Gov. Kathy Hochul’s proposal to lift the regional cap on charter schools and put the licenses for defunct charters back into circulation resurfaced in the final weeks of state budget negotiations after former Mayor Bloomberg and other Wall Street billionaires put their money behind it.

On March 14, the day after the UFT’s Lobby Day in Albany, both houses of the Legislature released proposed budgets for the upcoming fiscal year that rejected Hochul’s recommendation, which would permit another 108 charter schools to open in New York City.

Through a front group called American Opportunity, Bloomberg and other magnates financed a $5 million ad campaign to push the governor’s budget proposals, including on charter schools. The group booked TV air time and sent torrents of mailers into state lawmakers’ districts.

The UFT responded with a targeted campaign to remind lawmakers how much the city’s public school communities would suffer if charter schools were allowed to proliferate and drain more resources from public schools. Thousands of UFT members sent emails to their state representatives to either thank them for standing firm against the charter lobby or, to those considering supporting the governor’s proposal, to ask them to reconsider their position and give public schools the support they need and deserve.

As the New York Teacher went to press on April 5, the governor and state lawmakers had yet to reach a final budget agreement. The state budget was due by April 1, the start of the state’s fiscal year, but lawmakers and the governor passed a budget extender on April 3 to keep the government running for another week and buy them more time to negotiate.