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Thousands of charter school advocates in New York rallied in the capital city of Albany last week to protest a decision by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio to rescind a handful of agreements that allowed charters and other schools to share space, rent-free, with other public schools in his city.

Although the recently inaugurated mayor decided to move forward with a majority of the co-location agreements under his jurisdiction, he denied space to two charter schools set to open next fall and withdrew an agreement with one existing middle school. All three are part of the Success Academy charter school network, a city-based network of 22 schools run by Eva S. Moskowitz, an outspoken critic of Mr. de Blasio.

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2014/03/12/24nyc.h33.html 

BOULDER, CO (February 20, 2014) – New York City's new mayor, Bill de Blasio, has suggested charging rent to charter schools that use buildings owned by the NYC public school district. This policy proposal prompted the Manhattan Institute, a think tank favoring expansive charter school policies, to issue a report criticizing de Blasio's plan.

The Manhattan report claims charging charter schools rent would cause many to run budget deficits that would force them to cut staffs and lower their quality. But a new review of that report finds no merit in its conclusions.

Professor Bruce Baker, a school finance expert at Rutgers University, reviewed Should Charter Schools Pay Rent? for the Think Twice think tank review project at the National Education Policy Center.

http://nepc.colorado.edu/newsletter/2014/02/review-should-charter%20schools-pay-rent