State lawmakers and advocates are demanding Gov. Cuomo step in to save charter schools left homeless by Mayor de Blasio.
“Now is the time to look into the possibility of state capital funding for charter schools to get around co-locations,” said Brooklyn Assemblyman Karim Camara, a member of the Education Committee and head of the Assembly’s minority caucus.
While Cuomo has been mostly silent on the co-location controversy, sources said he’s sympathetic to the charter movement’s need to solve its classroom crunch.
He personally met with charter leaders when they lobbied in Albany last month, and the issue of capital aid for charter schools came up.
Cuomo also went out of his way to praise the contributions of charter schools — and former Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s championing of them — in a Friday radio interview, a day after de Blasio blasted his predecessor’s handling of co-locations while announcing he would freeze more charters.
But Cuomo’s failure to officially weigh in on the school-siting issue is being perceived by some as weakness.
“Mayor de Blasio has declared war on children, while Gov. Cuomo watches,” tweeted Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino, a potential Republican rival for governor.
“This cannot stand.”
Now, advocates are turning to Cuomo for help.
Bill Phillips, president of the Northeast Charter Schools Network, said, “It’s on the governor and state lawmakers to create more good schools.
“Charter schools are good schools.”
Councilwoman Inez Dickens, a critic of co-locations, suggested the state step in to help find space for charters — by buying vacated religious schools and turning them over to charters at a discount.
“Charter schools have the ability to raise money through their boards, she said. “They would be able to lease or purchase the building at a low interest rate.”
Cuomo’s executive budget plan would increase operating aid for charter schools and also allow charters to participate in his full-day pre-K initiative.
De Blasio also yanked $210 million in charter school funding in his capital budget proposal last month.