76 charters left out of Cuomo’s budget

Tim Roske/AP Gov. Cuomo’s state budget does not guarantee free space or rent money for 67 charters. But a Cuomo spokesman said the state budget ‘does more for charters than any other in history’ and noted that all charters will get a $ 250-per-pupil increase this year in public funding.

Dozens of city charter schools have been left out of Gov. Cuomo’s new state budget, forcing them to pinch pennies while other charters celebrate increased public funding.

Cuomo’s spending plan, passed by lawmakers March 31, guarantees free space or rent money only for new or expanding charter schools — leaving 67 existing city charters in privately owned buildings out of luck.

The principals who run those schools, which serve thousands of kids, called the arrangement a bum deal.

“It’s not fair,” said Neighborhood Charter School of Harlem Principal Brett Gallini, whose 204-student school rents a space from a local church and doesn’t benefit from the lavish corporate support enjoyed by Eva Moskowitz’s Success Academy schools, which have free space in district schools. “We’re spending thousands on rent each month and the school down the block is not.”

He’s not exaggerating.

Giancarli, Alfred Freelance, NYDN Eva Moskowitz, CEO of the Success Charter Network, speaks to the press inside the Harlem Success Academy. Her charter schools have free space inside district schools.

The monthly rent at Gallini’s school is $ 25,000 — nearly 20% of its per-pupil funding.

“If we had that money we’d use it to expand our tutoring and our tech department,” Gallini said. “We’d love to expand our arts program.”

A March report by the New York City Charter School Center shows all charter schools in private buildings face the same daunting expenses, spending $ 2,350 per student on average for facility-related costs.

Charter School Center CEO James Merriman said he hoped the lack of funding for schools in private buildings was temporary.

Michael Schwartz /for New York Daily News Principal Brett Gallini, (c., rear) of the Neighborhood Charter School of Harlem, is seen here with students and colleagues. His school is among 67 charters that won’t receive free space or rent money in Cuomo’s state budget.

“The budget was by any estimation an historic victory for charter school fairness and a huge step in the right direction,” he said.

In the new budget — hailed by Cuomo and legislative leaders as a deal that would promote the growth of charter schools — existing charters that expand won’t have to pay rent for new accommodations.

And new charters will now have the luxury of being situated in city-owned facilities — or in private space where the city will be compelled to pay their rent.

But schools such as Academy of the City Charter School in Woodside, Queens, don’t get any freebies. Instead, the school must continue paying rent to the Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn, which this year comes to $ 560,000, said founder Steven Zimmerman.

A Cuomo spokesman said the state budget “does more for charters than any other in history” and noted that all charters will get a $ 250-per-pupil increase this year in public funding.

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