De Blasio strikes charter deal, making it easier for schools to expand, pay for space

Mayor Bill de Blasio has agreed to a series of changes that will benefit New York City charter schools, a group he’s publicly battled in the past.

It comes shortly after a big win for de Blasio: a two-year extension of his control of the city’s schools. City officials indicated the deal, outlined Thursday, came out of that bargaining process, which pitted the pro-charter State Senate against the more anti-charter Assembly.

The deal includes several items that have been on charter leaders’ wish lists for years — indicating that, for de Blasio, avoiding another mayoral-control fight next year was worth compromise.

One is a streamlined process for schools asking the city for space in public buildings, or help paying rent in private space. The city is promising to respond to requests for rent within five business days. (A 2014 law that requires the city to provide one or the other for new or expanding charter schools.)

The de Blasio administration said it will speed up rent reimbursements and reply to requests for upgrades in co-located space within 45 days, pledging to grant the requests unless “demonstrably unreasonable.”

That’s important for charter advocates who have long argued that the de Blasio administration makes it more difficult than necessary for schools to access space and funds they’re entitled to under the law. Until now, the de Blasio administration has defended its process, saying space in public buildings is more limited than charter advocates claim.

The city also indicated it would not fight back if state officials reissue charters for New York City charter schools that have closed (sometimes called “zombie charters”). Only 23 charters were still officially available for schools in the city. The change would make it clear that an additional 22 can open.

“The charter sector is an important partner in our mission to deliver an excellent education to every child in New York City,” said City Hall spokeswoman Freddi Goldstein. “Through the debate over mayoral control, we identified a few common-sense areas where we could better work together to ensure all 1.1 million school children have a chance to succeed.”

The city also said it will provide MetroCards for charter school students whose schools begin before busing starts, at a cost of about $3 million per year, and will work to avoid splitting single charter schools across two locations.

Under the 2014 law, new and expanding charter schools that do not get public space are entitled to the total rent of the private space or 20 percent of their per-pupil tuition rate, whichever is less. That increased to 30 percent this legislative session, and the city pledged to apply that increase immediately.

With the session over for the year, the provisions appear possible for de Blasio — who exerts no control over how new charters are issued by the state education department or SUNY — to implement on his own.

Officials provided few additional details about the changes, though during the legislative session Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie reportedly rejected a proposal to reissue “zombie” charters. Assembly spokeswoman Kerri Biche said Heastie was not an “active participant” in this series of charter school negotiations.

“He said from the beginning the Assembly majority would not trade anything regarding charter schools for mayoral control,” Biche said. “Mayor de Blasio and the city’s Department of Education have the right to make decisions of their choosing in regards to the administration of charter schools that do not require any legislative action.”

Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan hailed the deal as “an important step forward.”

The pro-charter group StudentsFirstNY also applauded the deal, calling it “good for all public school kids.”

“Parents will have access to more school options and charter operators will get significant relief,” executive director Jenny Sedlis said in a statement.

This story was originally posted on Chalkbeat, a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.