The Fight for Control Over New York’s Charter Schools Is Escalating

The dispute is the latest salvo in a long-running battle in Albany over who should approve and regulate charter schools: the legislature-elected Board of Regents, which is housed under the state education agency, or the governor-appointed State University of New York trustees.

State law allows both bodies to approve new charter schools, but it also gives SUNY the power to overrule objections by the Board of Regents — as it did with Strive.

SUNY approved the Bronx school even though state education officials warned it could violate state law and recommended abandoning the project. A New York Focus analysis of state charter school decisions found that since 2017, the Board of Regents has rejected 58 SUNY-approved charter actions. In at least 51 of those cases, SUNY resubmitted the application without making any modifications, permitting dozens of charter schools to open, expand, relocate, merge, or receive early renewal against the guidance of the state’s top education policymaking body.

To advocates for traditional public schools, including teachers unions, that discrepancy indicates that SUNY simply rubber-stamps charter school proposals, even those that the state education officials find lacking.

Charter school proponents say the system is working as intended. “It’s a feature, not a bug,” wrote Grannis, Strive’s executive director, in an op-ed for the New York Post about the lawsuit.

Teachers unions have traditionally opposed charter schools because they are not typically unionized and receive public funding while operating under different rules than traditional public school districts, with greater autonomy over staffing and governance. In New York, the teachers union has opposed efforts to lift the state’s charter cap, while pushing for bills to tighten oversight, increase transparency, require community engagement, and ultimately eliminate SUNY’s charter-authorizing power.

The conflict between SUNY and the Board of Regents is an extension of that debate. Under state law, proposals for charter schools may be submitted to either the Board of Regents or SUNY. The Board of Regents must review charter proposals submitted to SUNY, but SUNY has the final word on whether they are approved. Of the roughly 352 operating charter schools statewide, 220 were authorized by SUNY, while 92 were authorized by the Board of Regents. (The remaining were granted by NYC DOE or the Buffalo Board of Education.)

Under state law, New York City is at its charter school cap, with around 285 currently in operation. To create a new school without exceeding the cap, Success Academy asked SUNY to transfer the charter of one of its existing schools to a newly created entity led by Grannis, Moskowitz’s husband. In the application, Moskowitz wrote that the school would operate independently of Success Academy with a separate board and distinct mission.

Last October, SUNY approved the transfer and forwarded it to the Board of Regents for review. In January, the Board of Regents voted to send the request back to SUNY and urged trustees to withdraw the approval, warning that it could violate state law. They argued that the request amounted to the creation of a new school without going through the proper approval process, circumventing the state’s charter cap.

“It seems like they just ignore what we have to say,” said Shino Tanikawa, a member of the Board of Regents. “We have educators and school leaders on the board, we are the educational management entity for the state, we know what we’re doing and we know when something isn’t right.”

Joseph Belluck, chair of SUNY’s Charter Schools Committee, said the committee always reviews the board’s comment, “but most of the time, it’s completely lacking in merit.”

He and Grannis maintains that Strivethey does have not violate d the law because they are not increasing the number of charter schools in the city; they are simply taking over an existing charter school and operating in the same building.

“We are trying to make it easier for people who want a good quality charter school education to get it by being more flexible,” he told New York Focus.

The school will open this fall with grades K–4. Grannis said the school has received about 270 applications and plans eventually to serve 540 students. It will operate on a year-round, flexible schedule from 7 am to 7 pm seven days a week, with classes from 9 am to 4:30 pm on weekdays from September to June and the extended hours offered as an option for families who want them.

Grannis said the school is already fully staffed with lead teachers, who will work weekdays year-round, and teaching assistants, who are not required to have a bachelor’s degree and will work roughly 50 hours per week to cover the extended schedule. The program is free for students, supported by funds from the city Department of Education for the school day and private philanthropy for the extended hours.

In its lawsuit, filed last month, New York State United Teachers argues that SUNY’s approval of Strive Charter “disregards the plain purpose of the cap” and “wreaks havoc” on the city’s budget for traditional public schools. “We’ve tried to change the law, and now we’re going to the courts,” said NYSUT President Melinda Person.

Belluck, the SUNY Charter Schools Committee chair, said the lawsuit and the union’s push to take away SUNY’s authority over charter schools are an attempt to put “charter schools in New York out of business.”

“I don’t know if charter schools can save the educational system, but what I do know is that it’s grossly unfair to say to families and kids who have a shot at a free education that might be transformative for them and their families that they’re now not going to get that opportunity,” Belluck said.

Last month, a coalition of the state’s most powerful charter school founders and CEOs, including Moskowitz, sent a letter to State Education Commissioner Betty Rosa expressing concern about “the increasingly adversarial posture NYSED and the Board of Regents have taken” toward SUNY’s role as an independent charter school authorizer.

The letter boasted that SUNY-authorized schools consistently outperform both traditional public schools and charter schools authorized by the Board of Regents, and urged the state to recognize its “extraordinary record.”

In a June 29 response, NYSED counsel Daniel Morton-Bentley said the Regents only return applications for reconsideration when they raise concerns about potential legal issues. He also attached an appendix outlining concerns about the charter schools and networks that signed the letter, including high rates of student suspensions, persistent under-enrollment, a lack of certified teachers, and inadequate services for children with disabilities and English language learners.