City officials sue de Blasio over approved charter schools

City officials, parents and advocacy groups have slapped Mayor Bill de Blasio with a lawsuit in an attempt to reverse his plan to place more than a dozen charter schools alongside public ones in city-owned buildings.

Public Advocate Letitia James, Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and eight other city council members filed a suit in Manhattan Supreme Court claiming the 36 school co-locations de Blasio green-lighted, including 14 charter schools, will harm existing schools.

The plaintiffs had held back the suit awaiting de Blasio’s final say after his review of the schools that were pushed through by the Bloomberg administration, the New York Post reported. De Blasio approved all but three charter schools, which are run by the head of Success Academy, Eva Moskowitz. She and parents of her academy’s students have also filed their own suit, the article said.

The schools are slated to open in the fall. In the meantime, de Blasio is planning to charge rent to some charter schools, as he announced in January. Roughly two thirds of the city’s charter schools are housed in public school buildings. [NYP] — Angela Hunt