New York hit its legal limit on charter schools years ago. So when Success Academy founder Eva Moskowitz wanted a new one, the workaround, according to the city and state teachers unions, was to keep it in the family: hand a charter to a school run by her husband. The unions are now suing to block it.
The United Federation of Teachers and its state affiliate NYSUT filed suit against the State University of New York, which oversees Success Academy and approved the arrangement, according to Chalkbeat. The charter would go to Strive Charter School, whose executive director is Eric Grannis, Moskowitz’s husband. Grannis plans to use it to open Strive this fall in the South Bronx, with year-round programming and a longer school day.
State law caps how many charter schools can operate in New York, and that cap has already been reached, which is supposed to mean no new charters, period. The unions argue that transferring an existing Success Academy charter to a brand-new school run by a different organization is not a transfer at all, it is a new school wearing an old charter’s name.
If a charter operator who has maxed out the legal limit can transfer a charter to a school run by a spouse, the cap that the legislature wrote into law does not really exist. The case is pending, and Strive is still slated to open in the fall while it plays out.
