Statement from Eva Moskowitz on New York State Budget
**FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, APRIL 9, 2017**
Contact:
Nicole Sizemore
(718) 612-1429
[email protected]STATEMENT FROM EVA MOSKOWITZ ON NEW YORK STATE BUDGET
Eva Moskowitz, founder and CEO of Success Academy Charter Schools, the largest and highest-performing network of public charter schools in New York State, released the following statement today in response to the 2017-18 New York State Budget:
“This budget includes significant gains for public charter school children, but it also perpetuates fundamental inequities. Previously, state law increased charter funding at the same rate as district funding. Now, the Assembly has manipulated the funding formula to deprive charters of Mayor de Blasio’s 9.4% spending increase in 2015-16. Although Governor Cuomo and the State Senate fought hard to appropriate supplemental funding and diminish the damage, charter school children will still be shortchanged.”On background:
Under the original formula from the 1998 Charter Schools Act, public charter school funding was based on district school funding from two years earlier. Therefore, charter school funding for the 2017-18 school year was based on district school funding from 2015-16. That year saw a historic 9.4% increase in district school funding in New York City under Mayor de Blasio. The result would have been a total of $15,370 in per pupil funding for public charter schools. Mayor de Blasio claimed, however, that allowing children in charter schools to get as much funding as children in district schools would be a “windfall” and lobbied the Assembly to change the formula so that public charter schools would no longer be treated equally. The Assembly therefore deleted the formula and came up with a series of incredibly complex and contrived formulas to avoid giving charter schools the benefit of the 9.4% increase while decreasing public transparency into what they were doing. The law omits the the high and lows from a five year running average of increases in district school spending until 2020-21, at which point the formula changes because this high-low approach is no longer needed — de Blasio’s 9.4% increase would no longer be part of the running average anyway.
The Assembly’s new formula means a loss of $50 million for the charter sector next year, and a cumulative loss of $1.7 billion by 2025-26.
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We are pleased to invite you to the Success Academy Spring Benefit on Monday, April 7, 6:30 p.m. at Cipriani 42nd Street. This will be a very special evening, as we celebrate our Success Academy alumni – their work ethic, their achievements, and their aspirations. We hope you will join us to hear their stories!
Nearly 20 years ago, we launched a revolution in schooling. We promised students, families, and educators that there is a better way – that they didn’t have to settle for failing district schools. Today, Success is one of the nation’s highest-achieving school districts, educating 22,000 K-12 scholars across 57 schools in New York City. Ninety-five percent of our scholars are children of color and three-quarters live at or below the poverty line, but they consistently outperform their affluent suburban peers across the wide range of external exams from New York State tests to APs and SATs. All our scholars – 100% – have been admitted to 4-year colleges, most of them with the financial aid that makes higher education possible for their families.
After two decades, we have demonstrated that we can reverse, not just close, the achievement gap. Our alumni are proof that exceptional outcomes are possible for all children, and that great schooling can be achieved at scale. As they graduate from college, they are paving the way for those who follow, serving as campus leaders, earning advanced degrees, and launching careers in STEM, finance, and education, among many other fields. We could not be more proud of them and all that they stand for.
We remain steadfast in our belief that every kid deserves a great public school. And we are more ambitious than ever, expanding as quickly as we can to serve more kids and more families. You have been so generous in your support for our schools and our scholars. We hope to count on you once again on April 7 as we show what kids can do given the opportunity to work hard and dream big.
Warmly,
Eva Moskowitz, Founder & CEO Success Academy Charter Schools
Daniel S. Loeb, Trustee Success Academy Charter Schools