STATEMENT FROM NEW YORK CITY CHARTER SCHOOL CENTER CEO JAMES MERRIMAN ON THE 2015 BUDGET
(New York, NY) – Please attribute the following statement to NYC Charter School Center CEO James Merriman:
“With the budget nearly completed, it is clear that this will have been a missed opportunity to reach funding parity across public schools in New York City. While there is no question that the small increase in scheduled charter funding is much needed, it has to be said that this very modest gain for charters doesn’t even come close to the increase in funding that their district school counterparts have received. In particular, charter school students in private space that have no or partial access to facility funding will remain thousands of dollars behind their district school neighbors for yet another year.
“As a result of intense political pressure wielded by the UFT, action to eliminate or lift the charter cap joins fair funding on the bench for now. Ironically, the communities that are hurt the most by this logic-defying inaction are those who need great public schools the most.
“By not including the cap lift as part of budget negotiations, charter issues have now become inextricably intertwined with renewal of mayoral control this year. While we are disheartened that once again charter school children have become political footballs, we are confident that the Mayor and the Chancellor will put NYC’s school children ahead of labor’s demands and quickly agree to the lift the cap on charter schools once and for all.
“Suffice to say that much work remains in this legislative session. We look forward to working closely with the Governor, the Legislature and the Mayor to ensure one thing and one thing only – that we are using every tool at our disposal to give all public school children the great schools that they deserve.”
