S 5797: Relates to metered in funding for rental assistance for all New York city charter students.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 5797 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN SENATE March 3, 2025 ___________ Introduced by Sen. SEPULVEDA -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on New York City Education AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to metered in funding for rental assistance for all New York city charter students The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Paragraph (e) of subdivision 3 of section 2853 of the 2 education law, as added by section 5 of part BB of chapter 56 of the 3 laws of 2014, subparagraphs 5 and 6 as amended by section 11 of part A 4 of chapter 54 of the laws of 2016, and clause (B) of subparagraph 5 as 5 amended by section 5 of part YYY of chapter 59 of the laws of 2017, is 6 amended to read as follows: 7 (e) In a city school district in a city having a population of one 8 million or more inhabitants, charter schools that [first commence 9 instruction or that require additional space due to an expansion of 10 grade level, pursuant to this article, approved by their charter entity 11 for the two thousand fourteen--two thousand fifteen school year or ther- 12 eafter and] request co-location in a public school building shall be 13 provided access to facilities pursuant to this paragraph for such char- 14 ter schools that first commence instruction or that require additional 15 space due to an expansion of grade level, pursuant to this article, 16 approved by their charter entity for those grades newly provided. 17 (1) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, within 18 the later of (i) five months after a charter school's written request 19 for co-location and (ii) thirty days after the charter school's charter 20 is approved by its charter entity, the city school district shall 21 either: (A) offer at no cost to the charter school a co-location site in 22 a public school building approved by the board of education as provided 23 by law, or (B) offer the charter school space in a privately owned or 24 other publicly owned facility at the expense of the city school district 25 and at no cost to the charter school. The space must be reasonable, EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD00526-01-5 
 S. 5797 2 1 appropriate and comparable and in the community school district to be 2 served by the charter school and otherwise in reasonable proximity. 3 (2) No later than thirty days after approval by the board of education 4 or expiration of the offer period prescribed in subparagraph one of this 5 paragraph, the charter school shall either accept the city school 6 district's offer or appeal in accordance with subparagraph three of this 7 paragraph. If no appeal is taken, the city's offer or refusal to make an 8 offer shall be final and non-reviewable. The charter school may appeal 9 as early as issuance of an educational impact statement for the proposed 10 co-location. 11 (3) The charter school shall have the option of appealing the city 12 school district's offer or failure to offer a co-location site through 13 binding arbitration in accordance with subparagraph [seven] six of this 14 paragraph, an expedited appeal to the commissioner pursuant to section 15 three hundred ten of this chapter and the procedures prescribed in para- 16 graph (a-5) of this subdivision, or a special proceeding pursuant to 17 article seventy-eight of the civil practice law and rules. In any such 18 appeal, the standard of review shall be the standard prescribed in 19 section seventy-eight hundred three of the civil practice law and rules. 20 (4) If the appeal results in a determination in favor of the city 21 school district, the city's offer shall be final and the charter school 22 may either accept such offer and move into the space offered by the city 23 school district at the city school district's expense, or locate in 24 another site at the charter school's expense. 25 (5) [For a new charter school whose charter is granted or for an 26 existing charter school whose expansion of grade level, pursuant to this 27 article, is approved by their charter entity, if] If the appeal results 28 in a determination in favor of the charter school, the city school 29 district shall pay the charter school an amount [attributable to the 30 grade level expansion or the formation of the new charter school] that 31 is equal to the lesser of: 32 (A) the actual rental cost of an alternative privately owned site 33 selected by the charter school or 34 (B) thirty percent of the product of the charter school's basic 35 tuition for the current school year and [(i) for a new charter school 36 that first commences instruction on or after July first, two thousand 37 fourteen,] the charter school's current year enrollment[; or (ii) for a 38 charter school which expands its grade level, pursuant to this article, 39 the positive difference of the charter school's enrollment in the 40 current school year minus the charter school's enrollment in the school 41 year prior to the first year of the expansion]. 42 (5-a) For charter schools that were operating schools or grade levels 43 prior to the two thousand fifteen--two thousand sixteen school year and 44 are now eligible for funding pursuant to subparagraph five of this 45 subdivision, funding will be provided on the following schedule such 46 that these charter schools will be eligible to receive full funding 47 pursuant to subparagraph five of this paragraph in the two thousand 48 twenty-nine--two thousand thirty school year and thereafter. In the two 49 thousand twenty-five--two thousand twenty-six school year, the city 50 school district shall pay the charter school twenty percent of the 51 amount owed to the school under subparagraph five of this paragraph. In 52 the two thousand twenty-six--two thousand twenty-seven school year, the 53 city school district shall pay the charter school forty percent of the 54 amount owed to the school under subparagraph five of this paragraph. In 55 the two thousand twenty-seven--two thousand twenty-eight school year, 56 the city school district shall pay the charter school sixty percent of 
 S. 5797 3 1 the amount owed to the school under subparagraph five of this paragraph. 2 In the two thousand twenty-eight--two thousand twenty-nine school year, 3 the city school district shall pay the charter school eighty percent of 4 the amount owed to the school under subparagraph five of this paragraph. 5 In the two thousand twenty-nine--two thousand thirty school year, the 6 city school district shall pay the charter school one hundred percent of 7 the amount owed to the school under subparagraph five of this paragraph. 8 (6) An arbitration in an appeal pursuant to this paragraph shall be 9 conducted by a single arbitrator selected in accordance with this 10 subparagraph from a list of arbitrators from the American arbitration 11 association's panel of labor arbitrators, with relevant biographical 12 information, submitted by such association to the commissioner pursuant 13 to paragraph a of subdivision three of section three thousand twenty-a 14 of this chapter. Upon request by the charter school, the commissioner 15 shall forthwith send a copy of such list and biographical information 16 simultaneously to the charter school and city school district. The 17 parties shall, by mutual agreement, select an arbitrator from the list 18 within fifteen days from receipt of the list, and if the parties fail to 19 agree on an arbitrator within such fifteen day period or fail within 20 such fifteen day period to notify the commissioner that an arbitrator 21 has been selected, the commissioner shall appoint an arbitrator from the 22 list to serve as the arbitrator. The arbitration shall be conducted in 23 accordance with the American arbitration association's rules for labor 24 arbitration, except that the arbitrator shall conduct a pre-hearing 25 conference within ten to fifteen days of agreeing to serve and the arbi- 26 tration shall be completed and a decision rendered within the time 27 frames prescribed for hearings pursuant to section three thousand twen- 28 ty-a of this chapter. The arbitrator's fee shall not exceed the rate 29 established by the commissioner for hearings conducted pursuant to 30 section three thousand twenty-a of this chapter, and the cost of such 31 fee, the arbitrator's necessary travel and other reasonable expenses, 32 and all other hearing expenses shall be borne equally by the parties to 33 the arbitration. 34 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.