Appellate Court Decision: Charters Have a Right to Share Space with Public Schools

A Manhattan appeals court ruled on Tuesday that charter schools can share space in public schools without it having a negative impact on the learning environment of the other, reported the New York Post.

The decision was after a challenge to a lower court’s ruling​.

The organizations Class Size Matters and the NYC Parents Union sued the Department of Education and Harlem Success Academy Charter in 2011, claiming that the shared space, which is provided to charters for free, “results in an unequal allocation of funding between charter schools and public schools and inequitable treatment of public school students.”

But the four-judge appellate panel ruled at that time that “the soundness of a basic education is not measured by comparing the educational opportunities offered by other districts or other schools.”

The two groups appealed the decision and on Tuesday, the higher court backed the original decision that found “co-locations” do not deprive public school students of a basic, sound education and that charters have a right to share space.