Senate Wants to Give $25M in Aid to Charter Schools
(Long Island, NY) The New York State Assembly voted to provide $13.7 million in targeted aid, known as bullet aid, to public schools, libraries and youth service organizations in every region of the state. While an objective formula is always the preferred method for distribution, the Assembly resolution did prioritize high need schools.
In contrast, the New York State Senate is planning to vote for almost twice as much money, $25 million, to fund charter schools, very few of which the Senators represent and most of which are in New York City.
“It is outrageous that the Senate Republicans are planning to vote to give $25 million in bullet aid to charter schools when they represent almost none of them,” said Billy Easton, Executive Director, Alliance for Quality Education. “You would think they would want to give every dollar they can to needy schools they represent, not to charter schools that are overwhelmingly in New York City. This is a case where campaign donations by hedge fund billionaires who are propping up the Senate Majority are outweighing the needs of local public schools. By contrast, every dollar in the Assembly resolution goes to local public schools and the neediest schools get the largest amounts.”
The Alliance for Quality Education believes the Senate needs to follow the Assembly’s lead and distribute this money to public schools in districts the Senators represent.
It is very troubling that these charter schools, which are privately run, do not have to adhere to the same fiscal rules of accountability and transparency as public schools and are not required to serve the same high need student population. AQE is calling on the Governor and the legislature to change the laws now in order to require charter school fiscal and educational accountability.
