STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
9127
IN ASSEMBLY
February 8, 2024
___________
Introduced by M. of A. ZACCARO -- read once and referred to the Commit-
tee on Education
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to metered in funding for
rental assistance for all New York city charter students
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Paragraph (e) of subdivision 3 of section 2853 of the
2 education law, as added by section 5 of part BB of chapter 56 of the
3 laws of 2014, subparagraphs 5 and 6 as amended by section 11 of part A
4 of chapter 54 of the laws of 2016, and clause (B) of subparagraph 5 as
5 amended by section 5 of part YYY of chapter 59 of the laws of 2017, is
6 amended to read as follows:
7 (e) In a city school district in a city having a population of one
8 million or more inhabitants, charter schools that [first commence
9 instruction or that require additional space due to an expansion of
10 grade level, pursuant to this article, approved by their charter entity
11 for the two thousand fourteen--two thousand fifteen school year or ther-
12 eafter and] request co-location in a public school building shall be
13 provided access to facilities pursuant to this paragraph for such char-
14 ter schools that first commence instruction or that require additional
15 space due to an expansion of grade level, pursuant to this article,
16 approved by their charter entity for those grades newly provided.
17 (1) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, within
18 the later of (i) five months after a charter school's written request
19 for co-location and (ii) thirty days after the charter school's charter
20 is approved by its charter entity, the city school district shall
21 either: (A) offer at no cost to the charter school a co-location site in
22 a public school building approved by the board of education as provided
23 by law, or (B) offer the charter school space in a privately owned or
24 other publicly owned facility at the expense of the city school district
25 and at no cost to the charter school. The space must be reasonable,
26 appropriate and comparable and in the community school district to be
27 served by the charter school and otherwise in reasonable proximity.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD14444-01-4
A. 9127 2
1 (2) No later than thirty days after approval by the board of education
2 or expiration of the offer period prescribed in subparagraph one of this
3 paragraph, the charter school shall either accept the city school
4 district's offer or appeal in accordance with subparagraph three of this
5 paragraph. If no appeal is taken, the city's offer or refusal to make an
6 offer shall be final and non-reviewable. The charter school may appeal
7 as early as issuance of an educational impact statement for the proposed
8 co-location.
9 (3) The charter school shall have the option of appealing the city
10 school district's offer or failure to offer a co-location site through
11 binding arbitration in accordance with subparagraph seven of this para-
12 graph, an expedited appeal to the commissioner pursuant to section three
13 hundred ten of this chapter and the procedures prescribed in paragraph
14 (a-5) of this subdivision, or a special proceeding pursuant to article
15 seventy-eight of the civil practice law and rules. In any such appeal,
16 the standard of review shall be the standard prescribed in section
17 seventy-eight hundred three of the civil practice law and rules.
18 (4) If the appeal results in a determination in favor of the city
19 school district, the city's offer shall be final and the charter school
20 may either accept such offer and move into the space offered by the city
21 school district at the city school district's expense, or locate in
22 another site at the charter school's expense.
23 (5) [For a new charter school whose charter is granted or for an
24 existing charter school whose expansion of grade level, pursuant to this
25 article, is approved by their charter entity, if] If the appeal results
26 in a determination in favor of the charter school, the city school
27 district shall pay the charter school an amount [attributable to the
28 grade level expansion or the formation of the new charter school] that
29 is equal to the lesser of:
30 (A) the actual rental cost of an alternative privately owned site
31 selected by the charter school or
32 (B) thirty percent of the product of the charter school's basic
33 tuition for the current school year and [(i) for a new charter school
34 that first commences instruction on or after July first, two thousand
35 fourteen,] the charter school's current year enrollment[; or (ii) for a
36 charter school which expands its grade level, pursuant to this article,
37 the positive difference of the charter school's enrollment in the
38 current school year minus the charter school's enrollment in the school
39 year prior to the first year of the expansion].
40 (5-a) For charter schools that were operating schools or grade levels
41 prior to the two thousand fourteen--two thousand fifteen school year and
42 are now eligible for funding pursuant to subparagraph five of this
43 subdivision, funding will be provided on the following schedule such
44 that these charter schools will be eligible to receive full funding
45 pursuant to subparagraph five of this paragraph in the two thousand
46 twenty-eight--two thousand twenty-nine school year and thereafter. In
47 the two thousand twenty-four--two thousand twenty-five school year, the
48 city school district shall pay the charter school twenty percent of the
49 amount owed to the school under subparagraph five of this paragraph. In
50 the two thousand twenty-five--two thousand twenty-six school year, the
51 city school district shall pay the charter school forty percent of the
52 amount owed to the school under subparagraph five of this paragraph. In
53 the two thousand twenty-six--two thousand twenty-seven school year, the
54 city school district shall pay the charter school sixty percent of the
55 amount owed to the school under subparagraph five of this paragraph. In
56 the two thousand twenty-seven--two thousand twenty-eight school year,
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1 the city school district shall pay the charter school eighty percent of
2 the amount owed to the school under subparagraph five of this paragraph.
3 In the two thousand twenty-eight--two thousand twenty-nine school year,
4 the city school district shall pay the charter school one hundred
5 percent of the amount owed to the school under subparagraph five of this
6 paragraph.
7 (6) An arbitration in an appeal pursuant to this paragraph shall be
8 conducted by a single arbitrator selected in accordance with this
9 subparagraph from a list of arbitrators from the American arbitration
10 association's panel of labor arbitrators, with relevant biographical
11 information, submitted by such association to the commissioner pursuant
12 to paragraph a of subdivision three of section three thousand twenty-a
13 of this chapter. Upon request by the charter school, the commissioner
14 shall forthwith send a copy of such list and biographical information
15 simultaneously to the charter school and city school district. The
16 parties shall, by mutual agreement, select an arbitrator from the list
17 within fifteen days from receipt of the list, and if the parties fail to
18 agree on an arbitrator within such fifteen day period or fail within
19 such fifteen day period to notify the commissioner that an arbitrator
20 has been selected, the commissioner shall appoint an arbitrator from the
21 list to serve as the arbitrator. The arbitration shall be conducted in
22 accordance with the American arbitration association's rules for labor
23 arbitration, except that the arbitrator shall conduct a pre-hearing
24 conference within ten to fifteen days of agreeing to serve and the arbi-
25 tration shall be completed and a decision rendered within the time
26 frames prescribed for hearings pursuant to section three thousand twen-
27 ty-a of this chapter. The arbitrator's fee shall not exceed the rate
28 established by the commissioner for hearings conducted pursuant to
29 section three thousand twenty-a of this chapter, and the cost of such
30 fee, the arbitrator's necessary travel and other reasonable expenses,
31 and all other hearing expenses shall be borne equally by the parties to
32 the arbitration.
33 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
