Rpld §2853 sub 3 ¶(e) sub¶¶ 4 & 5, amd §§2853 & 2854, Ed L
Prohibits the city school district from reimbursing charter schools for leasing a privately owned or other publicly owned facility; prohibits charter school employee contracts from including a non-disclosure agreement.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A1588
SPONSOR: Simon TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the education law, in relation to reimbursing charter
schools for leasing certain facilities, and prohibiting charter school
employee contracts from including a non-disclosure agreement; and to
repeal certain provisions of such law relating thereto
PURPOSE:
The purpose of this bill is to prohibit the New York City school
district from reimbursing charter schools for their expenses on renting
or leasing space in a private facility.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section .1 amends subparagraph 1 of paragraph (e) of subdivision 3 of
Section 2853 of the Education Law stating that a city school district of
one million or more shall not reimburse a charter school that rents or
leases space in a private facility.
Section 2 repeals subparagraphs 4 and 5 of paragraph (e) of subdivision
3 of Section 2853 of the Education Law, and renumbers subparagraph 6 as
subparagraph 4.
Section 3 amends paragraph (d) of subdivision 3 of Section 2853 of the
Education Law to require that any capital improvement required to be
made for a non-charter public school in a city school district of one
million or more shall be paid for by the State.
Section 4 amends subdivision 3 of Section 2854 of the Education Law to
prohibit charter schools from including non-disclosure agreements as
part of a contract with any employee or as a condition of employment.
Section 5 amends subdivision 4 of Section 2853 of the Education Law that
requires the New York City Comptroller to conduct annual audits that
shall include, but not be limited to, any matching funds spent on char-
ter schools.
Section 6 is the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
New York City (NYC) is the only municipality in the state that has a
requirement to reimburse private spaces leased by charter schools. A
Class Size Matters (CSM) report' analyzing charter school rental subsi-
dies, facility upgrades and expenditures for co-located public schools;
found that the New York City Department of Education (DOE) appeared to
overspend on lease payments to 39 charter schools in an amount that
exceeded their base rents.
CSM reported a 41% increase in rental subsidies from FY2019 to FY2020.
In FY2020, the DOE paid '$11.6 million in rental subsidies for 8 charter
schools whose Charter Management Organization, affiliated organization,
LLC, or foundation owned their own spaces. In some cases, the base rents
of these charter schools also increased by as much as 400% in one year,
raising questions about whether the rents were fairly assessed, and
whether the increases reflected improper self-dealing. In one especially
egregious example, the rent for the two Success Academy charter schools
housed at Hudson Yards increased from approximately $793,000 to over
$3.4 million despite that the space is owned by the Success Academy
Charter Management Organization. This increase in rent allowed Success
to charge the DOE $3 million in rental subsidies in FY2020 for two
schools, a 38% increase from the previous year.
DOE continues to rent buildings to charter schools, rather than having
the schools rent their own spaces which would allow the city to receive
60% in state reimbursement. In FY2020, NYC was ineligible to receive an
estimated $8 million in state funds by holding leases for charter
schools. The cost to the DOE of rental payments for charter schools is
increasing fast and will likely to continue to do so, as enrollments
expand and rents increase, funds which could be used instead to upgrade
and expand the capacity of our public schools.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2023-24: A5763 Simon -referred to education
2021-2022: S.8459 - Referred to education
STATE AND LOCAL FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
To be Determined
EFFECTIVE DATE:
this act shall take effect immediately
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
1588
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 10, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. SIMON, FORREST, EPSTEIN, GONZALEZ-ROJAS, CUNNING-
HAM, WALKER, ALVAREZ, ZACCARO, DAVILA, REYES, SHIMSKY, SIMONE,
BURDICK, SAYEGH, ROSENTHAL, RAGA, STECK, MEEKS, ROZIC, STERN, LEVEN-
BERG, KELLES -- read once and referred to the Committee on Education
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to reimbursing charter
schools for leasing certain facilities, and prohibiting charter school
employee contracts from including a non-disclosure agreement; and to
repeal certain provisions of such law relating thereto
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subparagraph 1 of paragraph (e) of subdivision 3 of section
2 2853 of the education law, as added by section 5 of part BB of chapter
3 56 of the laws of 2014, is amended to read as follows:
4 (1) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, within
5 the later of (i) five months after a charter school's written request
6 for co-location and (ii) thirty days after the charter school's charter
7 is approved by its charter entity, the city school district shall
8 either: (A) offer at no cost to the charter school a co-location site in
9 a public school building approved by the board of education as provided
10 by law, or (B) offer the charter school space in a privately owned or
11 other publicly owned facility at the expense of [the city school
12 district and at no cost to] the charter school. The city school district
13 shall not reimburse a charter school which rents or leases space in a
14 private facility. The space must be reasonable, appropriate and compara-
15 ble and in the community school district to be served by the charter
16 school and otherwise in reasonable proximity.
17 § 2. Subparagraphs 4 and 5 of paragraph (e) of subdivision 3 of
18 section 2853 of the education law are REPEALED and subparagraph 6 of
19 such paragraph is renumbered subparagraph 4.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD04701-01-5
A. 1588 2
1 § 3. Paragraph (d) of subdivision 3 of section 2853 of the education
2 law, as added by chapter 101 of the laws of 2010, is amended to read as
3 follows:
4 (d) Notwithstanding any other provision to the contrary, in a city
5 school district in a city having a population of one million or more
6 inhabitants, the chancellor must first authorize in writing any proposed
7 capital improvements or facility upgrades in excess of five thousand
8 dollars, regardless of the source of funding, made to accommodate the
9 co-location of a charter school within a public school building. For any
10 such improvements or upgrades that have been approved by the chancellor,
11 capital improvements or facility upgrades shall be made in an amount
12 equal to the expenditure of the charter school for each non-charter
13 public school within the public school building. For any capital
14 improvements or facility upgrades in excess of five thousand dollars
15 that have been approved by the chancellor, regardless of the source of
16 funding, made in a charter school that is already co-located within a
17 public school building, matching capital improvements or facility
18 upgrades shall be made in an amount equal to the expenditure of the
19 charter school for each non-charter public school within the public
20 school building within three months of such improvements or upgrades.
21 Any capital improvement required to be made for a non-charter public
22 school pursuant to the provisions of this paragraph shall be paid for by
23 the state.
24 § 4. Subdivision 3 of section 2854 of the education law is amended by
25 adding a new paragraph (e) to read as follows:
26 (e) No charter school shall include a non-disclosure agreement as part
27 of a contract with any employee or as a condition of employment.
28 § 5. Subdivision 4 of section 2853 of the education law is amended by
29 adding a new paragraph (f) to read as follows:
30 (f) In a city school district in a city with a population of one
31 million or more, the comptroller of the city of New York shall conduct
32 annual audits, which shall include but not be limited to any matching
33 funds spent on charter schools.
34 § 6. This act shall take effect immediately.
