A state judge on Tuesday tossed out a lawsuit from the New York City teachers’ union that had sought to block the opening of a new charter high school in The Bronx.
The United Federation of Teachers filed suit earlier this year claiming that two K-8 charter networks were violating the state’s charter cap of 460 by striking an agreement to open a joint high school.
But Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Lyle Frank — who also is overseeing the contentious city school budget funding case — found that charter schools have the right to expand from kindergarten through 12th grade, and that therefore, the project doesn’t violate the cap.
“It is undisputed that each charter granted under the New York Charter Schools Act
permits the education of students from kindergarten through Grade 12,” Frank said in his four-page ruling dated Tuesday.
The charter schools involved are Brilla College Prep and Public Prep, which each serve grades K-8 in Manhattan and The Bronx.
The two operators applied for a revision to their charter licenses in 2019, to propose the joint high school, the Vertex Partnership Academies, at a single site, to be run by an independent entity on their behalf.
The joint high school was approved by the State University of New York’s Board of Trustees, which licenses charter schools along with the Board of Regents.
While the union argued that the new school was violating state law, the judge ruled the project was all above-board.
He noted in his ruling that SUNY charter school officials had also approved similar applications for a combined high school to serve students from different K-8 schools.
Brilla College College Prep and Public Prep each agreed that they cannot both create the joint high school and also independently run separate K-12 programs, acknowledging that such “double dipping” is prohibited.
“The capacity of students available to these schools under their existing charters remains unchanged… Both sides agree that there is nothing in existing law that would bar charter schools from having an outside entity operate their school,” Frank said.
“Contrary to the petitioners’ [UFT’s] contentions,” he wrote, “it is clear that at issue here is the revision of existing charter schools and not the creation of a new charter school.”
Frank also said the UFT lacked standing to challenge revisions to the charter licenses. Only the city Department of Education, which was not part of the suit, has standing to claim any perceived harm to the city public school system.
SUNY officials who approved the new high charter school applauded the judge’s ruling.
“We are very pleased with the decision in this case – we believed all along that our actions were consistent with the law,” said Joseph Belluck, a trustee who chairs SUNY’s charter school committee.
A UFT spokesperson responded, “The judge’s decision does not permit the charters involved to `double-dip,’ to get around the charter law by using this ruling to create more high school seats in addition to those involved in the joint high school.”
Charter schools are publicly funded, privately managed schools that typically have a longer school day and year than traditional public schools. They are popular among parents but critics including the unions claim the mostly non-union alternative schools drain resources from regular public schools.
There are now 140,000 students who attend 275 charter schools. One of every seven students in the city now attends a publicly funded charter school.
The state Board of Regents, which oversees the state Education Department and has deep ties to the union-influenced legislature, had rejected the charter networks’ bid to launch the joint high school. SUNY overruled them.
The Democratic-dominated state Legislature and Gov. Kathy Hochul have refused pleas to raise the cap to open more charter schools in New York City.