http://www.projo.com/news/content/NO_CUMBERLAND_CHARTERSCHOOL_05-16-08_VHA5497_v45.3818b31.html
On May 9, proponents and opponents of "mayoral academies," public charter schools run by municipal administrators, testified before a Rhode Island House Finance Committee. House Bill 7874 would place an amendment to Rhode Island's public charter school law, giving mayors and town managers the power to create public charter schools. The schools would be freed from the contractual agreements with teacher unions that are a standard in every public school in the state, including public charter schools. The bill also seeks to exempt the proposed mayoral academies from the state moratorium on new charter schools. The Rhode Island Department of Education and the Rhode Island League of Charter Schools have said that the legislation would create an unequal, “two-tiered” system of charter schools. Teachers' union representatives have said it is as an attempt to subvert the collective bargaining process. "Mayoral academies would be a low-risk, high-reward pilot for our state,” said Cumberland Mayor Daniel McKee, the bill’s most ardent supporter. “If successful, they could demonstrate to all of us how to control education costs while improving the performance of our children.” Rep. Steven Costantino, chair of the committee, said that McKee's mayoral academies represented “an intriguing proposition that is worthy of more study.”
Source: Providence Journal (free registration required)
Date: 05/17/2008
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