NY State Senate Bill 2023-S5461

Senate Bill S5461

2023-2024 Legislative Session

Relates to reimbursing charter schools for leasing certain facilities, and prohibition of non-disclosure agreements; repealer

download bill text pdf

Current Bill Status - In Senate Committee Education Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

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Actions

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	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 03, 2024	referred to education
Mar 06, 2023	referred to education

2023-S5461 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A5763
Current Committee:: Senate Education
Law Section:: Education Law
Laws Affected:: Rpld §2853 sub 3 ¶(e) sub¶¶ 4 & 5, amd §§2853 & 2854, Ed L
Versions Introduced in 2021-2022 Legislative Session:: S8459

2023-S5461 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Prohibits the city school district from reimbursing charter schools for leasing a privately owned or other publicly owned facility, and prohibits charter school employee contracts from including a non-disclosure agreement.

2023-S5461 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S5461

SPONSOR: JACKSON
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the education law, in relation to reimbursing charter
schools for leasing certain facilities, and prohibiting charter school
employee contracts from including a non-disclosure agreement; and to
repeal certain provisions of such law relating thereto

 
PURPOSE:

The purpose of this bill is to prohibit the New York City school
district from reimbursing charter schools for their expenses on renting
or leasing space in a private facility.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 amends subparagraph 1 of paragraph (e) of subdivision 3 of
Section 2853 of the Education Law stating that a city school district of
one million or more shall not reimburse a charter school that rents or
leases space in a private facility.

Section 2 repeals subparagraphs 4 and 5 of paragraph (e) of subdivision
3 of Section 2853 of the Education Law, and renumbers subparagraph 6 as
subparagraph 4.

Section 3 amends paragraph (d) of subdivision 3 of Section 2853 of the
Education Law to require that any capital improvement required to be
made for a non-charter public school in a city school district of one
million or more shall be paid for by the State.

Section 4 amends subdivision 3 of Section 2854 of the Education Law to
prohibit charter schools from including non-disclosure agreements as
part of a contract with any employee or as a condition of employment.

Section 5 amends subdivision 4 of Section 2853 of the Education Law that
requires the New York City Comptroller to conduct annual audits that
shall include, but not be limited to, any matching funds spent on char-
ter schools.

Section 6 is the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

New York City (NYC) is the only municipality 'in the state that has a
requirement to reimburse private spaces leased by charter schools. A
Class Size Matters (CSM) report(1) analyzing charter school rental
subsidies, facility upgrades and expenditures for co-located public
schools; found that the New York City Department of Education (DOE)
appeared to overspend on lease payments to 39 charter schools in an
amount that exceeded their base rents.

CSM reported a 41% increase in rental subsidies from FY2019 to FY2020.
In FY2020, the DOE paid $11.6 million in rental subsidies for 8 charter
schools whose Charter Management Organization, affiliated organization,
LLC, or foundation owned their own spaces. In some cases, the base rents
of these charter schools also increased by as much as 400% in one year,
raising questions about whether the rents were fairly assessed, and
whether the increases reflected improper self-dealing. In one especially
egregious example, the rent for the two Success Academy charter schools
housed at Hudson Yards increased from approximately $793,000 to over
$3.4 million despite that the space is owned by the Success Academy
Charter Management Organization. This increase in rent allowed Success
to charge the DOE $3 million in rental subsidies in FY2020 for two
schools, a 38% increase from the previous year.

DOE continues to rent buildings to charter schools, rather than having
the schools rent their own spaces which would allow the city to receive
60% in state reimbursement. In FY2020, NYC was ineligible to receive an
estimated $8 million in state funds by holding leases for charter
schools. The cost to the DOE of rental payments for charter schools is
increasing fast and will likely to 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.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2021-2022: S.8459 - Referred to Education

 
STATE AND LOCAL FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

To be determined.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
(1) Class Size Matters, "DOE Overspending on Charter School Facility
Costs and Underspending on Matching Funds to Public Schools:  Confirma-
tion of Class Size Matters' Original Findings," March 2021.  https://sec
ureservercdn.net/198.71.233.96/3zn.338.myftpuplo ad.com/wp-content/up
load s/2021/03/CSM_DOE-Spen
ding_Charter-Schools-Facilities_FINAL-3.21.pdf

2023-S5461 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   5461
 
                        2023-2024 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                               March 6, 2023
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen. JACKSON -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Education
 
 AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation  to  reimbursing  charter
   schools for leasing certain facilities, and prohibiting charter school
   employee  contracts  from including a non-disclosure agreement; and to
   repeal certain provisions of such law relating thereto
 
   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Subparagraph 1 of paragraph (e) of subdivision 3 of section
 2853  of  the education law, as added by section 5 of part BB of chapter
 56 of the laws of 2014, is amended to read as follows:
   (1) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, within
 the later of (i) five months after a charter  school's  written  request
 for  co-location and (ii) thirty days after the charter school's charter
 is approved by its  charter  entity,  the  city  school  district  shall
 either: (A) offer at no cost to the charter school a co-location site in
 a  public school building approved by the board of education as provided
 by law, or (B) offer the charter school space in a  privately  owned  or
 other  publicly  owned  facility  at  the  expense  of  [the city school
 district and at no cost to] the charter school. THE CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT
 SHALL NOT REIMBURSE A CHARTER SCHOOL WHICH RENTS OR LEASES  SPACE  IN  A
 PRIVATE FACILITY. The space must be reasonable, appropriate and compara-
 ble  and  in  the  community school district to be served by the charter
 school and otherwise in reasonable proximity.
   § 2. Subparagraphs 4 and 5  of  paragraph  (e)  of  subdivision  3  of
 section  2853  of  the  education law are REPEALED and subparagraph 6 of
 such paragraph is renumbered subparagraph 4.
   § 3. Paragraph (d) of subdivision 3 of section 2853 of  the  education
 law,  as added by chapter 101 of the laws of 2010, is amended to read as
 follows:
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD09460-01-3
 S. 5461                             2

 
   (d) Notwithstanding any other provision to the  contrary,  in  a  city
 school  district  in  a  city having a population of one million or more
 inhabitants, the chancellor must first authorize in writing any proposed
 capital improvements or facility upgrades in  excess  of  five  thousand
 dollars,  regardless  of  the source of funding, made to accommodate the
 co-location of a charter school within a public school building. For any
 such improvements or upgrades that have been approved by the chancellor,
 capital improvements or facility upgrades shall be  made  in  an  amount
 equal  to  the  expenditure  of  the charter school for each non-charter
 public school  within  the  public  school  building.  For  any  capital
 improvements  or  facility  upgrades  in excess of five thousand dollars
 that have been approved by the chancellor, regardless of the  source  of
 funding,  made  in  a charter school that is already co-located within a
 public  school  building,  matching  capital  improvements  or  facility
 upgrades  shall  be  made  in  an amount equal to the expenditure of the
 charter school for each non-charter  public  school  within  the  public
 school  building  within  three months of such improvements or upgrades.
 ANY CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT REQUIRED TO BE MADE  FOR  A  NON-CHARTER  PUBLIC
 SCHOOL PURSUANT TO THE PROVISIONS OF THIS PARAGRAPH SHALL BE PAID FOR BY
 THE STATE.
   §  4. Subdivision 3 of section 2854 of the education law is amended by
 adding a new paragraph (e) to read as follows:
   (E) NO CHARTER SCHOOL SHALL INCLUDE A NON-DISCLOSURE AGREEMENT AS PART
 OF A CONTRACT WITH ANY EMPLOYEE OR AS A CONDITION OF EMPLOYMENT.
   § 5. Subdivision 4 of section 2853 of the education law is amended  by
 adding a new paragraph (f) to read as follows:
   (F)  IN  A  CITY  SCHOOL  DISTRICT  IN A CITY WITH A POPULATION OF ONE
 MILLION OR MORE, THE COMPTROLLER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK  SHALL  CONDUCT
 ANNUAL  AUDITS,  WHICH  SHALL INCLUDE BUT NOT BE LIMITED TO ANY MATCHING
 FUNDS SPENT ON CHARTER SCHOOLS.
   § 6. This act shall take effect immediately.

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