Charter school leader Success Academy again called for a major sector expansion Thursday, noting that they got more than 17,000 applicants for just 3,017 seats for next year.
“Every year, we’re heartbroken that we can’t serve more families — parents who want to send their child to a great school, but have so few options,” said Success Academy founder and CEO Eva Moskowitz. “And we’re stunned that City Hall continues to let the pleas of waitlisted parents fall on deaf ears.”
Success Academy said that this will mark the fourth consecutive year that they amassed a waiting listing topping 10,000 families.
“The extraordinary wait list underscores the urgency with which parents across NYC are attempting to flee hundreds of failing schools,” SA said in a statement.
Applications from students zoned to the city’s worst performing schools shot up by 30 percent, the network said.
Success officials noted that they will christen two new schools this year – down from the addition of five new campuses last year.
“The mayor has attempted to obstruct charter school growth by denying charter school students access to public space, even though there are currently 144,000 empty seats available in NYC public school buildings,” SA officials said.
Department of Education officials have rebuked those vacancy totals, arguing that space allocation is in constant flux.
A total of 5,600 Bronx families vied for a spot at the high performing network – a total of fifteen per available seat, SA said.
This year’s applicant pool also included 615 students zoned to one of the city’s controversial Renewal schools, struggling campuses being infused with funds with dubious results.
Success Academy now has a total of 41 schools across all boroughs except Staten Island and enrolls roughly 14,000 kids. 95 percent of them are minorities and 77 percent are considered low income.
De Blasio has sought to undercut often strong charter school test scores, arguing that they’re inordinately fixated on test prep. He has also stated that charters are able to cull their student bodies to retain promising students whereas public schools are tasked with educating all comers.
Charter backers have disputed those claims and point to swelling applications as proof of basic demand for their services.