Success Academy Wins Round in Fight Over Preschool Oversight
Success Academy and other charter schools won a victory in a long-running dispute with New York City when a state appeals court ruled on Thursday that the city cannot regulate a charter school’s prekindergarten programs.
It was the charters’ first win in the dispute, which began in the fall of 2015 when Success Academy, which had just begun offering prekindergarten in three of its schools through the city’s universal prekindergarten program, refused to sign a contract required by the city. The city said that the contract was necessary to ensure consistent quality across prekindergarten programs, while Success said that the contract violated state law, which it argued gave a charter school’s authorizer the sole right to oversee the school’s operations. Success’s authorizer is the State University of New York.
When the city withheld payments for Success’ prekindergarten program, Success sought help from the State Education Department. But the state education commissioner, MaryEllen Elia, ruled in early 2016 that it was legal for the city to require charter schools to sign its contract in order to be paid. The State Supreme Court in Albany rejected a request by Success and a group of parents to overturn the commissioner’s decision. The parents and Success then appealed to the State Supreme Court’s Appellate Division. In the meantime, Success canceled its prekindergarten classes for the 2016-17 school year.
In a ruling issued on Thursday, a panel of judges unanimously rejected Ms. Elia’s decision, saying that she had misinterpreted state law. The ruling, written by Justice William E. McCarthy, said that “the Legislature did not intend for a school district’s right of inspection to empower a school district to regulate a charter school’s prekindergarten programming and operations.”
The ruling sent the case back to the commissioner, directing her to Success Academy Wins Round in Fight Over Preschool Oversight - The New York Times:
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