Gov. Kathy Hochul and legislative leaders have reached a tentative budget deal to allow just 14 new charter schools to open in New York City, following a grueling political fight with anti-charter teachers’ unions and their allies in the Legislature, sources told The Post.
Under the deal, the state would pick up the millions of dollars in rental costs for charters that lease space in a private facility, providing relief to Mayor Eric Adams and the city treasury saddled with the massive costs of housing migrants.
Sources close to negotiations said there was one string attached: None of the 14 new charters could be located in a city school district where at least 55 percent of students are already enrolled in the publicly-funded, privately managed schools.
Harlem’s School District 5 would be the only part of the city that would be impacted.
The founder of New York City’s largest charter school network, slammed the accord, which came after Hochul initially proposed allowing roughly 100 more charters.
“Governor Hochul’s effort to increase educational opportunity for our City’s children has been thwarted by Albany politics,” said Eva Moskowitz, CEO of Success Academy, which operates 49 charter schools that enroll 20,000 students.
“A ‘deal’ of only 14 charters that discriminates against families in certain neighborhoods is a travesty for poor kids and families of color. . . The victims of this educational neglect are low-income Black and Brown children, and Albany has bargained away their access to high-quality schools.”
Hochul’s initial plan would have removed a state cap of 275 within the five boroughs and allowed for the reissuance of so-called “zombie” licenses from shuttered schools.
But Democrats who control the state Senate and Assembly rejected that proposal, following fierce opposition from the United Federation of Teachers.
Discussions then centered on allowing 22 “zombie” charters to be reissued to new schools, with Hochul suggesting the state pick up the entire tab for locating them.
That number was whittled down to 14 as a concession to state Senate Democrats in return for them dropping their opposition. State Sen. John Liu (D-Queens), chair of the New York City Education Committee, said eight of 22 zombie licenses were from outside the city and should not be issued in the Big Apple.
Co-location of charter schools — the sharing of space in city buildings with traditional public schools — will continue, sources said.
Opponents of charter schools were pushing for a ban on co-locations, which backers of the popular alternative schools rejected as a “poison pill” that would hamper expansion.
Such a ban might also look hypocritical after The Post reported that the city Panel for Educational Policy just voted to give more space in a city building to a charter school co-founded by American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten, University Prep.
The staff at Weinarten’s charter school is represented by the UFT — AFT’s city affiliate she used to head.
The overwhelming majority of charter schools have non-union staff.
Liu, a UFT ally and one of the fiercest charter school critics, confirmed the deal Thursday.
“This a solid deal that keeps the cap in place,” Liu said.
“No changes to co-location BUT state still picking up tab for the reissued zombies,” Liu said in a text response to The Post Thursday.
The final deal seemed to make neither side happy, as the anti-charter UFT mirrored Moskowitz in giving a thumbs down to the accord.
“The Senate and the Assembly did the right thing by rejecting the governor’s plan to lift the New York charter cap. Unfortunately, the governor listened to the demands of a handful of billionaires and revived 14 zombie charters for New York City — even though New York City has nearly 40,000 unused charter seats,” they said in a statement.
Crystal McQueen-Taylor, executive director of StudentsFirstNY, gave a lukewarm reaction, but thanked Hochul for at least securing a few more charters.
“Parents across New York City are thanking Governor Hochul for her tireless efforts to expand parent choice and student opportunity. In a grueling budget season, the Governor’s tenacity and persistence made all the difference,” said Crystal McQueen-Taylor.
“Today and every day, I’m proud of what our movement accomplished together. From the parents and educators who rallied at City Hall and Albany, to the leaders preparing to open dynamic new schools, we secured an agreement that will create lasting change for more students – and give generations of students the access they deserve to a great public education.”
Veteran political consultant Hank Sheinkopf said all sides can claim at least a partial win with the charter compromise.
“The governor took on the union and won something. The UFT gave up very little. There’s still a cap in place,” he said.
Albany agreed to open more charter schools in New York following a pro-charter advocacy campaign waged by The Post.
The Post series pointed out that students in charter schools, which have a longer school day and year, typically outperform their counterparts in traditional public schools on the state’s standardized Math and English Language Arts tests.
They often do so at a lesser cost per student.
The stories also pointed to the number of approved charter schools that were unable to open because of the state-imposed cap and the success of alumni, and the clamor among parents to open more of them.
Assembly Education Committee Chairman Michael Benedetto (D-Bronx) confirmed a deal to open 14 more charter schools but claimed there were still open talks about imposing a restriction on co-locations.
