NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A85
SPONSOR: Zaccaro TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the education law, in relation to metered in funding for
rental assistance for all New York city charter students
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
This bill would expand access to co-location and rental assistance for
privately located charter schools in the City of New York
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1. Amends paragraph (e) of subdivision 3 of § 2853 of the educa-
tion law to provide that charter schools in a city school district
having a population of one million or more that request co-location in a
public school building shall be provided access to facilities pursuant
to this paragraph for such charter schools that first commence instruc-
tion or that require additional space due to an expansion of grade
level, pursuant to this article, approved by their charter entity for
those grades newly provided.
Section 5. Amended to provide if the appeal results in the determination
in favor of the charter school, the city school district shall pay the
charter school an amount that is equal to the lesser of the actual
rental cost of an alternative privately owned site selected by the char-
ter school or thirty percent of the product of the charter school's
basic tuition for the current school year and the charter school's
current year enrollment.
Section 5-a. Establishes a metered in funding schedule for rental
assistance for charter schools that were operating schools or grade
levels prior to the 2014-2015 school year and will provide that they be
fully funded by the 20282029 school year and thereafter.
The schedule will require that during the:
2024-2025 School Year the City School District shall pay 20% of amount
owed to the school.
2025-2026 School Year the City School District shall pay 40% of the
amount owed to the school.
2026-2027 School Year the City School District shall pay 60% of the
amount owed to the school.
2027-2028 School Year the City School District shall pay 80% of the
amount owed to the school.
JUSTIFICATION:
Over a decade ago the Facilities Access Law was passed which provided
co-locations or rental assistance to all new charters or charters with
expanding grades in the 2014-15 school year and beyond. This facilities
funding was essential to charter school support and its growth, with the
start of the 2023-2024 school year seeing 274 public charter schools
operating throughout the City serving over 142,000 students. While the
Facilities Access Law ensured help to many of the City's charter
schools, privately located charter schools that had grown to capacity or
established grades prior to the 2014-2015 school year were excluded
under the Facilities Access Law. This has resulted in over 27,000
students in 70 schools who are unable to benefit from facilities fund-
ing, and consequentially their education will be impacted. An Independ-
ent Budget Office (IBO) of New York City report in 2017 found that City
charter schools were underfunded between more than one thousand dollars
to just below $5,000.
Continuing to underfund privately located charter schools by excluding
their ability to receive facilities funding is a detriment to their
ability to provide the high quality education their students deserve.
This bill would expand access to co-location and rental assistance for
privately located charter schools in the City of New York that would see
them fully funded by the 2028-2029 school year, with a metered in fund-
ing schedule in the years preceding 2028-2029. This approach both
ensures that all New York City charter schools will receive facilities
funding and provides the funding in a schedule that is fair and reason-
able to guarantee these students will become the role models, leaders,
and engaged people our society needs.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2023-2024: Referred to Education.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
There would be fiscal implication for local government related to this
bill.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
85
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY(Prefiled)
January 8, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. ZACCARO -- read once and referred to the Commit-
tee on Education
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to metered in funding for
rental assistance for all New York city charter students
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Paragraph (e) of subdivision 3 of section 2853 of the
2 education law, as added by section 5 of part BB of chapter 56 of the
3 laws of 2014, subparagraphs 5 and 6 as amended by section 11 of part A
4 of chapter 54 of the laws of 2016, and clause (B) of subparagraph 5 as
5 amended by section 5 of part YYY of chapter 59 of the laws of 2017, is
6 amended to read as follows:
7 (e) In a city school district in a city having a population of one
8 million or more inhabitants, charter schools that [first commence
9 instruction or that require additional space due to an expansion of
10 grade level, pursuant to this article, approved by their charter entity
11 for the two thousand fourteen--two thousand fifteen school year or ther-
12 eafter and] request co-location in a public school building shall be
13 provided access to facilities pursuant to this paragraph for such char-
14 ter schools that first commence instruction or that require additional
15 space due to an expansion of grade level, pursuant to this article,
16 approved by their charter entity for those grades newly provided.
17 (1) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, within
18 the later of (i) five months after a charter school's written request
19 for co-location and (ii) thirty days after the charter school's charter
20 is approved by its charter entity, the city school district shall
21 either: (A) offer at no cost to the charter school a co-location site in
22 a public school building approved by the board of education as provided
23 by law, or (B) offer the charter school space in a privately owned or
24 other publicly owned facility at the expense of the city school district
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD00526-01-5
A. 85 2
1 and at no cost to the charter school. The space must be reasonable,
2 appropriate and comparable and in the community school district to be
3 served by the charter school and otherwise in reasonable proximity.
4 (2) No later than thirty days after approval by the board of education
5 or expiration of the offer period prescribed in subparagraph one of this
6 paragraph, the charter school shall either accept the city school
7 district's offer or appeal in accordance with subparagraph three of this
8 paragraph. If no appeal is taken, the city's offer or refusal to make an
9 offer shall be final and non-reviewable. The charter school may appeal
10 as early as issuance of an educational impact statement for the proposed
11 co-location.
12 (3) The charter school shall have the option of appealing the city
13 school district's offer or failure to offer a co-location site through
14 binding arbitration in accordance with subparagraph [seven] six of this
15 paragraph, an expedited appeal to the commissioner pursuant to section
16 three hundred ten of this chapter and the procedures prescribed in para-
17 graph (a-5) of this subdivision, or a special proceeding pursuant to
18 article seventy-eight of the civil practice law and rules. In any such
19 appeal, the standard of review shall be the standard prescribed in
20 section seventy-eight hundred three of the civil practice law and rules.
21 (4) If the appeal results in a determination in favor of the city
22 school district, the city's offer shall be final and the charter school
23 may either accept such offer and move into the space offered by the city
24 school district at the city school district's expense, or locate in
25 another site at the charter school's expense.
26 (5) [For a new charter school whose charter is granted or for an
27 existing charter school whose expansion of grade level, pursuant to this
28 article, is approved by their charter entity, if] If the appeal results
29 in a determination in favor of the charter school, the city school
30 district shall pay the charter school an amount [attributable to the
31 grade level expansion or the formation of the new charter school] that
32 is equal to the lesser of:
33 (A) the actual rental cost of an alternative privately owned site
34 selected by the charter school or
35 (B) thirty percent of the product of the charter school's basic
36 tuition for the current school year and [(i) for a new charter school
37 that first commences instruction on or after July first, two thousand
38 fourteen,] the charter school's current year enrollment[; or (ii) for a
39 charter school which expands its grade level, pursuant to this article,
40 the positive difference of the charter school's enrollment in the
41 current school year minus the charter school's enrollment in the school
42 year prior to the first year of the expansion].
43 (5-a) For charter schools that were operating schools or grade levels
44 prior to the two thousand fifteen--two thousand sixteen school year and
45 are now eligible for funding pursuant to subparagraph five of this
46 subdivision, funding will be provided on the following schedule such
47 that these charter schools will be eligible to receive full funding
48 pursuant to subparagraph five of this paragraph in the two thousand
49 twenty-nine--two thousand thirty school year and thereafter. In the two
50 thousand twenty-five--two thousand twenty-six school year, the city
51 school district shall pay the charter school twenty percent of the
52 amount owed to the school under subparagraph five of this paragraph. In
53 the two thousand twenty-six--two thousand twenty-seven school year, the
54 city school district shall pay the charter school forty percent of the
55 amount owed to the school under subparagraph five of this paragraph. In
56 the two thousand twenty-seven--two thousand twenty-eight school year,
A. 85 3
1 the city school district shall pay the charter school sixty percent of
2 the amount owed to the school under subparagraph five of this paragraph.
3 In the two thousand twenty-eight--two thousand twenty-nine school year,
4 the city school district shall pay the charter school eighty percent of
5 the amount owed to the school under subparagraph five of this paragraph.
6 In the two thousand twenty-nine--two thousand thirty school year, the
7 city school district shall pay the charter school one hundred percent of
8 the amount owed to the school under subparagraph five of this paragraph.
9 (6) An arbitration in an appeal pursuant to this paragraph shall be
10 conducted by a single arbitrator selected in accordance with this
11 subparagraph from a list of arbitrators from the American arbitration
12 association's panel of labor arbitrators, with relevant biographical
13 information, submitted by such association to the commissioner pursuant
14 to paragraph a of subdivision three of section three thousand twenty-a
15 of this chapter. Upon request by the charter school, the commissioner
16 shall forthwith send a copy of such list and biographical information
17 simultaneously to the charter school and city school district. The
18 parties shall, by mutual agreement, select an arbitrator from the list
19 within fifteen days from receipt of the list, and if the parties fail to
20 agree on an arbitrator within such fifteen day period or fail within
21 such fifteen day period to notify the commissioner that an arbitrator
22 has been selected, the commissioner shall appoint an arbitrator from the
23 list to serve as the arbitrator. The arbitration shall be conducted in
24 accordance with the American arbitration association's rules for labor
25 arbitration, except that the arbitrator shall conduct a pre-hearing
26 conference within ten to fifteen days of agreeing to serve and the arbi-
27 tration shall be completed and a decision rendered within the time
28 frames prescribed for hearings pursuant to section three thousand twen-
29 ty-a of this chapter. The arbitrator's fee shall not exceed the rate
30 established by the commissioner for hearings conducted pursuant to
31 section three thousand twenty-a of this chapter, and the cost of such
32 fee, the arbitrator's necessary travel and other reasonable expenses,
33 and all other hearing expenses shall be borne equally by the parties to
34 the arbitration.
35 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
