Three politically connected charter schools are expected to receive millions in city money for new buildings, an Education Department plan shows.
In the city's capital plan, two charter schools with ties to Mayor Bloomberg - Brooklyn's PAVE Academy and Harlem Promise Academy - are slated to receive a total of $72 million for new buildings, about a third of the city money available for charter construction.
Peninsula Preparatory Academy in Queens, which state Senate President Malcolm Smith helped found, will also receive funds, though an exact amount has not been settled on.
Critics say with limited resources for school construction, the city should build public schools where they're most needed - not where elected officials have pet schools.
"It pays to have friends," said Community Education Council 15 Co-President Jim Devor, criticizing the choice to spend public dollars on a new school for Red Hook, Brooklyn, which doesn't have an overcrowding problem.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/education/2010/02/15/2010-02-15_charterspolitical_tiesfunding.html#ixzz0fhuA38BU