Res. No. 2025
Resolution calling upon the New York City Department of Education to institute a moratorium on the opening of all new charter schools in New York City until the Department of Education produces a detailed report of how the funding levels for charter schools will grow over the next five years.
By Council Members Levin, Brewer, Chin, Dickens, Fidler, Gentile, James, Koppell and Wills
Whereas, At the close of the 2012-2013 school year there were 159 charter schools operating in New York City; and
Whereas, The number of charter schools will increase by 15 percent to 183 schools in Fiscal Year (FY) 2014; and
Whereas, In the City's Preliminary Budget, the Mayor proposed that expenditures for charter schools would grow by $70.9 million for FY14, to a total of $899.3 million; and
Whereas, The Mayor's Executive Budget, however, increased funding for charter schools by $210 million - an increase of 200 percent from the preliminary budget; and
Whereas, Spending on charter schools in the city will now exceed $1 billion in FY14; and
Whereas, Concerning the disparity between the January preliminary budget and the May Executive Budget, the City's Department of Education (DOE) officials have asserted that they did not know the full extent of charter schools that were phasing in at that earlier time frame; and
Whereas, Further, the DOE similarly underestimated charter school expenditure growth in FY13; and
Whereas, At the time, the City's Independent Budget Office (IBO) managed to make a more accurate projection; and
Whereas, In a March 2013 analysis, the IBO estimated that charter school payments would be significantly higher in FY14, totaling over $1.0 billion; and
Whereas, The June 2013 Adopted Budget for Fiscal Year 2014 includes funding for charter schools in the amount of $1.038 billion, an increase of more than 25 percent from the $828.4 million allocated in FY13; and
Whereas, A 25 percent increase in charter school funding in a single year, at a time when fiscal constraints threaten other programs that New York City residents depend on, is significant; and
Whereas, An increase of 200 percent from the City's Preliminary to Executive Budget shows that the cost to taxpayers in order to finance charter schools is only going to continue to increase; and
Whereas, Before continuing the current pace of opening charter schools with inaccurate projections of the total costs involved, the DOE should be required to provide a detailed report of how the funding levels for charter schools will grow over the next five years; now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York calls upon the New York City Department of Education to institute a moratorium on the opening of all new charter schools in New York City until the Department of Education produces a detailed report of how the funding levels for charter schools will grow over the next five years.
LS# 4878
JA
9/9/13