In the latest filings in the charter school certification case, UFT President Michael Mulgrew charged that the new State University of New York rules weakening licensing requirements for charter instructors “will permit New York children to be taught by less-than-qualified teachers.”

A new Memorandum of Law filed by the UFT/NYSUT quotes State Commissioner of Education Mary Ellen Elia and State Board of Regents Chancellor Betty Rosa that the “erosion of teacher certification requirements and teacher preparation programs will diminish the number of effective teachers in New York and have a negative impact on student achievement…"

The Mulgrew affidavit and accompanying Memorandum of Law, filed March 9, 2018, are part of the latest filings in a case brought by the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) and its state affiliate, New York State United Teachers (NYSUT). The litigation is designed to overturn the SUNY Charter Schools Committee’s new and less rigorous certification standards for some of the state’s charter schools. The documents were filed today with Manhattan State Supreme Court.

The lawsuit was first filed on Oct. 12, 2017, in Manhattan State Supreme Court.

On Feb. 9, 2018, the New York State Conference of the NAACP moved to join with the UFT and NYSUT against the proposed Charter School Committee regulations. On Feb. 9, 2018, the State Education Department and Board of Regents filed their own lawsuit in Albany State Supreme Court challenging the Charter School Committee’s proposed regulations. Copies of the Memorandum of Law and Mulgrew’s affidavit are available from the UFT press office.

Background

Under current rules, teachers must have a bachelor’s (and eventually a master’s) degree, complete coursework in their subject area, have extensive supervised teaching experience and pass certification exams.

The new regulations were approved by the SUNY Charter Schools Committee at its meeting Oct. 11, 2017. They would remove or reduce most of these standards, including fewer hours of instruction in teaching skills, only a week of practice instruction and only one certification exam, among other lighter standards.

The UFT/NYSUT lawsuit, which asks the court to overturn the Charter School Committee’s action, said the new rule also would create “an essentially fake certification process, one not valid for employment in New York’s public school districts, other charter schools or the public schools of other states.”

The lawsuit also charges that the SUNY Charter Schools Committee exceeded its legal authority, noting that the state Legislature did not delegate to the SUNY Committee “any authority to promulgate regulations concerning teacher certification” for the charters under its jurisdictions.

Charter schools — which already are permitted to have a limited number of uncertified teachers — have pressed for reduced certification standards because of sky-high teacher turnover rates. According to the most recent data from the State Education Department, charters had a nearly 40 percent annual turnover rate of teachers, versus a 14 percent rate for public schools.

In some charters, more than half the teachers left from one school year to the next, making it difficult for the schools to maintain the required percentage of fully certified teachers on their faculties.