Proof de Blasio’s Wrong on Charters
NEW test scores show that public charter schools are the best public schools in the city for high-need students, but Mayor de Blasio continues to drag his feet in giving charters the space they need.
He should start by approving the 27 space requests on his desk. He’s out of excuses.
According to the latest test scores, charter schools now account for 21 out of the top 50 schools in New York City in reading and math — a number that continues to grow with each passing year. In every corner of New York City, you can find charter schools that are delivering a world-class education to students who need it most.
Right now, the waiting list for spots in city charters is more than 47,000 names long. But in order to grow, charter schools need access to public space. And under the de Blasio administration, public space hasn’t been provided to charter schools the way it should be.
Since 2014, city charter schools have applied for space more than 100 times. De Bla- sio has denied them 78 percent of the time.
There’s more than enough available space. According to the city’s own data, there are 112 chronically underutilized school buildings in New York, each with over 300 open seats in every school year since 2012. And 68 of these buildings are in districts where charters have applied for public space — meaning that for every one of the 27 open-space requests, there is at least one building close by that has sat partially empty for four years. In most cases, there’s far more than one.
This means that rather than use available public space to give children a place to learn, the Department of Education has allowed buildings to sit half-empty and unused, in a perpetual state of vacancy.
The administration’s space blockade has hurt charter schools across the city — including large charter networks and small independent charter schools.
The real victims of this policy are children. But not only charter kids. As Chalk- beat’s Alex Zimmerman reported on a new peer-reviewed study, public schools sharing space with or being located near charters have seen “increases in math and reading scores, boosts in reported student engagement and school safety and fewer students being held back a grade.”
At Success Academy, 2,100 future middleschool students are at serious risk of being educationally homeless if the city fails to provide six buildings by this fall.
At the International Charter School of New York, students don’t have a gym, auditorium, playground or cafeteria. Physical therapists work with children in hallways, and the principal’s office often serves as a quiet room for students who need to decompress because classrooms are so tight.
ICS has applied for public space three times from the de Blasio administration. Each time, they’ve been rejected — despite five chronically underutilized buildings nearby. And at Bronx Charter School for the Arts, school leaders must raise $50,000 a month to cover the cost of private space, even though there are four chronically underutilized buildings sitting half-empty nearby.
Despite these past challenges, New York’s charter leaders are eager to work with the mayor. But in order to do so, they must have clarity on how many students their schools can accept and where these students will be located on a reasonable timeline, just like any other public school. This means the city needs to approve these 27 requests no later than Sept. 1.
As this year’s test scores demonstrate, public charter schools remain the best option for many of New York City’s kids. It’s time for de Blasio to acknowledge this fact — and live up to his recent promise to collaborate with these schools — by addressing charters’ open-space requests in the coming weeks. Only then will city families be able to rest assured that they have a real advocate in City Hall.