Will it be Cuomo-to-the-Rescue on the plight of charter schools?
The governor said he'd support legislation to reimburse charter schools for facility costs if they were pushed out of shared-used facilities during a Feb. 24 private meeting with a group of financiers who support charter schools, reported The New York Post.
That was just three days before Mayor Bill de Blasio canceled classroom space in city buildings for three Success Academy charter schools.
Since most charter school operators cannot afford to construct their own facilities or pay rent, and since space is limited, former Mayor Mike Bloomberg had adopted a city policy of offering charters rent-free space in public school buildings.
In fact, many of the city's 183 charter schools, serving 70,000 students, are co-located in city-run buildings.
A supportive hand from Governor Cuomo is good news for the independently managed, publicly funded schools and could help breath a little more oxygen back into their cause.
But they would still have to get past Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and a Democrat-run state Assembly, both of which are closely aligned to de Blasio and the teachers' union.
