New York is home to hundreds of Charter schools. Often eclipsed by news about public and private institutions, Charter schools in New York are growing in popularity, although they are not exempt from their own challenges.
From 2025, 351 Charter schools were active in New York, with nine more approved but not yet open. More than 280 of these schools are located in the five districts of New York.
What is a Charter school?
A Charter school is similar to a public school in the sense that it receives public financing, but differs in that it has more curricular flexibility and generally receives less funds per student than the district schools. Each school is supervised by a Board of Trust, which may include educators and people from the private sector, under a contract called Charter.
Parents do not pay registration in Charter schools. Children are admitted through a lottery system. Independents of the New York Department of Education, the Charter schools give the educators more freedom to create their curriculum, although they remain responsible to those who authorized the school.
In other words, they can be closed if they do not meet performance standards. Mu-Choos Masters and parents prefer an education in a charter school due to the proportion of teachers per student.
“In a Charter school, there is usually a class limit of around 20 students, depending on schools,” said Debbie, a New York -based teacher who has worked in both Charter and public schools.
Debbie said that, along with the smallest class size, more individualized time with each teacher is. Another benefit of Charter schools is simply having more options, he said. “Parents are the first teachers of their children and should be able to choose where their son is educated,” said the teacher.
The sector is growing
Education in Charter schools is becoming increasingly popular. Many Charter schools have opened in recent years, not only in New York, but throughout the country.
In fact, according to the National Education Statistics Center, registration in Public Charter schools duplicated, from 1.8 million to 3.7 million students, a total increase of 1.9 million students, from 2010 to 2021.
Despite the trend, Charter schools are not exempt from challenges. The United Federation of Teachers (UFT) and other educators have said that Charter schools do not provide enough support for children with special needs.
“The UFT represents educators in the unionized Charter schools,” said Alison Gen-Dar, a union spokesman. “Our concerns generally focus on the largest charter chains that continue to register fewer children with special needs and expel students who do not fit in their success definitions.”
Based on its concerns, the UFT supports various legislation in Albany that aim to provide more clarity on Charter schools, such as the Law of Transparency and Responsibility of Charter schools. This bill, if it becomes law, would provide transparency and responsibility of the Charter schools regarding the registration objectives, disciplinary policies, management and operation of the Charter school, Charter reserve funds and other key issues.
The legislation would also require Charter schools to retain an equal or greater number of students with disabilities compared to the registration of the local district.
A public school teacher from New York, who requested anonymity, said that Charter schools began in the 1980s with “good intentions”, but now “take space” to public schools. They often receive state financing, can raise and press for their own money and, in essence, exceed nearby public schools, said the teacher.
“Several Charter schools are located together with public schools, so they take space from public schools to use that space for themselves,” he said. “Here is the difficulty in that: it would be great if all things were created the same, except that Charter schools could then raise more money, so they can get better gym and computers equipment than the public school, which is right at the end of the hall.”
He added that Charter schools face minimal financial transparency. «We don’t even know if they are paying rent for these joint locations. Because they are a private entity, there is no financial transparency ».
Meanwhile, the State can have a limited number of Charter schools. The limit in the number of Charter schools in New York is 460, which has been in force since 2010. Critics say there are often pressure to relieve the limit.
