The matter of charter schools and the possible increase of their numbers in New York City has come to garner attention once more. The issue is brought up by what appears to be a double pronged effort to prevent the addition of charter schools and to stop the provision of certain resources to them. The United Federation of Teachers (UFT) filed a lawsuit while Senator Robert Jackson and Assemblywoman Jo Anne Simon introduced legislation to prevent specific public funding for charter schools. LittleAfrica News has previously covered this issue extensively, showing the perspectives of both sides, those who are for them and those who are against them.
The UFT filed a lawsuit on Tuesday, March 28th in an effort to prevent charter schools from sharing public school sites. The lawsuit particularly applies to the space sharing arrangement approved by Mayor Eric Adams and the Panel for Education policy for Success Academy charter schools and Waterside School for Leadership as well as that between Sheepshead Bay Educational Campus and New Visions Charter High School for Advanced Math and Science III. The UFT and the parents who are part of this lawsuit claim that sharing the public school space would violate the new legislation implementing class size reduction.
“The [New York City Public Schools] has misled parents, the public, and [charter-approving officials] regarding the actual impacts of its proposed co-locations, including both schools’ ability to comply with impending requirements of the new Class Size Law,” the lawsuit says. The lawsuit further claims that the New York City Public Schools overlooked the fact that class reductions would mean the public schools in the lawsuit needed more space for their students.
A spokeswoman for Success Academy CEO Eva Moskowitz responded to the matter of the lawsuit. “The UFT and their allies have tried to sue almost 20 times before to prevent Success Academy co-locations and have never been successful because they are without merit,” said Ann Powell.
Senator Robert Jackson and Assemblywoman Jo Anne Simon are rooting for the passing of legislation that would make it extremely difficult for charter schools to get funding to rent school space in private buildings. Currently, the city pays $200 million for charter schools to rent space from private buildings; however, that figure is projected to reach $1 billion in a few years.
“New York City is the only municipality in the state that has a requirement to reimburse private spaces leased by charter schools,” Jackson and Simon wrote in a bill memo. “The cost [to NYC Public Schools] of rental payments for charter schools is increasing fast and will likely continue to do so, as enrollments expand and rents increase, funds which could be used instead to upgrade and expand the capacity of our public schools.”
The issue regarding the increase of charter schools in New York City has increasingly become the battle ground of differing sides. The one side sees the benefits of charter schools which have better exam scores, a longer school day and year. In several instances, the schools provide a more in depth education and extracurricular activities. Charter schools also give the students and parents of the city more options. However, there is also a side that perceives charter schools as institutions that swallow funds meant for public schools. The matter will prove to be important with Governor Kathy Hochul’s upcoming final budget announcement and the fact that the Governor and some of her Democrat colleagues are on different sides regarding charter schools.
