To: Bill de Blasio, Mayor, The New York State House, The New York State Senate, and Governor Andrew Cuomo
Support NYC Public Schools
The 2014 New York state budget amended the charter law to require that the city pay rent for privately-run charter schools, while public school children remain in over-crowded, under-funded schools. We ask Governor Cuomo and the state legislature to rescind these amendments, and we ask Mayor de Blasio to renew his commitment to promoting fairness in the public school system, reverse the recent decisions to site Success Academy charter schools in leased parochial school space and hold a public forum to allow the voices of the community, the taxpayers, to be heard.
Why is this important?
The 2014 charter amendments to the New York State budget put an unfair burden on NYC taxpayers by requiring that the city house privately run charter schools in existing school buildings (“co-location”) or use scant education dollars to pay their rent. All of our districts have overcrowded, co-located schools, with some schools educating students in temporary trailers for years and many students deprived of gym, libraries, art rooms, and a proper lunch time.
The charter amendments pit public school needs vs. those of the charters—with the charters all but guaranteed to win. One example of many: it was determined last spring — without any community input — that a new Success Academy Charter School would be granted use of the beautiful campus of Mother Cabrini Parochial High School in Washington Heights. This is one of three Success Academies for which the city is now paying for leased space; other Success Academies are co-located in public school buildings, rendering those buildings far beyond capacity. Yet, Success charters have over a $30 million surplus and, on one night in April alone, raised more than $7.5 million. What’s more, Success says it is a “public” school when convenient (i.e. when staking a claim to public space or money), yet when asked to reveal details about its finances and operations, it has argued in court that it is not a public entity and therefore not subject to public disclosure laws.
We also call for a moratorium on all charter approvals unless and until a full audit of existing co-located charters and their compliance with the law—including marketing, enrollment, student retention, and disciplinary policies—has been undertaken by the New York City Comptroller and the New York City Council. We demand that all decisions about the siting of new schools occur in the context of a process that involves community voices and reflects community desires.