N.Y. Legislature Rejects Charter School Bill

Albany, N.Y.

The Legislature in a special session Monday refused to act on a bill Gov. David Paterson said is needed for the state to have a chance at $700 million in federal school aid.

Republican senators, who were ignored by the Democratic majority when they tried to bring Paterson's bill to a vote, said the result will likely be loss of the federal aid, higher school taxes and a net cut of hundreds of millions of dollars in statewide school funding.

The Legislature was due back in session Tuesday morning. But there was little support among majority Democrats for Paterson's bill that would allow more charter schools than the Legislature's bill, which also restricted how charter schools operated...