About the Charter Center
The New York City Charter School Center is committed to a future in which all of New York’s students have equitable access to a high-quality public education. We believe charter schools are a key component to achieving that goal. Accordingly, we help new charter schools get started, provide education and services to empower school teams, and build community and policymaker support so that highly effective schools can flourish. In turn, these schools – and their students – show us what is possible in public education.
Our Work
2023-24 Highlights
The Charter Center’s NEW Operations & Reporting Deadline Calendar documents 378 state, local, and authorizer deadlines and action items to ensure that charter school operations teams stay on track!
The Charter Center’s organic social media posts, highlighting charter school news stories, successes, and policy updates, received 132,447 impressions from users across all three platforms (Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn).
The Collaborative team added 26 PD sessions to the Charter Center’s online PD on Demand platform, for a total of 78 virtual courses designed to build capacity and skill sets of special education leaders and educators.
The Collaborative offered 141 in-person, virtual, and hybrid PD sessions (17% more than the previous year!) to empower school leaders and special populations leads and educators.
The Charter Center’s 2025-26 Common Online Charter School Application saw a 17% increase in campus participation from the previous year, with 365 schools receiving 35,151 applications from students in all five boroughs.
The Charter Center’s “#WeAreNYCCharterSchools” social media advertising campaign, featuring testimonials from educators, leaders, students, and families across the sector, garnered more than 89,000 link clicks to the NYC Charter School FINDER.
75% of the city’s 286 charter schools actively participated in the Policy & Advocacy department’s programming this past year, including meeting with elected officials, community engagement trainings, and policy briefings.
Our Policy & Advocacy team secured charter transfer high schools’ inclusion in NYC’s Learn to Work program, giving ~2,000 charter students access to critical college, career, workforce development, and social-emotional support services.
For over 20 years, the Charter Center has served as the leading expert, proponent and supporter of New York City’s charter school movement. Launched as the country’s first citywide charter support strategy, the Charter Center takes a holistic approach to “clearing the brush” so that charter school leaders and staff can remain focused on the core work of educating their students. Today, with 285 charter schools serving an estimated 150,500 students, NYC’s charter sector is one of the top performing in the country, consistently narrowing the proficiency gap with schools in more affluent suburbs.
25 years of NYC
charter schools
“You can’t get ‘one size fits all’ and think that every child is going to be successful. That’s why the charter school movement is so important here in New York City.”
Geofrey Canada, President, Harlem Children’s Zone & Promise Academy Charter Schools
