Updated 1:11 p.m. — Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the New York State legislature reached agreement on a new spending plan that includes $300 million in eligible pre-kindergarten funds for New York City, an effective annulment of Success Academy co-location reversals, and a process for new city charter schools to receive facilities support, according to budget documents for the education section that were posted online Saturday morning.
The deal will allow Mayor Bill de Blasio to move forward with ambitious plans to provide full-day pre-kindergarten to 70,000 four-year-olds, a signature campaign pledge and a centerpiece of his agenda four months into office. The funds won’t come through a local income tax increase on city residents, which de Blasio had preferred. But it will still provide almost all of the money that was included in his plan, which seeks to provide access to more than 50,000 students next year.
The budget will provide $1.5 billion for statewide funding over five years.
No deal was formally announced, but state officials were printing budget bills late into Friday night, a signal that stickier issues that had delayed an agreement had been ironed out. A spokesman for Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office did not respond to questions seeking additional details.
The education section of the budget was not completed until after midnight, technically meaning that it missed a three-day window before an end-of-month deadline required by law. A vote must be held on Monday and lawmakers are expected back in Albany on Sunday to look over the budget’s details.
Additional details, other than the ones provided in the budget bills, have not been made immediately available. We’re combing through the bill today, but here are some other education-related aspects:
Charter schools
— The budget deal will effectively reverse de Blasio’s cancellation of three Success Academy space-sharing plans. New language in the charter school law states that any charter school co-location plan changes, approved prior to 2014, would need consent from the charter school to move forward.
— In New York City, new charter schools or schools that are approved to add grades must be “provided access to facilities” if they request a co-location inside a city-owned school building. If that’s not possible, the city must pay for a school’s rent elsewhere or pay an extra 20 percent in per–pupil funding to pay for the private facilities costs. After the city spends $40 million, the state will begin chipping in a share of the funds.
— Charter schools can’t be charged rent if they are offered space within a district-owned school building.
— Charter school funding levels will stay flat—at their 2010-2011 levels until the end of the 2016-2017 year. News of the funding freeze is what sparked many charter school advocates to do a last-minute lobbying spree this week. The state will provide all charter schools will per-pupil funding increases amounting to $500 over the same period.
— When a charter school closes, public funds that are left over will need to be paid over to the district serving its former students.
— Financial audits of New York City charter schools are authorized to be handled by the city’s comptroller. Earlier this year, New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer declared that he planned to audit charter schools, a statement that at the time was built on shaky legal ground. But the law change further enshrines the comptroller’s auditing authority. The state comptroller will have the authority to financially audit charter schools outside of the city.
$2 Billion Smart Schools Bond Act
— November’s general election will include a referendum to allow the state to borrow $2 billion that districts can use to upgrade their classroom technology, add internet bandwidth, add pre-K seats and enhance school building security. In addition, New York City will be able to use some of its money to replace Transportable Classroom Units, or classroom trailers, which the State Assembly had been fighting for.
Common Core/Teacher evaluations
— Standardized tests will be banned in early grades, starting with pre-kindergarten. Districts administered the tests in recent years as a way to evaluate teachers, but they were criticized as being inappropriate for students as young as four and five years old.
— Students won’t be held from advancing to the next grade if they fail the state’s new Common Core tests. New York City was the lone district in the state that actually used test scores as a grade promotion factor, but new schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña had already signaled that she would move away from that policy.
Pre-K eligibility
— New York City pre-K programs, which will include charter schools, will be eligible for the state funds by applying to the State Education Department, which will administer a grant program based on several criteria, according to the law’s language: curriculum, learning environment, family engagement, staffing patterns, teacher education and experience, facility quality, physical well-being, and partnerships with non-profit institutions.
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