The Community Education Council of District 17

Category: Resolutions

  • Resolution to Implement District 17 Comprehensive District Middle School Choice For 2013 – 2014 School Year

    APPROVED AND ADOPTED AUGUST 27, 2013

    Resolution to Implement District 17

    Comprehensive District Middle School Choice

    For 2013 – 2014 School Year

    WHEREAS, Community Education Council District 17 held meetings in June, July, August which

    included the District Superintendent, Principals , Parent leaders, and the community to discuss

    Comprehensive District Middle School Choice, and

    WHEREAS, representatives from the Office of Middle School Admissions were invited to CEC 17

    meetings to present information and data pertaining to District 17 schools that participate in Middle

    School Choice versus current zoned schools which do not, and

    WHEREAS, eight out of ten members expressed their approval of implementing the proposed

    Comprehensive District Middle School Choice for District 17 schools, and

    WHEREAS, implementing a District Comprehensive Middle School Program will provide all

    students of District 17 an opportunity to select a middle school that suits their academic interest and

    needs, and

    WHEREAS, 75% of families of District 17 are already using the Middle School Choice Application

    process, and

    WHEREAS, a District Comprehensive Middle School Choice program will open up an additional 6

    schools that are not currently part of the application process allowing parents to choose from all

    schools in District 17, therefore

    BE IT RESOLVED THAT, CEC 17 approves the implementation of a Comprehensive District

    Middle School Choice Program for District students and families beginning in the 2013-2014 School

    Year by roll call vote at the CEC 17 August 27, 2013 Calendar meeting.

     

    Nicole Job, President

    Kenneth Wright, 1st Vice president

    Ann Marie Williams, 2nd Vice President

    Cherylann Welch, Recording Secretary

    Faguenston Gilsaint, Treasurer

    Latasha Nash, Member

    Marvin Wheeler III, Member

    Tammara Johnson, Member

    Jean Gourdet, Member

    Natasha Welsh, Borough President’s Appointee

  • Calling on Governor Cuomo and New York State Legislators for a 2 Year full phase in of the Campaign for Fiscal Equity Monies in New York City and across the state ahead of the 10th Year Anniversary of final court ruling.

    Resolution: Calling on Governor Cuomo and New York State Legislators for a 2 Year full phase in of the Campaign for Fiscal Equity Monies in New York City and across the state ahead of the 10th Year Anniversary of final court ruling. ​

     

    Whereas, in 2006 the NYS Court of Appeals found that in fact NYS was violating students’ constitutional rights to a “sound, basic education” through its final court order;

    Whereas,  the final court order lead to the 2007 statewide settlement of the Campaign for Fiscal Equity case by committing to provide $5.5 billion in basic classroom operating aid, also known as Foundation Aid.

    Whereas, October 10th, 2016 marks the 10 year Anniversary of this crucial court case ruling in favor of the Campaign for Fiscal Equity and a decade later, schools across the state are still owed $3.8 billion of which NYC schools are owed $1.6 Billion;

    Whereas, students, particularly Black and Latino students and students living in poverty have been disproportionately affected by the state’s indifference to providing “a sound, basic education” for all and reluctance to comply with CFE ruling;

    Whereas, according to a new report by the Alliance for Quality education “CFE Derailed: The State of our Schools in the Wake of the 2016 State Budget and a Decade after the campaign for fiscal Equity”, 30 out of 33 school districts where the overwhelming student population is Black and Latino, have not received the money owed.

    Whereas, schools across the city have had classroom cuts, have been forced to lay off staff and have seen increased class sizes, while being forced to cut arts and music programs and struggle to provide afterschool programs and advanced placement courses;

    Whereas, there is not an achievement gap as much as there is an opportunity gap;

    Whereas, we affirm that New York State has a constitutional responsibility to provide a “Sound, basic education” for all, regardless of race or zip code and must address the opportunity gap;

    Be it resolved: that CEC 17 along with Community Education Councils in New York City call on Governor Cuomo and the New York State Legislators for a full two year phase-in of Campaign for Fiscal Equity Monies distributed via the Foundation Aid Formula, to begin to address the opportunity gap that has systemically impacted our schools ability to provide a sound basic education for all children in the city of New York.

  • Resolution to Oppose Increasing New York State Charter School Cap and City Charter School Cap; Demand Moratorium on Charter School Placement in the Borough of Brooklyn and Request to Pursue Changes to Charter School Oversight

    Community Education Council District 17

    Resolution to Oppose Increasing New York State Charter School

    Cap and City Charter School Cap; Demand Moratorium on Charter School Placement in the Borough of

    Brooklyn; and Request to Pursue Changes to Charter School Oversight

    The Community Education Council for District 17 (hereafter referred to as CEC17) is a group of parents and community members who have been elected or appointed

    to serve Crown Heights, Prospect Heights, Prospect Lefferts Gardens, and beyond, representing thousands of public school students and their families. This resolution

    joins together the data presented by Community School District 15 and the Education Council Consortium with our own to address the matter of aggressive charter

    school oversaturation combined with a disconcerting lack of oversight.

    WHEREAS, New York State embarked on an experiment to allow 100 publicly funded Charter schools pursuant to the New York State Charter Schools

    Act of 1998;

    WHEREAS, amendments to §2852(9) of the Law in 2010 expanded the statewide Charter Cap to 460 Charters;

    WHEREAS, amendments to §2852(9) of the Law in 2010 also limited additional Charters in New York City to 114; 57 to be issued by the NYSED Board of

    Regents (BOR) and 57 to be issued by SUNY;

    WHEREAS, further amendments to §2852(9) of the Law in 2015 recognized that New York City was becoming oversubscribed by Charter schools and

    limited the number of Charters granted in New York City after July 1, 2015, to an additional 50 Charters and no more. Also in 2015, 22 previously

    surrendered Charters were made available for reissue by SUNY or BOR;

    2

    WHEREAS, according to the NYSED Charter School Directory

    , 365 Charter schools have been approved to operate in New York State. As of January 4,

    2019, 99 Charters remain available for issue in New York State outside of New York City;

    WHEREAS, according to the NYSED Office of School Charters3, no Charters remain under the Charter Subcap and only seven Charters remain available

    of the 22 Charters revived in 2015;

    WHEREAS, New York City, with only 39% of the state’s students but 71% of the state’s Charter schools, houses more than its fair share of Charter schools and faces an outsized impact from the Charter experiment;

    WHEREAS, §2852 (9-a)(b) of the Law clearly states the intent of the Charter experiment is to permit Charter schools in a region or regions where there

    may be a lack of alternatives and access to charter schools would provide new alternatives within the local public education system that would offer

    the greatest educational benefit to students ;

    WHEREAS, the NYSED Charter School Directory lists 260 Charter schools in New York City. This constitutes at least 71% of Charter schools statewide

    and does not include at least 22 new Charter schools approved since October 4, 2018, of which 20 will reside in New York City (as compiled from SUNY

    press releases and BOR minutes);

    WHEREAS, New York City is oversaturated with Charter schools. The NYSED4 currently lists 97 Charter schools in Brooklyn, 77 Charter schools in the

    Bronx, 53 Charter schools in Manhattan, 27 Charter schools in Queens, 6 Charter schools in Staten Island, and more to open in all boroughs;

    WHEREAS, New York City, with at least 71% of the state’s Charter schools on top of a bounty of public and private options, is

    demonstrably not a region with a lack of alternatives as originally contemplated by §2852 (9-a)(b);WHEREAS, Brooklyn’s CECs are uniquely positioned to address the Cap as Brooklyn is the borough with the greatest number of New York City Charter

    schools (37% of all New York City Charter schools), with District 17 currently containing the largest number of charter schools in the borough at

    seventeen (17) schools, and with more expected in the coming year. By extension, Kings County has more Charter schools than any other county in the

    state;

    WHEREAS, for further perspective, neighboring District 15 has four (4) charter schools; nearby Suffolk County has only 1 Charter school and rural

    counties, such as Schoharie County, Tioga County, Yates County, Herkimer County, and Orleans County have no (0) Charter schools;

    WHEREAS, there is no need to increase the statewide Cap to serve these counties because there is ample room under the current Cap to provide Charter

    school options to rural and suburban communities;

    WHEREAS, Charter schools are an unproven experiment that continues to grow, predominantly in New York City, while other parts of the state with far

    fewer local alternatives go ignored;

    WHEREAS, upon examination of the NYSED’s Charter school data, county by county, reveals that the location chosen for Charter schools is not

    correlated to academic need. This is exemplified by persistently low performing rural counties with few or no Charter schools;

    WHEREAS, in New York City, Charter Management Organizations (CMOs) run multiple Charter schools and effectively act as parallel independent

    school districts that operate free from public oversight, including some in District 17, such as Achievement First, Explore, and Success Academy;

    WHEREAS, Charter school advocates, such as the New York City Charter School Center, encourage this structure through controversial interpretations

    of the Law (as amended in 2010). The organization advised Charters to form Charter school districts in 2010,

    The legal details are unclear, but by the Charter Center’s reading of the law, two or more charter schools can now choose to merge into a single school,

    managed by a single board – but operating multiple campuses with multiple charters. In other words: a charter district5

    ;

    WHEREAS, the substantial use of public resources by Charter schools merits regular financial audits of all Charter schools and their CMOs through the

    state or city comptroller with enforced recommendations;

    WHEREAS, New York City spent approximately $44 million5 in fiscal year 2018 to cover the quickly growing cost of Charter schools operating in private

    facilities;

    WHEREAS, a Cap or Subcap increase under amendments to §2853 of the Law in 2014, would divert even more public funds and space resources away

    from public schools;

    WHEREAS, Charter schools lack sufficient oversight and accountability by design;

    WHEREAS, Charter schools in New York City are classified as District 84, which is not governed by a superintendent;

    WHEREAS, Charter Management Organizations (CMOs) operate free from public oversight and FOIL;

    WHEREAS, a Cap or Subcap increase would place even more public funds under private CMO management through this Charter district structure;

    WHEREAS, there has been no independent system-wide evaluation of Charter schools and their impact. Such an evaluation should

    occur before considering any further Cap or Subcap increases;

    WHEREAS, an independent evaluation should assess the actual programmatic and fiscal impact of Charter schools on other local public and nonpublic

    schools before considering any further Cap or Subcap increase. According to §2851(2)(q) of the Law, Charter applicants shall provide an assessment of

    the projected programmatic and fiscal impact of the school on other public and nonpublic schools in the area . This projection should be compared to

    the actual impact;

    WHEREAS, an independent evaluation should also analyze the actual academic impact of Charter schools over entire regions (districts, counties, and

    cities) before considering any further Cap or Subcap increase;WHEREAS, an independent evaluation should analyze the extent to which a Charter school’s performance arises from the school’s unique curriculum or

    management versus performance increases that arise from educating self-selecting populations, rather than the entire student population;

    WHEREAS, an independent evaluation should also analyze the academic and social impact of Charter schools on their students;

    WHEREAS, an independent evaluation should examine and develop a system to monitor Charter school enrollment and retention practices;

    WHEREAS, an independent evaluation should identify and analyze any educational innovation(s) employed by high performing Charter schools;

    WHEREAS, any educational innovation(s) deemed successful and appropriate should be integrated into public schools system-wide; and

    WHEREAS, after such an independent evaluation, underperforming Charter schools should be closed, and those Charters revived before requesting any

    further Cap or Subcap increase;

    Community Education Council District 17, therefore, joins its neighboring Districts 15 and 17, and

    RESOLVES, to propose a five-year moratorium on issuing new Charters in New York City and complete a system-wide impact

    evaluation.

    We respectfully ask the Governor, Mayor, Members of the New York State Senate and Assembly, the Schools Chancellor, the New York State Board of

    Regents, the New York City Board of Education, the Board of Trustees of the State University of New York, and our local Community Education Councils

    to support a Five-Year New York City Charter Moratorium and join us in opposing any proposed amendment to the New York State Charter Schools Act

    that would increase the Charter School Cap or the New York City Charter School Subcap.

    Over the last decade, several factors have allowed for tremendous Charter school growth in New York City, two of which are addressed in this Resolution.

    First, increases to the New York City Charter School Subcap have led to 260 NYC Charter schools with more on the way.

    Second, Charter schools have interpreted the New York State Charter Schools Act in such a way that enabled the creation of Charter school districts.

    These parallel independent school districts flooded our city as networks run by Charter Management Organizations (CMOs) that prioritize their own

    growth disconnected from actual district need and mostly free from public fiscal oversight.

    Prioritizing oversight and need, CEC17 has concluded that any increase in the Charter School Cap or New York City Charter School Subcap would weaken

    public accountability by diverting more public resources to vast arrays of parallel independent school districts not subject to public oversight or FOIL.

    The lack of transparency inherent in CMOs can make it impossible even for a Charter school’s own board to know how much per-pupil funding actually

    goes to the student or is diverted to enriching the CMO. Although New York State’s Charter schools are subject to audit either by the state or the city, to

    date we are only aware of four audits of Charter schools performed by the NYC Comptroller, ever. This is clearly inadequate with 260 Charter schools in

    operation in New York City. Moreover, it is unclear whether Charter schools have complied with the recommendations of those audits. When the NYC

    Comptroller conducted an audit of Success Academy in 2016, the Charter school objected to the conduct of the audit, disagreed with most of the findings,

    6

    and did not respond to any of the audit recommendations

    trust and privatization of public resources by CMOs.

    . A further Cap increase under these circumstances would represent a betrayal of the public

    An increased Charter School Cap also undermines the ability of public schools to thrive and co-exist with Charter schools. By enabling CMO networks to

    continue expanding in already-saturated markets, public school resources are shifted from the public system into parallel private CMO-run school

    districts. Our city schools are still waiting on over $1.4 billion in Foundation Aid7 while per-pupil state funding for Charter schools continues to grow.

    Attempts to fix public education through privatization are misplaced when the end result is siphoning per-pupil resources from public schools into

    unchecked CMOs.

    When Charter schools ask Albany for a Cap increase they will likely cite 52,700 students on waitlists. These numbers are not reliable. For example, is

    there any yearly effort to purge the names of students who secure seats elsewhere? Is there an independent body that oversees and audits these lists?

    These waitlists do not demonstrate actual intent to attend. Waitlists also do not explain that citywide elementary enrollment is already beginning a

    projected decline. Waitlists are neither an accurate assessment of district need nor an adequate reflection of available local alternatives.

    New York City has 39% of the state’s students and houses 71% of the state’s Charter schools. Given this fact, the prospect of a Charter School Subcapincrease, requires us to ask—What is the vision for New York City public schools? Any amendment to the Law that enables further Charter growth

    without an evaluation of impact, is an unmistakable signal that Charter schools are not merely a vehicle for educational alternatives and threaten to put

    New York City public schools out of business. We ask Albany to impose a Five-Year New York City Charter Moratorium and perform an

    evaluation of our existing dual education system because education policy should create systems that work together to make progress for all New York children—not systems designed to undermine each other.

     

    Lafleur Cumberbatch, President

    Takiya Swaby, 1st Vice President

    Joanna Henry-Barrow, 2nd Vice president

    Erika Kendall, Recording Secretary

    Fanny Spencer, Treasurer

    Vanessa Moore, Member

    Duane Singh, Member

    Nicole Job, Borough President’s Appointee

  • Resolution in Support of Art Classes in District 17 Schools

    Community Education Council District 17

    Resolution in Support of Art Classes in District 17 Schools

    Whereas, the arts (music, dance, theater and visual arts) are recognized as core subject areas at the federal, state and local levels

    Whereas, parents and the public overwhelmingly agree that arts and music education is an essential component of a complete education

    Whereas, the arts contribute to essential 21st Century skills, enhance cognitive abilities, and engage students in their learning and school community

    Whereas, it is increasingly important that we equip the next generation of graduates with the skills and ability to think creatively, to innovate, and to become tenacious learners ready to solve complex problems and create solutions to our city and planet’s most pressing concerns

    Whereas, all of these skills are cultivated through quality instruction in the arts

    Whereas, far too many of our city’s public school children are not receiving the arts and music instruction that they deserve and are entitled to

    Whereas, students of District 17 are not afforded the opportunity to attend specialized Arts High Schools and Colleges and the opportunity to pursue careers in the Arts upon leaving the public school system

    Whereas, funding for arts supplies, instruments and materials have declined by 85 percent since the 2006-07 school year

    Whereas, funding for school partnerships with arts and cultural organization has declined by 45 percent since the 2006-07 school year and approximately 250 city schools do not have any partnerships with local arts and cultural organizations

    Whereas, approximately 400 city public schools do not have any part-time or full-time certified arts teachers on staff

    Whereas, with New York City’s rich array of arts and cultural organizations and experiences; it is uniquely positioned to be the leader in arts and creative education.

     

    Therefore, be it resolved, the Community Education Council of District 17, demand the New York City Department of Education inculcate arts programs in every District 17 school that includes:

    • Standards-based instruction in music, dance, theater and the visual arts as described in State education law;
    • Instruction by highly qualified certified arts teachers, enriched by the city’s dedicated teaching artists and professional artists;
    • Partnerships and collaborations with the city’s rich array of arts and cultural institutions;
    • Instruction in classrooms and facilities that are equipped for teaching and learning in the arts;
    • Access to arts supplies, instruments, and state-of-the-art equipment and technology.

  • Resolution To Oppose Provisions In The New York State Budget For 2014 – 2015 Requiring The Department Of Education To Provide Space For Charter Schools At The Public’s Expense

    Resolution To Oppose Provisions In The New York State Budget For 2014 – 2015 Requiring The Department Of Education To Provide Space For Charter Schools At The Public’s Expense

    WHEREAS, charter schools in New York City have been shown by the City’s Independent Budget Office to receive more public funding per pupil than public schools; and

     

    WHEREAS, charter schools in New York City receive backing from wealthy investors who benefit from federal tax credits valued at millions of dollars under the Federal New Markets program; and 

     

    WHEREAS, charter schools have resources and means to find their own facilities outside of the Department of Education’s building inventory; and

     

    WHEREAS, District 17 and community stakeholders have showed on numerous occasions dissatisfaction with charter schools taking over public schools’ space and preventing public schools’ students from getting the required and needed services covered under Federal Title I Laws and requirements and/or programs due to space limitations; and

     

    WHEREAS, the New York State Budget for 2014-2015 requires that the New York City’s Department of Education provide space at no cost to charter schools, thereby severely curtailing local control of city schools and placing public schools’ students at a distinct and unfair disadvantage; and

     

    WHEREAS, charter schools in New York City frequently displace public schools’ students from existing schools’ facilities and deny the students of District 17 and it’s School growth preventing the implementation of College and Career Ready Standards

     

    WHEREAS, charter schools in New York City have spent over  five (5) million dollars in fees to public relations and advertising firms in their campaign to demand public space clearly demonstrating Charter Schools have the financial ability to pay for its own space and

     

    WHEREAS,  Charter Schools co-located in District 17 Schools be required to pay equal scale for space costs,  utilities, janitorial services, or school safety agents and  

     

    THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Community Education Council District 17 opposes to these provisions and calls upon the Senate  to introduce a new legislation rescinding the provisions requiring the Department of Education to provide free space to charter schools, thereby restoring local control of city schools; and

     

    BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that Community Education Council District 17 hereby calls upon Governor Cuomo to allow the Mayor to oversee the usage of the New York City public schools’ space in accordance with the State Education Law on mayoral control. 

     

    Nicole Job, President

    Kenneth Wright, 1st Vice president

    Ann Marie Williams, 2nd Vice President

    Cherylann Welch, Recording Secretary

    Faguenston Gilsaint, Treasurer

    Latasha Nash, Member

    Marvin Wheeler III, Member

    Tammara Johnson, Member

    Natasha Welsh, Borough President’s Appointee

  • Resolution to Oppose August 2013 Posting of Educational Impact Statement for D17 Proposed Colocations

    APPROVED AND ADOPTED AUGUST 27, 2013 

    RESOLUTION TO OPPOSE AUGUST 2013 POSTING OF

    EDUCATIONAL IMPACT STATEMENT (EIS) FOR DISTRICT 17

    PROPOSED CO-LOCATION INCLUDING EXPANSION AND RE-SITING FOR

    2014 – 2015 AND 2015 – 2016 SCHOOL YEAR

     

    WHEREAS, the Division of Portfolio Planning has made proposals for co-locations which include re-siting and grade expansion for 2014 – 2015 and 2015 – 2016, and

    WHEREAS, the Division of Portfolio Planning anticipates posting Educational Impact Statements (EIS) on August 28th, and

    WHEREAS, by posting any EIS before the start of school on September 9 2013 it will effectively shorten the period of consultation with the community provided under State Law, and

    WHEREAS, the posting of any EIS will also diminish the visibility of notice by parents, which in turn will diminish the public participation under State Law. Therefore

     

    BE IT RESOLVED THAT, CEC 17 demands that the NYC DOE Division of Portfolio Planning ceasefrom posting any Educational Impact Statements for the months of August and September proposing co-locations including re-siting of schools and school expansion.

     

    Nicole Job, President

    Kenneth Wright, 1st Vice president

    Ann Marie Williams, 2nd Vice President

    Cherylann Welch, Recording Secretary

    Faguenston Gilsaint, Treasurer

    Latasha Nash, Member

    Marvin Wheeler III, Member

    Tammara Johnson, Member

    Jean Gourdet, Member

    Natasha Welsh, Borough President’s Appointee

  • Resolution to Support the Proposed Consolidation of M.S. 334 Middle School for Academic and Social Excellence with M.S. 354 The School of Integrated Learning Beginning in the 2016-2017 School Year

    RESOLUTION TO SUPPORT THE PROPOSED CONSOLIDATION OF M.S. 334 MIDDLE SCHOOL FOR ACADEMIC AND SOCIAL EXCELLENCE WITH M.S. 354 THE SCHOOL OF INTEGRATED LEARNING BEGINNING IN THE 2016 – 2017 SCHOOL YEAR

     

    WHEREAS, the New York City Department of Education has made a proposal for the consolidation of M.S. 334 and M.S. 354 in district 17; and

    WHEREAS, the consolidation of M.S. 334 Middle School for Academic and Social Excellence with M.S. 354 The School of Integrated Learning will provide an increase in capacity of shared resources to provide greater opportunities towards student enrichment and academic achievement;

    WHEREAS, there have been several meetings since last school year to talk about the possibilities and benefits to the consolidation of both schools into one which provides the ability to operate and serve students more effectively;

    WHEREAS, opportunities for feed-back were giving over the past six months to engage key stake holders and parent leaders including the Community Education Council of School District 17;

    WHEREAS, Community Education Council is 17 is in full support of having the dedicated space to support both schools;

    BE IT RESOLVED THAT, Community Education Council 17 is in full agreement with the consolidation and is in full support of the Panel for Education Policy vote of approval on Thursday, November  19, 2015 to consolidate M.S. 334 Middle School For Academic and Social Excellence with M.S. 354 The School of Integrated Learning beginning in the 2016 – 2017 school year.

    Nicole Job, President

    Tameka Carter, 2nd Vice President

    Erika Kendall, Recording Secretary

    Faguenston Gilsaint, Member

    Lafleur Cumberbatch, Member

    Andrea Lashley, Member

    Natasha Welsh, Borough President’s Appointee

    Tiffany Johnson, Borough President’s Appointee

     

  • Resolution to Repeal the Use of Public Funds for Private Charter School Facilities  

    April 21, 2026

    Community Education Council of District 17 Resolution to Repeal the Use of Public Funds for 

    Private Charter School Facilities  

     

    Sponsored by: Erika Kendall, Antoineta Meekins, Tyeast Fullerton, Tiffany Melville, Ruby Miller, Rebecca Jacques, Dory Thrasher, Michelle Morris

     

    Whereas, New York State Education Law, paragraph (e) of subdivision 3 of section §2853 and subdivision 6-g of section §3602, requires New York City public schools to provide free space to charter schools in public buildings or reimburse the charter for space in private facilities; 

    Whereas, this law reflects 2014 amendments under the Bloomberg and Cuomo administrations that made NYC the only school district in the entire state and the entire nation that is obligated to help subsidize the rent for charter schools if they are not provided space in public school buildings;

    Whereas, according to the law, the state is obligated to pay 60% of charter lease subsidy costs after total expenses to the city exceed $40 million, which occurred in FY 2017;

    Whereas, NYC has 285 charters – the vast majority of the 352 total authorized charter schools in New York State;

    Whereas, the total funding diverted to charter schools from traditional public schools in New York City is already substantial and growing each year. The adopted NYC FY 2026 budget allocated more than $3.3 billion for charters. The preliminary FY 2027 budget estimates more than $3.7 billion will be spent on charters  – including the rental space and services that co-located NYC charter schools receive for free but paid for by New York City Department of Education;

    Whereas, according to the NY City Council’s Report on the FY 2025 Preliminary Plan, the NYC DOE held 132 leases and was scheduled to make $235.6 million in payments in FY 2024.

    Whereas, in FY 2025, NYC charter schools sited in private space received subsidies from the New York City Department of Education and New York State to help pay for their rental costs totaling an estimated $300 million, up from only $130 million only four years prior, an alarming rate of growth; 

    Whereas, this year, Hochul’s FY2027 budget increases the state’s estimated portion to $177 million. As this represents 60% of the estimated total rental costs, we can deduce that private space will cost the city and state at least $295 million combined, with the city’s portion rising to $118 million from $96.6 million the year prior.

    Whereas, to make matters worse, the DOE has a history of overspending on charter leases. Two Class Size Matters reports on the cost of charter rent in 2019 and 2020, show that in FY 2019, DOE overspent on charter lease costs by over $21 million compared to their legal obligation, and in FY 2020, DOE spent over $11.6 million on rent for charter schools whose  buildings were owned by their Charter Management Organizations or other affiliated organizations; and that in some of those cases, the CMO had appeared to  sharply increase their own rent, apparently to receive more reimbursement from DOE;

    Whereas, a Class Size Matters Report on Charter Facilities Funding provides evidence of overspending on rent for private facilities for charter schools and extreme inflation of rental costs, in one instance the increase was thirteen times the base rent;

    Whereas, more recently, NYCPS filed a lawsuit against the NYSED and Hellenic Classical Charter Schools, claiming the charter artificially inflated rental costs to obtain a greater rental reimbursement;

    Whereas, in March 2025, a judge determined that NYC was not obligated to reimburse Hellenic Classical Charter Schools for inflated rental costs charged by the school’s charter management company in order to acquire funds for projects that are not “actual rental costs”; and

    Whereas, ending the mandate to provide free space for charter schools could free up both City and State funding to help NYCPS meet class size mandates or provide baseline funding for critical programs.

    Whereas, NY State Senator John Liu, chair of the NYC Education Senate Committee, Senator Robert Jackson, and Council Member Rita Joseph, urged Comptroller Lander to audit both the potential overcharging of charter rent charged to DOE as well as the underpayments of matching funds to co-located public schools for facilities enhancement in a letter sent in March 2023, but that audit has still not been launched. 

    Therefore be it resolved that the NYS Legislature repeal the law that obligates New York City Department of Education to provide space to charter schools in public schools or help pay for their rent – as the only district in the nation with this onerous requirement;

    Be it resolved that the Community Education Council of District 17 asks the NYC Comptroller to audit the DOE spending on rental subsidies for charter schools, especially those whose buildings are owned by their CMO or other affiliated organization, to ensure that they are not inflating reimbursement from DOE;  

    Be it resolved that the Community Education Council of District 17 also asks the NYC Comptroller to audit DOE spending on matching funds to public schools co-located with charters for facility enhancements, an amount that is supposed to match the spending of the co-located charters for that purpose, and yet the CSM reports of 2019 and 2020 found that the co-located public schools were owed millions of dollars by DOE; 

    Be it resolved that the Community Education Council of District 17 opposes S5797/A85 which provides retroactive facilities funds for 70 charters that opened prior to 2014 in NYC;

    Be it resolved that the Community Education Council of District 17 demands retroactive reimbursement for all facilities expenses paid to charters by NYC since 2014;

    Be it resolved that the following bills to strengthen the accountability and transparency of charter schools shall be approved by the Legislature and signed into law by the Governor, along with the same bills in the Assembly:  S423 (Liu), which repeals the requirement that NYC must help pay for private space rented by charter schools; S552 (Liu), which allows the state Comptroller to audit NYC charter schools; and S527/A6891 (Mayer), which limits revisions to charter schools that would expand the grades served to only those grade levels included in the type of school; and

    And Be it resolved that the City and Legislature use the newly available tax levy funding to meet class size mandates and sustain programs.

    Passed unanimously on April 21, 2026.

     

    Members in attendance: Letisha Amada, Tyeast Fullerton, Rebecca Jacques, Theresa James, Erika Kendall, Antoineta Meekins, Tiffany Melville, Ruby Miller, Michelle Morris, Dory Thrasher