Rpld §2853 sub 3 ¶(e) sub¶¶ 4 & 5, amd §§2853 & 2854, Ed L
Prohibits the city school district from reimbursing charter schools for leasing a privately owned or other publicly owned facility; prohibits charter school employee contracts from including a non-disclosure agreement.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
1588
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 10, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. SIMON, FORREST, EPSTEIN, GONZALEZ-ROJAS, CUNNING-
HAM, WALKER, ALVAREZ, ZACCARO, DAVILA, REYES, SHIMSKY, SIMONE,
BURDICK, SAYEGH, ROSENTHAL, RAGA, STECK, MEEKS, ROZIC, STERN, LEVEN-
BERG, KELLES -- read once and referred to the Committee on Education
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to reimbursing charter
schools for leasing certain facilities, and prohibiting charter school
employee contracts from including a non-disclosure agreement; and to
repeal certain provisions of such law relating thereto
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subparagraph 1 of paragraph (e) of subdivision 3 of section
2 2853 of the education law, as added by section 5 of part BB of chapter
3 56 of the laws of 2014, is amended to read as follows:
4 (1) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, within
5 the later of (i) five months after a charter school's written request
6 for co-location and (ii) thirty days after the charter school's charter
7 is approved by its charter entity, the city school district shall
8 either: (A) offer at no cost to the charter school a co-location site in
9 a public school building approved by the board of education as provided
10 by law, or (B) offer the charter school space in a privately owned or
11 other publicly owned facility at the expense of [the city school
12 district and at no cost to] the charter school. The city school district
13 shall not reimburse a charter school which rents or leases space in a
14 private facility. The space must be reasonable, appropriate and compara-
15 ble and in the community school district to be served by the charter
16 school and otherwise in reasonable proximity.
17 § 2. Subparagraphs 4 and 5 of paragraph (e) of subdivision 3 of
18 section 2853 of the education law are REPEALED and subparagraph 6 of
19 such paragraph is renumbered subparagraph 4.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD04701-01-5
A. 1588 2
1 § 3. Paragraph (d) of subdivision 3 of section 2853 of the education
2 law, as added by chapter 101 of the laws of 2010, is amended to read as
3 follows:
4 (d) Notwithstanding any other provision to the contrary, in a city
5 school district in a city having a population of one million or more
6 inhabitants, the chancellor must first authorize in writing any proposed
7 capital improvements or facility upgrades in excess of five thousand
8 dollars, regardless of the source of funding, made to accommodate the
9 co-location of a charter school within a public school building. For any
10 such improvements or upgrades that have been approved by the chancellor,
11 capital improvements or facility upgrades shall be made in an amount
12 equal to the expenditure of the charter school for each non-charter
13 public school within the public school building. For any capital
14 improvements or facility upgrades in excess of five thousand dollars
15 that have been approved by the chancellor, regardless of the source of
16 funding, made in a charter school that is already co-located within a
17 public school building, matching capital improvements or facility
18 upgrades shall be made in an amount equal to the expenditure of the
19 charter school for each non-charter public school within the public
20 school building within three months of such improvements or upgrades.
21 Any capital improvement required to be made for a non-charter public
22 school pursuant to the provisions of this paragraph shall be paid for by
23 the state.
24 § 4. Subdivision 3 of section 2854 of the education law is amended by
25 adding a new paragraph (e) to read as follows:
26 (e) No charter school shall include a non-disclosure agreement as part
27 of a contract with any employee or as a condition of employment.
28 § 5. Subdivision 4 of section 2853 of the education law is amended by
29 adding a new paragraph (f) to read as follows:
30 (f) In a city school district in a city with a population of one
31 million or more, the comptroller of the city of New York shall conduct
32 annual audits, which shall include but not be limited to any matching
33 funds spent on charter schools.
34 § 6. This act shall take effect immediately.
