US News

CHARTER SCHOOLS GET BIG FAT ZERO IN SPENDING PLAN

Despite a state budget that includes $405 million more in school funding than last year, charter schools aren’t slated to get an extra dime in state aid come July, critics charge.

Advocates yesterday said a provision that freezes the next fiscal year’s charter funds at this year’s levels would slice as much as $30 million from city charters — akin to an 8.5 percent cut.

And that would translate to a loss of nearly $1,000 per student, according to charter officials.

“We’re going to be seriously harmed — no summer school, after-school programs gone, and I don’t think we’re going to get away with not having staff cuts,” said Stacey Gauthier, co-principal of the K-12 Renaissance Charter School in Jackson Heights, Queens.

She said her school would lose about $550,000 if nothing changes — even though, as a charter with unionized teachers, her pension costs are expected to go up about $300,000.

“We feel pretty betrayed by the politicians who claimed to support us,” said Gauthier, noting that Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith (D-Queens) — who himself has founded two charters — agreed to the freeze.

But a spokesman for Smith said that, considering the state’s economic woes, just maintaining the funding for education was an achievement.

“The senator remains a strong proponent of charter schools,” he insisted.

Other advocates ripped a proposal to delay by three years fully funding a Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit that would otherwise have added as much as $645 million for the city’s schools in next year’s budget.

yoav.gonen@nypost.com