ALBANY – Andrew Cuomo used his acceptance speech this morning to call on his fellow Democrats to act quickly to raise the cap on charters schools or risk losing up to $700 million in federal education aid.
Speaking to party faithful assembled in Rye Brook, N.Y., to officially select their ticket, the Democratic nominee for governor warned it would be a “tragedy” if Albany lawmakers failed to lift the cap before Tuesday’s deadline for the federal Race to the Top education program.
“We risked the first opportunity to receive that money because the state Legislature didn’t pass a bill allowing charter schools in this state and modifying the charter school provisions,” Cuomo said.
“We have a second opportunity,” the attorney general continued. “We have a second bite at the apple. It would be a tragedy if we are lost $700 million because that state Legislature failed to act. We need that bill passed.”
The Post first reported last week that Cuomo was preparing to come out in support of lifting the nearly exhausted cap.
The bill to raise the charter school cap has been bogged down in the overwhelmingly Democratic state Assembly, after its surprise passage earlier this month in the narrowly divided Senate.
The legislation must pass tomorrow to give state education officials the time to include the changes in its application for federal funding. If any compromise exists, details have yet to emerge.
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan), who counts the anti-charter teachers unions as some of his closest allies, has been negotiating behind the scenes with Mayor Bloomberg. Many Assembly Democrats from New York City oppose any effort to lif the cap without adding restrictions.