Buffalo Board Rejects Charter Moratorium

After a week of confusion over a split vote, the Buffalo, N.Y., school board has officially rejected a bid to place a three-year moratorium on the expansion of charter schools.

The Sept. 29 decision allows the board to pursue its controversial plan to authorize a network of charter schools in the district. That plan had a broad margin of support on the nine-member board until this past May, when an election delivered six new members, some of whom oppose the largely independent public schools or are still making up their minds. ( "Newcomers Elected to Buffalo School Board," May 12, 2004.)

One of the new members, Ralph Hernandez, introduced a motion to impose a three-year waiting period before the district approved any more charter schools. At the board’s Sept. 22 meeting, four members voted against it, and four voted in favor. With eight votes cast, another new member, Janique S. Curry, decided to abstain,...