NYSUT, UFT charge the State University of New York violated state charter cap

New York State United Teachers and the United Federation of Teachers have filed a legal challenge to stop a scheme by Success Academy Charter Schools and the State University of New York's Charter School Committee that attempts to circumvent the state's charter cap.

The petition, filed in New York County Supreme Court, charges that SUNY's Charter School Committee illegally approved the "transfer" of a Success Academy charter in the Bronx to a brand-new entity called Strive Charter School - even though New York City has already reached its statutory cap on charter schools and state law does not allow for the transfer of an existing charter to a new entity. Strive's founder, Eric Grannis, is the husband of Success Academy CEO Eva Moskowitz.

SUNY approved the transfer over the explicit objections of the New York State Board of Regents, which found the action was likely illegal and recommended it be abandoned. While Strive received approval from SUNY, there is no evidence that it completed any of the competitive application requirements that state law mandates for each new charter school, including community outreach, public hearings and demonstration of demand.

The petition seeks to void the transfer and prevent Strive from opening.

"New York's students and public schools deserve better than this kind of maneuvering, and NYSUT will not stand by while bad actors try to rewrite the rules to suit themselves," said NYSUT President Melinda Person. "This is yet another example of SUNY's charter approval process being used to sidestep state law - something NYSUT has already challenged in state court and will continue to confront as long as we must."

"Success Academy has to follow the law," said UFT President Michael Mulgrew. "Clearly, they are trying to go around the charter cap, but that's not how this works. Charter schools drain resources from district public schools, and the cap was created to minimize harm."

Read the filing here.

Background: This filing follows NYSUT's lawsuit in January challenging SUNY's approval of charter schools in Brentwood and Central Islip - schools that had already been rejected by the Board of Regents and faced clear opposition from local communities.

Taken together, the two lawsuits illustrate a troubling pattern: as a charter authorizer, SUNY operates without transparency or accountability, rubber-stamping applications that state education experts have rejected, and exploiting the dysfunction built into New York's dual charter authorizing system.

The expansion of corporate charter schools has drained billions of dollars from neighborhood public schools. While they receive taxpayer money, they are not held to the same standards of transparency, often fail to provide legally-required support to students with IEPs, and can cherry-pick which students to admit or turn away.

As part of its longstanding effort to hold charter schools accountable, NYSUT is backing legislation that would require a local vote before a charter school can be established, expanded or renewed in a community.

Learn more at https://charterschoolfacts.org/