BILL NUMBER: S1098         REVISED 04/20/2021

SPONSOR: LIU
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to repeal paragraph (e) of subdivision 3 of section 2853 and
subdivision 6-g of section 3602 of the education law, relating to an aid
rollback for charter schools

 
PURPOSE:

The purpose of this bill is to repeal the use of public funds to pay for
private facility space rented by charter schools in New York City.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

This bill would repeal all of paragraph (e) from subdivision 3 of
section 2853 of the education law that relates to the ability of charter
schools in New York City to request and be granted a space in a public
school or other public building free of charge to the charter school or
offered a private facility at the expense of the school district.
              

This bill would also repeal subdivision 6-g of section 3602 of the
education law that creates a charter school facilities aid to provide
the New York City Department of Education a state allocation to assist
with expenses incurred by the process described in paragraph (e) from
subdivision 3 of section 2853 of the education law.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

The New York City charter school sector has become a significant finan-
cial burden to the city and state due to legislative language that was
included in 2014-2015 state budget and amended in the 2016-2017 budget.

As a result, New York City and State have seen an astronomical hike in
funding allocations made specifically to pay for privately-owned facili-
ties for charter schools. When the law first took into effect in fiscal
year 2014-2015, New York City was forced to set aside $10.2 million in
funding to pay for privately owned facility space.  However, a look at
the fiscal year 2019-2020 executive budget shows that New York City will
have to set aside a whopping $89.4 million to pay for these private
facilities. In a matter of five years, public funding to pay for private
spaces has grown $79.2million, or 776%.

Charter schools are already notoriously known for operating like public-
ly funded private schools as it relates to the lack of transparency
around their student enrollment practices and their finance. This is yet
another example of ways charter schools abuse public dollars. This law
allows for charter schools to funnel taxpayer dollars to the hands of
landlords that own the private facilities where they operate. Landlords
then in turn can build equity and expand their private investments
thanks to guaranteed legally mandated funding allocations.

It is time to end this nefarious practice. Our public school dollars
must be directly invested in our public schools and our public school
students, not siphoned off into the private real estate industry.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2019: New Bill. Referred to Education.
2020: Referred to Education

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:

To be determined.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.