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No More Charter Schools


A Message from Andrew Pallotta, NYSUT President


Here we go again. The charter school industry is pushing to increase the number of charter schools in New York – without requiring any reforms or transparency. This is bad news for New York students.

Charters are not accountable to the public they serve. They hold no public votes on their school budgets or board members. Since they're allowed to choose which students to serve, charters do not serve a comparable number of ELLs and students with disabilities – all while draining funds away from traditional public schools.

Tell Albany that New York must stop giving special favors to unaccountable charter schools.

Charter schools receive approximately $2 billion in tuition payments each year. Without the accountability and transparency provisions the public is demanding, there is no way to ensure that public funds are being spent appropriately. We firmly believe that there should be a moratorium on the authorization of any new charter schools until the state enacts critically needed reforms to make charter management operators more transparent and accountable to taxpayers and the public.

The state must be able to audit the public funds sent to charters and education management organizations, and charters must be required to enroll and appropriately educate ELLs, students with disabilities and students in temporary housing.

Send a message: No more charter schools without transparency and accountability.

The end of the legislative session is just weeks away. We need to send a clear message that New York educators and taxpayers will be watching closely to see who aligns themselves with greedy corporate charter interests and who stands with public school children who deserve better from Albany.

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