UFT/NYSUT sue State University of New York for violating the state charter cap
The United Federation of Teachers and its state affiliate, New York State United Teachers, sued the New York State University (SUNY) for violating the state charter school cap by permitting Success Academy to transfer a charter from one of its Bronx Success Academies to a new entity, Strive Charter School.
"Success Academy has to follow the law. Clearly, they are trying to go around the charter cap, but that's not how this works," said Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers. "Charter schools drain resources from district public schools, and the cap was created to minimize harm."
NYSUT President Melissa Person said: "New York's students and public schools deserve better than this kind of maneuvering, and NYSUT will not stand by while bad actors try to rewrite the rules to suit themselves. This is yet another example of SUNY’s charter approval process being used to sidestep state law — something NYSUT has already challenged in state court and will continue to confront as long as we must.”
Success Academy petitioned the State University of New York (SUNY) to transfer the charter of its Success Academy Bronx 5 Lower School to a new entity, the Strive Charter School. Eric Grannis, the husband of Success Academy founder Eva Moskowitz, is the executive director of Strive Charter School.
The State University of New York approved the transfer over objections by the New York State Board of Regents.
"The SUNY Respondents, together with the applicant charter schools, have pursued a scheme to exceed the legislative cap," the lawsuit states. (pg. 3).
"There is no provision in the Charter Schools Act that allows a charter school to transfer its charter to another entity," (pg 20) the lawsuit continues.
The lawsuit seeks to void the transfer.
The lawsuit was filed Monday in New York State Supreme Court, Index #157537/2026
A copy of the lawsuit is available on the UFT website.