Bill de Blasio’s plan to charge charter schools rent would wreak havoc on their finances — forcing them to slash academic programs to absorb millions in new costs or even shut down, new analyses by the charter operators have found.
As part of the number crunching, the publicly funded, privately managed alternative schools assume they could be charged rent of $1,200 per student. That’s half the $2,400 that the Independent Budget Office estimated that the currently free space in city school buildings is worth per charter-school student.
Public Prep, which operates three all-girls charters schools on the Lower East Side and in the South Bronx, said rent could add $1.5 million in new expense to its $14 million budget — an increase of more than 10 percent.
“If we’re charged rent, the impact would be on the families. Either we’re closing or we’re significantly reducing our academic programs — art, science and music, which we think is crucial to a well-rounded education,” said executive director Ian Rowe. “It’s not well thought out.”
Harlem Link Charter School Principal Steve Evangelista said he’s grappling to close a $130,000 deficit in his $5 million budget after taking on additional costs to prepare for the Common Core curriculum.
“We lost money last year. We had to dip into our reserves. If we have to pay rent, we’d be in trouble,” Evangelista said.
Other charters provided The Post internal reports of potential budget impacts of rental payments but wished to remain anonymous to avoid causing an exodus of parents and donors.
- Rent at a K-5 charter in Brooklyn would result in a $928,904 deficit.
- A Manhattan HS charter would see an $890,546 surplus turn into a $369,454 deficit.
- And one charter-school network with 1,500 to 2,000 students said it would see a whopping $5 million loss.