Intergovernmental Affairs Committee Discusses Impact of Charter Schools in Westchester County - June 9, 2026
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Intergovernmental Affairs Committee Meeting: Impact of Charter Schools in Westchester County (June 9, 2026)
The Intergovernmental Affairs Committee, chaired by Legislator Emiljana Ulaj, convened on June 9, 2026, at 3:00 PM to discuss the financial and operational impacts of charter schools across Westchester County. The meeting featured superintendents from several school districts, a BOCES leader, and a legislative consultant. Participants expressed broad concern about the strain charter school expansion places on public school districts, particularly in southern Westchester, where districts collectively send more than $30 million annually in tuition payments to charter schools. Key issues included disparities in oversight between SUNY Charter Schools Institute and the NYS Board of Regents, lack of transparency in enrollment reporting, unbudgeted retroactive tuition bills, and rising transportation costs.
Discussion Items
- New Rochelle City School District (Dr. Corey Reynolds): Capital Prep charter school, approved by SUNY without a confirmed location, would cost the district $4.4 million for 250 students in the next budget. The district eliminated 193 positions (57 actual employees) and increased class sizes to budget for potential charter costs. Dr. Reynolds noted that despite community opposition, there is no metric for community approval in the SUNY process.
- Peekskill City School District (Dr. David Mauricio): A charter school from the Bronx targeted Peekskill for a potential 2026 opening, but after community meetings and letters of opposition from families, partners, and the board, the applicant decided not to apply. However, the threat remains. Dr. Mauricio highlighted that 100 students would cost $2.1 million annually and that charter schools often return students before graduation to inflate their graduation rates.
- North Salem Central School District (Lindsay Eidel): Received retroactive tuition bills for one student for three school years totaling approximately $25,000 per year, unbudgeted and without the student being registered in the district’s system. Charter schools are required to report enrollment but fail to do so, causing financial unpredictability.
- Irvington Union Free School District (Mara Rotessic): One student attending a charter school in Yonkers cost the district $25,000 in tuition and $8,000 in transportation (shared route), with potential $85,000 if a dedicated route were needed. This represents a full teacher’s salary.
- Legislation Proposals (Evan Sullivan, Ostroff Associates): Discussed a bill to close a loophole in the SUNY charter approval process (the 30-day resubmission rule) and additional proposed legislation requiring mandatory school district consultation, location disclosure, and alignment of transportation request deadlines (April 1st) with school budget cycles. These bills have not yet been introduced or advanced in Albany.
- Transparency and Accountability Concerns: Multiple speakers noted that SUNY-authorized charters have less rigorous oversight, faculty do not need the same certifications as public school teachers, and there is no published list of closed charter schools in New York State, making it difficult for districts to assess applicants.
Key Outcomes
- Legislators agreed to include the proposed bill numbers in the county's state legislative package for the next session. Chair Ulaj requested that the superintendents provide all relevant bill numbers to the committee.
- The committee committed to drafting letters of support for state legislation that improves oversight, requires community consultation, and aligns transportation timelines with budgeting.
- Participants agreed to gather updated data on regional charter school caps and information on closed charter schools in New York City to inform future discussions.
- Legislators encouraged public school parents to advocate directly with state representatives, emphasizing that charter school funding impacts property taxes and public school quality.
Meeting Transcript
This meeting is being recorded and seminar coming back. Good afternoon. My name is Emiliana Uai, and I'm honored to serve as the chair of intergovernmental affairs. Let's get started. We'll start with attendance. I am here, Vice Chair David. Legislator Pierce. I don't see Majority. Whip Chine Bullets. Here Chairman Badakashi of Jonesy. We are also joined by a Vice Chair Clemens. Legislator Jewel Williams Johnson, legislator Margaret Conzio. And remotely, we're joined by Majority Leader Judah Holstein, legislator Colin Smith, and legislator Nancy Barr as well. And good afternoon. We are here because superintendent of Putnam Northern Westchester Bowsies, Neil Boyle reached out to me, worried because all of you are also worried at all of our friends at the end of the table here about the impact of charter schools in Westchester. We have been getting alerts about new charter schools wanting to open up in Northern Westchester. We know why. We know because it's because they have hit their cap in New York City and are looking for more places to open up. And so uh Superintendent Boyle wanted to gather all of us together so we can discuss the impact of charter schools in Westchester and what we can do to hopefully stop any new charter schools from opening up. So we have with us at the table, uh Christine Ackerman from Chappa Cross Central School District, uh David Mauricio from Peaksville City School District, and forgive me, uh Lindsay Idol. Yeah. Okay, representing the North Salem Central. You're the uh assistant superintendent, right? Okay. And uh Corey Reynolds from uh Newarshaw. Good afternoon. Thank you. Have I missed anyone? Yes, Evan Umliban from Offstress and Associates. What is Evan's role? Uh Evan has had helped us draft potential legislation for your consideration earlier to you for review. So I thought it would be helpful for him to expand on it and answer any questions. I believe that legislation is state level legislation, is that right? And then we would just uh offer like letters of support and meet with our state legislators and tell them we want them to pass this. Okay, very good. So let's get started. Why are you worried? Tell us all the things. So if I if I may, thank you for inviting us. And we had sent a letter to um all of the legislators who support our area as well as the governor's office and our um our legislators who are who represent us in Albany. So I had shared and just for everyone's review in case you uh would like to see it again. Our our correspondence with Shelley Mayer, um, which articulates some of the major concerns that we're gonna talk about today. And um, this came from Putnam Northern Westchester Bose, which David and I are part of the leadership team, but it really represents I think concerns shared across the state of New York, um, particularly with the charter school process. And so I thought it would be okay if um when we had talked Emilia that I would consult the panel. And so I'd like to start uh with everyone just introducing um themselves and their role. So I'm Christina, I'm the superintendent of CHAPCO. I've been there for about nine years um as their superintendent. David Mauricio, uh superintendent of the Peaksfield City School District, and uh completing my eighth year. Good afternoon, I'm Corey Reynolds. I'm the superintendent of the City School District of New Orleans.
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