The Boston Phoenix's David Bernstein wrote this morning that the Yoon campaign should capitalize on Gov. Deval Patrick filing legislation on charter schools that is similar to the mayoral hopeful's.

Four hours later, voilà:

Yoon Urges Swift Passage of Governor Patrick’s Plan for Charter Schools
Calls on Legislature to Raise Cap on Charter Funding

BOSTON – Boston City Councilor-at-Large and mayoral candidate Sam Yoon urged state legislators to adopt Governor Deval Patrick’s plan to raise the cap on charter schools in the 30 lowest performing school districts, which include Boston.

“We don’t have time to waste,” said Yoon. “Boston has some of the best charter schools in the country, and we cannot stifle the innovative and effective work they are doing. We should be saying to those schools, ‘be fruitful and multiply.’ Governor Patrick’s plan lets us do that.”

Yoon said he would support directing the additional funding toward expanding seats at schools that already have a proven record of success. Last month, he proposed a program for “smart caps,” which would raise the funding cap to 20%, but only on charter schools with consecutive years of high performance.

“Increasing the number of seats for those schools that are getting results will have an immediate impact on education in our city and will move us on the path toward reform,” said Yoon. “Parents want it. The schools want it. The only thing in our way is the funding cap on charter schools.”

Many charter schools receive a higher volume of applicants than they have seats. The Edward W. Brooke Charter School in Roslindale, for example, received 1,100 applications for only 100 openings.

The legislation proposed by Governor Patrick and endorsed by U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, would raise the cap on charters from 9% to 18% in the 30 school districts with the lowest performance statewide. The new funding would allow for over 5,000 new seats at Boston’s charter schools.

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