Catherwood LibraryILR School

New York City and the United Federation of Teachers reached a tentative deal Thursday morning towards raising the charter school cap in order to add to their federal Race to the Top application. Thursday afternoon the deal fell apart, when disagreements arose over three key issues, including the sharing of buildings between charter and traditional public schools, if charter schools could cluster in particular neighborhoods, and who, specifically, would be allowed to run the charters. The deadline for the Race to the Top application is June 1, and will provide the winner with $700 million in federal funding. New York City schools face a $3.5 billion dollar budget deficit this year, and up to 6,400 members of the United Federation of Teachers could lose their jobs without the extra federal monies. Progress on the deal continues to be made, and will likely raise the charter school cap from 200 to 460.