On Tuesday, a state judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by the New York City Teachers Union to block the opening of a new charter high school in the Bronx.
Earlier this year, the National Teachers Federation said he violated the state's charter limit of 460 students by signing a deal to open two K-8 Charter Networks joint high schools. filed a lawsuit alleging that
However, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Lyle Frank, who is also overseeing the controversial public school budget funding case It decided that the school had the right to expand from kindergarten through grade 12. So the project is not violating the cap.
"It is incontrovertible that each charter granted under the New York Charter Schools Act
authorizes the education of a student from kindergarten through his twelfth grade." Frank said in his four-page ruling on Tuesday.
Associated charter schools are Brilla College Prep andPublic Prepis for K-8 grades in Manhattan and the Bronx, respectively.
Two operators applied for an amendment to their charter license in 2019, proposing to have the Vertex Partnership Academies, a joint high school on one site, operated on their behalf by an independent entity. did.
This joint high school was approved by the Board of Trustees of the State University of New York. This board, along with the board, holds a charter school license.
The union claimed the new school violated state law, but a judge ruled that the project was all illegal.
In his ruling, he noted that officials at SUNY Charter School also approved a similar application for a consolidated high school serving students from various K-8 schools.
Brilla College College Prep and Public Prep each agree that they cannot both establish a joint high school and independently operate his K-12 program, and that I acknowledge that such "double dips" are prohibited.
“The student capacity available to these schools under existing charters remains unchanged … What existing laws prohibit charter schools from having outside organizations run their schools? We both agree that there is no," Frank said.
"Contrary to petitioner's [UFT's] allegations," he wrote.
Frank also stated that UFT has no position to challenge the revision of the Charter License. Only the city's education department, which was not involved in the lawsuit, is in a position to allege any damage to the city's public school system.
His SUNY official, who approved the new higher charter school, applauded the judge's ruling.
"We are very satisfied with the decision in this case. We have always believed that our actions were consistent with the law." Charter school committee.
A UFT spokesperson said, "The judge's decision indicates that the charter concerned will use the ruling to circumvent the Charter Act by obtaining more high school seats in addition to the parties involved." It does not permit circumvention of the Charter Act by creating a joint high school.”
A charter school is a publicly funded private school that typically offers more than traditional public schools. also lengthens the duration of classes by 1 day and 1 year. Although they are popular among parents, critics, including unions, argue that alternative schools, most of which are not unions, waste resources from regular public schools.
There are currently 140,000 students attending 275 charter schools. Currently, one of her seven students in the city attends a public charter school.
The state board of directors, which oversees state education departments and has strong ties to union-influenced legislatures, rejected Charter Network's bid to launch joint high schools. rejected.
Democrat-dominated state legislatures and Gov. Kathy Hochol rejected petitions to raise the cap to open more charter schools in New York City.