Res 0060-2014

By Council Members Levin, Constantinides, Johnson, Mendez, Rosenthal and Reynoso Whereas, At the close of the 2012-2013 school year there were 159 charter schools operating in New York City; and Whereas, The number of charter schools increased by 15 percent to 183 schools in Fiscal Year (FY) 2014; and Whereas, Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg's FY14 Executive Budget increased funding for charter schools by $210 million, which was an increase of 200 percent from the Preliminary Budget; and Whereas, Spending on charter schools in the City now exceeds $1 billion in FY14; and Whereas, Concerning the disparity between the January Preliminary FY14 Budget and the May Executive Budget, according to a June 2013 Gotham Schools article, the City's Department of Education (DOE) officials asserted that they did not know the full extent of charter schools that were phasing in at that earlier time frame; and Whereas, Further, the DOE similarly underestimated charter school expenditure growth in FY13; and Whereas, At the time, the City's Independent Budget Office (IBO) managed to make a more accurate projection and, in its March 2013 analysis, estimated that charter school payments would be significantly higher in FY14, totaling over $1.0 billion; and Whereas, The Adopted Budget for Fiscal Year 2014 included funding for charter schools in the amount of $1.038 billion, an increase of more than 25 percent from the $828.4 million allocated in FY13, which is a substantial increase in a single year, at a time when fiscal constraints threaten other programs that New York City residents depend on; and Whereas, An increase of 200 percent from the City's FY14 Preliminary to Executive Budget exemplifies that the cost to taxpayers to finance charter schools is likely going to continue to increase; and Whereas, Currently, Mayor Bill deBlasio's Preliminary Budget includes an allocation of $1.19 billion for charter schools in FY 2015, an increase of $153.78 million or 13% from FY 14; and Whereas, However, this increase only factors in the growth of existing charter schools, primarily from grades phasing in, and does not account for new charter schools; and Whereas, Before continuing the current pace of opening charter schools, the DOE should be required to provide a detailed report of how the funding levels for charter schools will grow over the next five years; now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York calls upon the New York City Department of Education to institute a moratorium on the opening of all new charter schools in New York City until the Department of Education produces a detailed report of how the funding levels for charter schools will grow over the next five years. JA Res 2025/2013 LS 247/2014 2/19/14