$50M From Michael Bloomberg, Donors Sets Up NYC Charter Summer Schools

NEW YORK, NY — A former and current New York City mayor walk into a classroom — and leave with $50 million for charter schools.

Mayor Eric Adams and former Mayor Michael Bloomberg have teamed up to help kids bounce back from the pandemic with a new $50 million summer school program for charter schools, they announced Monday.

The "Summer Boost" fund, set up by Bloomberg's nonprofit and other donors, will help charter schools across the five boroughs create or expand summer school programs for students who have fallen furthest behind during the coronavirus crisis, according to officials.

"What we’re talking about today is the educational equivalent of 'long COVID,'" Bloomberg said. "The good news is we know how to treat it — with extra help and intensive instruction."

Studies have shown that the pandemic left students an average of five months behind in mathematics and four months behind in reading by the end of the 2020-21 school year, a gap that his historically disadvantaged students the hardest.

The charter school boost comes as city officials prepare for an expansion to its existing Summer Rising summer school program, which is already open to both public and charter school kids. Adams pledged last month to expand the regular program to 110,000 elementary and middle school students, up from last summer's 98,000.

The fund from Bloomberg Philanthropies will help make sure charter schools — which get less state funding — can pay for their charter programs, according to Bloomberg.

The $50 million will provide an average of five weeks additional instruction in math and English for 25,000 more kids, officials said. Applications open online on Monday.

"This is a grant for the most in-need third of kids in charter schools that were left behind," Bloomberg said. "[Some] charter schools wanted to do it and didn't have the funds to do it."

The charter fund, the expansion of Summer Rising and a $79-million investment in summer jobs for kids 14 to 24 years old will create the largest summer program in New York City history, according to Adams.