Gov. Cuomo on Sunday urged the Legislature to back a new law that would raise the cap to allow more charter schools to open in New York City before the legislative session ends in June.
“We support raising this artificial cap, but the legislature needs to agree as well,” Cuomo senior adviser Rich Azzopardi told The Post.
Cuomo has championed charter schools — privately managed but publicly funded alternative schools — as an option for parents and kids in the past.
He appeared at a pro-charter rally outside the state Capitol building in 2014 after Mayor de Blasio sought to impose a moratorium on new charters opening in public school buildings.
Over the mayor’s objections, the governor pushed through a law requiring the city to place more charters in public school buildings, and if not, pay them millions of dollars to rent space in private facilities.
Currently, there are no more charter slots available under a cap imposed under state law. The student seat limit was reached last month.
There are 460 charter schools slots statewide, but there’s a sub-cap for New York City, which has the greatest demand for charters in the state.
There are currently 235 charter schools operating in the city serving 123,000 students with 52,700 others on waiting lists, according to the NYC Charter School Center.
New York has raised the statewide charter cap twice — in 2007 and in 2010.
In the past, Cuomo was able to team up with pro-charter Republicans and like-minded Dems in the state Senate to expand charters despite resistance in the Democratic-led Assembly where the teachers’ union holds more sway.
But the political balance in Albany shifted last year when six pro-charter Democrats were unseated by pro-union charter critics in primaries and then Democrats gained control of the Senate in last fall’s elections. The newer members ran with union backing and are cool, if not hostile to charter schools, preferring to focus on bolstering traditional public schools.
Some pro-charter Democrats in the Legislature said they are ready to make their case in what is expected to be a tough, uphill fight.
“Many community charter Schools have proven their ability to provide our children with a high-quality educational opportunity. I believe our state should always provide more of these opportunities and lifting the cap can accomplish that,” said Assemblyman Marcos Crespo (D-Bronx), also chairman of the Bronx Democratic Party.
“I hope my colleagues would focus solely on educational achievement and success and not political pressures when considering a charter cap lift,” added Crespo.
A rep for John Liu, chair of the subcommittee on New York City schools, told The Post last month, “There are no plans to change the cap on charter schools.”
Charter schools typically have a longer school day and year and are exempt from rules covering traditional public schools. Many students in charters outperform kids in neighboring traditional public schools.
Most charters are also non-union, which has created conflict and resistance from the United Federation of Teachers.
No surprise then that the UFT opposes raising or eliminating the charter cap.
“Our message on charters has not changed: Until they agree to basic levels of accountability for how they treat all students and how they use tax dollars, the existing cap should remain in place,” UFT President Mike Mulgrew said at a state budget hearing in February.