Gov’s charter school plan draws ire from Queens pols
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John Liu speaks with other electeds and education advocates at City Hall on Friday, Feb. 3, 2023. Photo by Astrid Aune/ Senator Jessica Ramos
By Ryan Schwach
Queens electeds and education advocates are unhappy with a plan presented by Governor Kathy Hochul last week to add more charter schools in the state, including in New York City.
Hochul’s new proposal would raise the current cap of 460 charter schools in New York State, a number set in 2010, and would also reissue charters that have run out, called “Zombie Charters,” to new charterees, raising the number even higher, opponents say.
Hochul, making the announcement during her executive budget address last week, was quickly condemned by education advocates and lawmakers for the proposed change, which she has since defended.
“I believe in public schools, I am a product of public schools,” Hochul said on “Inside City Hall” with NY1’s Errol Louis on Thursday. “I don’t think we should be telling them [parents] they don’t have a choice.”
However, Hochul’s new plan has already drawn controversy and opposition from the state legislature, including members of the Queens delegation.
On Friday afternoon, officials from across the city gathered at the steps of City Hall to voice their opposition to the Governor’s proposal.
“So while the governor is giving with one hand on the Foundation Aid, she's yanking the rug out from other kids, by diverting money potentially to charter schools, and that is not right,” said Queens State Senator John Liu, who chairs the New York City Education Committee in the Senate. “We call on the governor to drop the proposal, because we want to keep all of our kids in public schools.”
In an additional statement, Liu called the attempt to remove the cap a “nonstarter.”
“The cap has historically served to strike the balance between giving parents so-called ‘choice’ and the constitutional requirement to keep public schools open, and it’s not common sense to upset that balance,” he said. “I don't begrudge any organizations or anybody from setting up their private schools, my concern is when those private schools want public dollars, and that's exactly what's happening here.”
In her interview with Louis, Hochul said she is not trying to raise the cap, but merely refill the number of schools that have closed under that 460 mark, however, her proposal does leave the door open to more than 80 new charter schools across the state.
The proposal was celebrated by charter school advocates and providers, including Success Academy, which recently was told they couldn’t expand to several school buildings in Queens.
“Thank you Governor Hochul for giving families what they want: more high quality educational choices,” said Eva Moskowitz, the CEO and founder of Success Academy. “Now Albany needs to get behind this common sense solution and ensure it becomes law — that kids win over politics.”
Hochul also added $2.7 billion in school funding to her budget proposal.
“I believe that our 10 percent increase over last year was a historic amount of money and it shows that I will continue to support our public schools, bar none,” she said on NY1.
Liu was joined by several State Senators and education officials on the steps of City Hall on Friday.
“I was very happy, of course, to see Foundation Aid funding…and I'm very proud to say that we achieved that,” said Queens Senator Jessica Ramos. “But unfortunately, the other half of the proposal is not good at all. And we must refuse it. It is not okay for us to put our state on the path of privatizing public education.”
Ramos, herself a product of New York City public schools in Queens, called corporate charter schools “a different way to segregate our children.”
“So I think as you can see, this is a resounding no,” she said on Friday. “From many members of the New York State Senate Democratic conference, we are concerned and we are outraged. This is not okay. It will not stand, we will make sure that this does not make it into a final budget.”
The Queens senators were joined by other members of the legislature, including Cordell Cleare, Robert Jackson, and Brooklyn Senator Jabari Brisport, who used to teach in the city public school system before being elected to office.
“If there was a movement called book choice, where we cut library funding to get private vouchers at Barnes and Noble, people would see that for what it is and fight against it,” Brisport said. “If there was a movement called fire choice, where we cut Fire Department funding and gave it to private vouchers for fire extinguishers, we would see what that is and fight against it….This is an attempt to dismantle our public education system, which is for all, and put it into private hands.”
The tension between the Senate and governor over the charter school plan only adds to the existing tensions between the two branches of government stemming from Hochul’s controversial choice for chief judge, Hector LaSalle, and the Senate’s recent rejection of him.
Both issues will likely complicate the upcoming budget negotiations, which also include controversial plans to again change the state’s bail laws.
On Friday, Sharee Gipson, Borough President Donovan Richards’ appointee to the New York City Panel for Educational Policy, said she did want to see parents fighting over school seats and also asked for accountability in the private system.
“How about putting in some accountability to these charters? How about putting some accountability that they take on the fiscal responsibility of their own infrastructure, their own building?” she said. “How about forcing them to invest in the communities that they are supposed to be saving?”
The public versus charter fight has brought about a few bouts in Queens as of late, with city officials torpedoing the attempts of Success Academy, a citywide charter with four locations in Queens, to co-locate students in public school buildings. The proposals in Rochdale and Springfield Gardens were shot down by Richards and Mayor Eric Adams, who also canceled one in The Bronx.
“Students across Southeast Queens have been forced to endure years of systemic disinvestment in their schools, punctuated by a seemingly endless cycle of co-locations that further devalues the education our children receive,” said Richards. “Throughout this process, it was clear that co-locating Success Academy with M.S. 72 and Springfield Gardens Educational Campus would present significant and entirely avoidable challenges for both campuses, negatively impacting the education of our public school students.”
Success Academy’s CEO spoke against the decision of the co-location cancellations.
“Thousands of families whose children are in desperate need of better educational options have applied to these schools,” Moskowitz said. “We will not let the Adams Administration abandon them.”
The Community Education Council for school district 27 in Queens also recently approved a co-location of another Success Academy branch in Far Rockaway, which would move its students in with the Waterside School for Leadership, a public middle school in Rockaway Beach.
The contentious decision was passed by single vote in the CEC.
“The borough president is aware of the Waterside School for Leadership co-location plan, which he will continue to review on the merits and discuss with relevant local stakeholders and citywide education leaders,” said a spokesperson for the borough president.
