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NYC Charter School Center Testimony from the New York City Charter School Center on the Executive Budget Proposal Fiscal Year 2021-2022 NYS Legislature Joint Budget Hearing Of the Senate Committee on Finance And The Assembly Committee for Ways and Means The New York City Charter School Center (Charter Center) respectfully submits the following testimony regarding the FY 2021-2022 New York State Proposed Executive Budget (the “PEB”). The Charter Center, which provides technical support and advocacy on behalf of New York City (NYC) charter schools, thanks the Senate Finance Committee and the Assembly Ways and Means Committee for providing the opportunity to comment. The New York State Charter Schools Act was passed by the Legislature over 20 years ago and today there are 267 public charter schools operating in the five boroughs of New York City. These public schools employ an estimated 11,110 public school teachers and educate over 138,000 students, representing over 13% of public school students, of which 90% are Black/African American or Latinx. New York’s public charter schools are serving primarily low- income NYC families (over 79% are economically disadvantaged).1 Given the demographics of NYC charter schools, it is no surprise that they that charter schools serve some of the communities in NYC hardest hit by COVID-19. In addition to adapting content for remote learning and prioritizing student advancement, charter supported their families by immediately and continuously providing technology and ensuring wireless access. And understanding the unprecedented crisis that COVID-19 has wrought, many schools used their community partnerships and volunteerism from their staff to provide a range of supports, from distributing food in their community to providing families essential supplies and rental assistance.2 1 Figures based on NYSED Preliminary Enrollment Data for 2020-21 School Year available at http://www.p12.nysed.gov/irs/statistics/enroll-n-staff/home.html and Estimated Teachers Data for 2019-20 based upon NYSED Personnel Master File (PMF) available at http://www.p12.nysed.gov/irs/pmf/. 2 See Appendix A, Testimony from New York City Charter Schools at the New York City Council Committee on Education Hearing, “Oversight - Impact of COVID-19 on Student Learning and Academic Achievement,” January 20, 2021. 1 As COVID-19 shut schools down in March, charter schools used their autonomy and flexibility to quickly transition from in-person instruction to remote learning, offering live and asynchronous instruction, one-on-one supports, and adopting new approaches to maximize distance learning. A study released by Center for Research on Educational Outcomes (CREDO) (done in partnership with the New York State Education Department (NYSED), Charter Schools Institute at the State University of New York (SUNY) and the New York City Department of Education (NYC DOE)) looked at NYC Charter’s response to COVID-19 in Spring 2020 and found that charters were, on average, able to start remote learning within three days of schools closure.3 Eighty percent of charters distributed devices prior to building closure and 98% of charter teachers had the technology needed to start remote instruction. During the spring semester, 91% of charter teachers increased the amount of time they communicated with families and when students were not present in remote classes, about two-thirds took additional steps such as conducting home visits, providing wireless hotspots, or reaching out the individual student’s extended network to try and re-engage the student. Charter schools have continued to refine their approach to education during the pandemic, and schools have offered a mix of in-person and remote instruction to fit their communities and provide supports and trainings for their teachers.4 While COVID-19 has highlighted the disparities that currently exist in society, it has also further highlighted the disparities that already exist between district and charter schools. Charter teachers and students have been excluded from any of the priority COVID-19 testing set up for NYC DOE staff and students at the City hospitals. Charter students have also been excluded from the weekly COVID-19 randomized testing happening each week in schools, even in schools where charters are co-located with a district school. While it is not legal for the district to deny students in charter schools (or any school) health services they are providing to district students (under state laws passed by your and your colleagues), this has not alleviated charters’ financial responsibility of having to fund COVID-19 screening to keep their staff and families safe.5 Furthermore, because charter schools are not eligible for funding under the Smart Schools Bond Act, charters have had to purchase all technology and wireless support for 3 New York Charter Schools: Remote Instruction During COVID Crisis (Spring 2020) – Results for All Authorizers, 2020, available at: https://credo.stanford.edu/sites/g/files/sbiybj6481/f/ny_charter_schools_-_remote_instruction_- _2020_-_all_authorizers.pdf. 4 See Best Practices for School Continuity During COVID-19, October 2020, available at https://nyccharterschools.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Remote-Learning-Best-Practices.pdf. 5 The NYC Charter Center and several charters have filed suit against the City regarding access to COVID-19 screening for students, see https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/education/ny-charter-schools-lawsuit-school- covid-testing-20201222-hee2lyu3irhjlhl5sykj5vdd5m-story.html. 2 students and their families out of their budgets. It is within this framework that we offer the following comments on the PEB. The PEB proposes to treat funding for charter schools and district schools in an equitable fashion (though given differences in how each are funded and from which sources, the mechanisms to produce these outcomes differ). The PEB’s precise proposal is to reduce funding afforded by the formula that computes charter school per-pupil tuition for charter schools in proportion to NYC’s districts' combined reduction in expense-based aid and Local District Funding Adjustment that it would experience under the PEB (if the federal funding required is provided). However, and similar to its treatment of districts, the PEB would provide substantial additional federal funding (provided by Congress’s recent authorization of the COVID-19 Supplemental Stimulus Act) to charter schools to not only cover those reductions but provide added funding for 2021-22 compared to 2020-21. The PEB further provides that if additional state and local aid becomes available (in the form of additional federal aid package currently being debated in Congress), the cuts that the PEB proposes to make would be reduced or eliminated. With advocates and stakeholders only recently contemplating, and indeed, planning for substantial additional cuts in 2020-2021 and in 2021-22, the PEB proposal is welcome.6 Of course, as we note each year, there is nothing in the PEB that would erase the substantial disparities in funding that charter school students and district school students receive. The latter are categorically better funded—and will remain so under this proposal.7 None the less the PEB’s funding proposals for New York City based charter schools is fair and reasonable; it will allow charter schools to provide the essential educational and associated services that tens of thousands of families in New York City count on. The PEB’s charter school funding proposal deserves our support and the Charter Center is pleased to endorse it and the equitable and progressive course it lays out for charter schools. The Charter Center is also strongly supportive of the Governor’s proposal in the PEB to allow the re-issuance of issued and revoked charters. This would immediately make approximately 20 charters available to be granted to qualified groups, including many led by experienced and 6 If federal funding fails to emerge in sufficient amounts, charter schools, like their district counterparts, could not meet the challenges that they are faced with in 2021-22 without additional revenues that the state would have to provide from other sources and relying on other means. 7 The most recent analysis done by the Independent Budget Office of the City of New York (IBO), an arm of New York City’s government, found that NYC charter schools were underfunded between more than a thousand dollars to up to $4,863. See With State Formula for Charter School Funding Likely to Change, City Costs to Grow More Than Budgeted, March 2017, available at http://www.ibo.nyc.ny.us/iboreports/with-state-formula-for-charter-school- funding-likely-to-change-city-costs-to-grow-more-than-budgeted-march-2017.pdf 3 talented leaders of color. Since 2019, neither statewide authorizer has been able to provide authority for groups to open a new charter school, no matter the group’s qualifications to do so. Neither Marva Collins nor Maria Montessori could start a new charter school in New York City under present New York State law. That makes no sense at all. It’s long past time to change state law and allow for even the highly limited and metered growth the PEB proposal would provide. The PEB’s proposal comes on the heels of the challenges that the NYC charter school community has not only weathered during the COVID-19 pandemic but has risen to meet. Charter schools moved quickly and seamlessly to full-time, on-line education (and to provide associated supports) faster and more smoothly and effectively than their district counterparts. We acknowledge the difference in challenges that each sector faced due to size. But these successes also deserve notice and praise. More importantly, they provide additional evidence that the sector has become an integral part of the public school landscape in NYC and the reasons this has happened. A failure to provide additional authority to SUNY and NYSED to approve and oversee new charter schools will not, as opponents have it, result in an increased reliance by parents on existing district public schools.
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