Right now, there are nearly 27,000 students across the five boroughs whose public schools are underfunded because of a decade-old law excluding them from rental assistance.
When Imagine Me Leadership Charter School was founded by Rev. David Brawley in 2010, it was with the singular goal of building a space for students to grow, learn and create in the East New York community that was in dire need of new, innovative educational options for families.
Today, we are a small but growing school at home in Brownsville, serving nearly 300 students in kindergarten through 8th grade.
But like many small, community-based charter schools across the five boroughs, roughly half of our students have been left behind due to a Cuomo-era facilities access law that excluded charter schools that had grown to capacity or established grades prior to the 2014-15 school year from receiving the same rental assistance funding every other school in the system receives.
Because Imagine Me already existed 10 years ago and found its own space rather than asking for room in a district building, current students are being punished.
As a result, half of our students are among the thousands of students across 74 other charter campuses forced to bear the costs of the very buildings they learn in. At our school alone, approximately 150 students across kindergarten through 4th grade don’t receive rental assistance funding — a glaring inequity costing $855,000 each year at $5,700 per student.
Our schools have been able to do more with less, and our students are growing both academically and socio-emotionally, but the child care and youth mental health crisis means they need more support. Why should our kids, who come from predominantly Black and Latino working-class families receive a dollar less than their peers?
Every extra dollar we spend on rent is one less dollar we can invest in teachers, after-school programs, tutoring services, or even mental health resources for our students.
Our after-school programming, which is so critical for working families, has already been reduced. Just last year, we had to cut back from providing services five days a week until 6 p.m. to Monday through Thursday until 5:30 p.m. Imagine Me’s students’ hardworking parents rely on these extended hours to pay the bills and take care of their families.
After-school programs are not only a lifeline for families, but they are also an essential tool to help address pandemic learning loss and support students academically. The loss of these programs means fewer opportunities for enrichment, fewer hours of tutoring, and a heavier burden on parents.
If we were able to access the rental assistance that other schools receive, our school would be able to reinvest those savings into serving critical needs, like offering more tutoring hours, hiring additional teachers, or providing families access to the wraparound services they need to thrive, whether that be food assistance, housing support, or mental health services.
Gov. Hochul and our leaders in Albany have the opportunity to fix this glaring inequity by ensuring that rental assistance is provided to all public schools. The cost to the state for funding rental assistance for these 27,000 students is just more than $19 million in this year’s budget — an amount that pales in comparison to the far-reaching impact it would have and the value it would bring to students and their families.
The need for rental assistance is about more than just the bottom line — it’s about equity and fairness. It’s about giving every child, regardless of their zip code or the type of school they attend, the same opportunities. The same funding.
As just one of the charter schools that 15% of NYC students attend, Imagine Me is part of the rich ecosystem of schools serving the students and families of the city. We should be treated as equal partners.
It’s time to right this wrong. The cost is minimal, but the immediate and long-term benefits would be immense. If we truly want to ensure that all students — particularly those from Black and Latino working-class families—have access to the educational opportunities they deserve, we must make sure that every school, regardless of its structure, is given the resources to thrive.
The solution is simple: provide rental assistance for all students and invest in their future. Hochul has the chance to right this wrong, and I urge her to make this a priority in her budget. It’s time to level the playing field and give every child, at every school, the chance to succeed.
Robinson is principal of Imagine Me Leadership Charter School.