STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
8522
IN SENATE
February 8, 2024
___________
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 rental assistance for
all New York city charter school 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, 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,
26 appropriate and comparable and in the community school district to be
27 served by the charter school and otherwise in reasonable proximity.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD14402-01-4
S. 8522 2
1 (2) No later than thirty days after approval by the board of education
2 or expiration of the offer period prescribed in subparagraph one of this
3 paragraph, the charter school shall either accept the city school
4 district's offer or appeal in accordance with subparagraph three of this
5 paragraph. If no appeal is taken, the city's offer or refusal to make an
6 offer shall be final and non-reviewable. The charter school may appeal
7 as early as issuance of an educational impact statement for the proposed
8 co-location.
9 (3) The charter school shall have the option of appealing the city
10 school district's offer or failure to offer a co-location site through
11 binding arbitration in accordance with subparagraph [seven] six of this
12 paragraph, an expedited appeal to the commissioner pursuant to section
13 three hundred ten of this chapter and the procedures prescribed in para-
14 graph (a-5) of this subdivision, or a special proceeding pursuant to
15 article seventy-eight of the civil practice law and rules. In any such
16 appeal, the standard of review shall be the standard prescribed in
17 section seventy-eight hundred three of the civil practice law and rules.
18 (4) If the appeal results in a determination in favor of the city
19 school district, the city's offer shall be final and the charter school
20 may either accept such offer and move into the space offered by the city
21 school district at the city school district's expense, or locate in
22 another site at the charter school's expense.
23 (5) [For a new charter school whose charter is granted or for an
24 existing charter school whose expansion of grade level, pursuant to this
25 article, is approved by their charter entity, if] If the appeal results
26 in a determination in favor of the charter school, the city school
27 district shall pay the charter school an amount [attributable to the
28 grade level expansion or the formation of the new charter school] that
29 is equal to the lesser of:
30 (A) the actual rental cost of an alternative privately owned site
31 selected by the charter school or
32 (B) thirty percent of the product of the charter school's basic
33 tuition for the current school year and [(i) for a new charter school
34 that first commences instruction on or after July first, two thousand
35 fourteen,] the charter school's current year enrollment[; or (ii) for a
36 charter school which expands its grade level, pursuant to this article,
37 the positive difference of the charter school's enrollment in the
38 current school year minus the charter school's enrollment in the school
39 year prior to the first year of the expansion].
40 (6) An arbitration in an appeal pursuant to this paragraph shall be
41 conducted by a single arbitrator selected in accordance with this
42 subparagraph from a list of arbitrators from the American arbitration
43 association's panel of labor arbitrators, with relevant biographical
44 information, submitted by such association to the commissioner pursuant
45 to paragraph a of subdivision three of section three thousand twenty-a
46 of this chapter. Upon request by the charter school, the commissioner
47 shall forthwith send a copy of such list and biographical information
48 simultaneously to the charter school and city school district. The
49 parties shall, by mutual agreement, select an arbitrator from the list
50 within fifteen days from receipt of the list, and if the parties fail to
51 agree on an arbitrator within such fifteen day period or fail within
52 such fifteen day period to notify the commissioner that an arbitrator
53 has been selected, the commissioner shall appoint an arbitrator from the
54 list to serve as the arbitrator. The arbitration shall be conducted in
55 accordance with the American arbitration association's rules for labor
56 arbitration, except that the arbitrator shall conduct a pre-hearing
S. 8522 3
1 conference within ten to fifteen days of agreeing to serve and the arbi-
2 tration shall be completed and a decision rendered within the time
3 frames prescribed for hearings pursuant to section three thousand twen-
4 ty-a of this chapter. The arbitrator's fee shall not exceed the rate
5 established by the commissioner for hearings conducted pursuant to
6 section three thousand twenty-a of this chapter, and the cost of such
7 fee, the arbitrator's necessary travel and other reasonable expenses,
8 and all other hearing expenses shall be borne equally by the parties to
9 the arbitration.
10 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.