatives coming to speak to the Senator.

STEWART: The momentum’s starting on it and we’re just now starting to hear from people.

REDWINE AND STEWART: “So they wear uniforms?…”

REPORTER: As the meeting ended, the charter school leaders passed out brochures about their programs. Their lobbying effort had just begun. And they promised they’ll be back. For WNYC I’m Beth Fertig.