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In April, the Rochester Beacon presented “A Conversation with Eric Rosser,” an online interview with the superintendent of the Rochester Central School District. We were disappointed to learn that Rosser is unaware of the tremendous contribution charter schools make to the educational achievement of New York and city of Rochester students.
Approved by the state Legislature, charter schools are public schools that are not under the authority of local boards of education. They may not charge tuition and must accept all applicants. If oversubscribed, existing spaces are allocated by lottery. In Rochester, charters can be authorized (and are supervised) by either the state Board of Regents or the State University Charter Schools Institute.
In the interview, Rosser acknowledged that “there are charters that are doing an outstanding job, as many of our schools and our district are doing an outstanding job of meeting the needs of children, and there are charters in our community that are not doing an outstanding job, as many of our schools struggle to do an outstanding job.”
SUNY-authorized charter schools
Rosser went on to single out SUNY-authorized charter schools, asserting that they “create the greatest challenges when it comes to student performance” and that “those who have been authorized by SUNY … are, in my opinion, the weakest.”
His opinion notwithstanding, here are the facts as reported by the SUNY Charter Schools Institute (based on statistics compiled and posted by the state Education Department):
■ Eighty-four percent of SUNY-authorized charter schools outperformed their local district in English, and 83 percent outperformed their local district in math.
■ Seven SUNY-authorized public charter schools scored in the top 25 public schools statewide; 15 scored in the top 25 in mathematics.
Rochester’s charter schools
There are 14 charter schools in Rochester, six authorized by the Board of Regents and eight by SUNY. Total enrollment in charters was reported to be 7,851 in the 2024-25 school year, 28% of all public-school students residing in the Rochester City School District. Traditional public-school students totaled 19,768. (Three charter schools—Discovery, Young Women’s Prep and Renaissance Academy—are located in the Greece Central School District. Given their location, Greece students are given priority in the charter school lottery, although the schools draw many students from Rochester. These three schools enrolled 1,156 students in the 2024-25 school year. This post focuses on the Rochester-based schools, however.)
Rosser is apparently unaware that proficiency among Rochester charter school students was substantially higher than that shown by students attending traditional Rochester public schools. The 2025 grades 3-8 English language arts and math tests show that charter school students led the traditional-school RCSD average by 15 percentage points on the ELA and by 16 percentage points in math (our analysis of NYSED data). The statewide average was substantially higher than either—but this is to be expected as 87% of Rochester’s charter school students and 91% of students enrolled in traditional Rochester public schools are economically disadvantaged (versus 60% of all New York public school students). It has long been recognized that academic achievement is positively correlated with income.
Rosser’s conclusion that SUNY-authorized charters are the “weakest” is based on his belief that SUNY’s process of approving applications falls short of Board of Regents’ standards and that SUNY-authorized schools are not held accountable.
Neither belief fits the SUNY-authorized schools in Rosser’s own district. The SUNY-chartered schools in Rochester outperform both the traditional public schools under his administration and the Rochester charter schools authorized by the Board of Regents.
ELA scores for Rochester’s SUNY-authorized schools lead the Regents-authorized schools by 7 percentage points and the traditional public schools by 16. The performance gaps for math are 14 percent and 23 percent, respectively.
To be authorized as a SUNY charter, the schools agree to be held to high standards on community engagement, rigorous learning assessments, student leadership and success, and fiscal soundness. SUNY shut down five charter schools in Rochester where students have not performed adequately. Strong student achievement in Rochester’s SUNY-authorized charters is testimony to the power of accountability.
The same pattern applies to all charter schools statewide. Of the four charter authorizers in New York—the Board of Regents, SUNY, the New York City Board of Education and the Buffalo Board of Education—students in SUNY-authorized schools scored highest on the grade 3-8 ELA and math tests.
Charter schools’ Rochester contribution
The continued growth of charter school enrollment is surely related to the fact that of the 10 highest achieving public schools in Rochester (defined as the sum of ELA and math proficiency), eight are charters (six authorized by SUNY). Of the traditional public schools, School of the Arts ranks third; schools 23 and 15 rank seventh and ninth, respectively. (As two of the schools in the “top 10” were tied, 11 are included.)
In the Beacon interview, Rosser stated: “We should be actually looking at ways in which we can make greater investments in public education.”
We agree. We hope that an objective review of the facts will persuade Rosser to support expansion of the most effective public schools in his district and withdraw his suggestion that a moratorium be placed on new SUNY-authorized charters.
Joseph Klein is former CEO of Klein Steel Service, and a vocal education advocate. Throughout his career, Klein has been deeply committed to improving K-12 education, particularly in the Rochester City School District. He played a key role in the recruitment of Uncommon Schools-affiliated True North Rochester Preparatory Charter School, which welcomed its first students for the 2006-07 school year. Uncommon Schools currently enrolls over 3,000 students in seven schools.
While still running Klein Steel, Klein enrolled in the Harvard School of Education, graduating with an MA in education policy and management in 2011. In 2013, Klein helped establish E3 Rochester, which was committed to recruiting high-achieving charter management organizations to the city.
Kent Gardner served as chief economist at the Center for Governmental Research for more than 30 years, including a period as president. One of the founders of the Rochester Beacon, Gardner comments on matters of public policy and economics for the Beacon and coordinates opinion submissions to the Beacon. He earned a Ph.D. in economics at the University of Wisconsin in 1983.
| The Beacon welcomes comments and letters from readers who adhere to our comment policy including use of their full, real name. See “Leave a Reply” below to discuss on this post. Comments of a general nature may be submitted to the Letters page by emailing [email protected]. |
This is an interesting perspective and the numbers are impressive but this issue isn’t as clearcut as it seems. I should note, at the outset, that I did send my children to a charter school. That was a good experience and if we still lived in the RCSD I would do the same thing again. RCSD is a mess with huge problems. Many of those same problems are shared by other big city school districts but RCSD seems to be especially troubled. It’s arguable however that in some ways charter schools make those problems worse. Charter school students typically come from households that value education enough to take a non-traditional approach to their children’s schooling; those students are there by choice. Charter schools are siphoning off many of the best students and leaving the RCSD with the challenges and added cost related to addressing the needs of a more troubled difficult student population. It’s also worth noting that the looser regulation related to charter schools is both a blessing and a curse. Rochester has had many successes and some failed charter schools.
This is a tremendously difficult issue for which there are no clearcut answers. Ultimately the solution, if there is one, would have to lie in remedying the issues related to public schools and supporting alternative models. In any case we don’t serve anyone well if we don’t look at both sides of the issue.
Thanks, Bill. Your points are well taken. I could have written a much longer piece that presents the strengths and weaknesses of charters and hope to do so. As noted, however, the model has largely worked as designed–the egregious charters have been closed. I hope that SUNY (and the Regents) close the schools still operating that are failing their students today.
The superintendent’s assertions about the charter sector were completely baseless and could not go unanswered, however. I am disappointed that he has made no attempt to defend himself. You could write the defense and so could I. But he has not made the effort, either here or in other correspondence.
WHY, WHY do many charter schools outperform some public schools? WHY?
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I hope RochesterBeacon.com can focus of the REASONS for charter school success.
And is there a DOWN SIDE to charter school education? Three charter schools I visited, years
ago all seemed very regimented, and this really turned me off. Perhaps, things have changed.
Finally, I wonder if some successful charter school METHODS are be used in public schools.
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Thank you for this well written and clearly stated letter. I hope that Superintendent Rosser reads this or someone on his staff reads and explains to him. HE needs to change his attitude on educating our low performing RCSD or he will simply be one of dozens of Superintendents who come & go leaving City students, their families and our community further behind.
Rosser’s conversation in the Beacon was so disappointing from what the Rochester Business Community needed to hear since Rosser clearly has no objective or goal to improve Educatiing our Rochester City Students. Business leaders need an educated workforce to align with CHAMBER, GRE, NEXTCORP, RTMA, EASTMAN BUSINESS PARK and all businesses looking to grow in our Region! In his interview – not once did he mention a goal to improve the Math or ELA scores or as Superintendent a goal to improve our position in the State or Nation which is at or near the bottom of performance.
Unfortunately for the City of Rochester parents and business community is being held hostage by the RCSD trio = Teachers Union, School Board, RCSD Administrators and Superintendent.
How (specifically) does Dr. Rosser “need to change his attitude on educating our low performing RCSD???” STOP with the abstract gibberish. Give us some specific details!!!
“…disappointing from what the Rochester Business Community needed to hear???” WHAT???!!!
So – “…the City of Rochester parents and business community is being held hostage by the RCSD trio = [thousands of predominantly, overwhelming majority of white suburbanite teachers who compose the] Teachers Union, School Board, RCSD Administrators and Superintendent.” IT’S IMPORTANT TO STOP TALKING ABOUT THE UNIONS IN ABSTRACT TERMS. LET’S IDENTIFY WHERE SOME OF THE MOST OUTSTANDING, REAL PROBLEMS LIE.
Two – Sides to Charter vs Regular School Story?
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You make a compelling case, here, for charter school performance on tests, but there must be more to the story, than test scores and graduation rates. I hope that there is a response from
Rochester educators, to this argument, that can be presented, on Rochester Beacon, right now.
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I attended very strict, disciplined schools in NYC, but imagination and creativity were ignored
“Wisdom and Knowledge shall be the Stability of Thy Times” (Biblical saying, Rockefeller Ctr.)
They can try to spin this any way they want, but the OBJECTIVE truth of the matter is that (in the main) – BOTH public-school-systems-within-a-system (urban traditional & mainly urban charter) – are failing to educate MOST of the overwhelming-majority of Black, socioeconomically-poor students well – period. Isn’t it interesting (to say the very least) – that the two systems-within-a-system compare themselves to one another, but they do NOT compare themselves to lily-white-suburban-schools of Monroe County and/or New York State, which are part of the VERY SAME PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM!!! Guess why???