National Heritage Academies, based in Michigan, was charging a whopping $2.5 million per year for classrooms leased to Brooklyn Excelsior Charter School, which it also manages, in a building it owns in Bedford-Stuyvesant.
By Ben Chapman
A for-profit management company cut the sky-high rent it was charging to a taxpayer-funded Brooklyn charter school after a Daily News investigation exposed the practice.
National Heritage Academies, based in Michigan, was charging a whopping $2.5 million per year for classrooms leased to Brooklyn Excelsior Charter School, which it also manages, in a building it owns in Bedford-Stuyvesant.
After a News investigation in May revealed the Park Ave.-style rents, the company cut the price by 10% — saving the taxpayers a whopping $257,168 each year.
Unfortunately, some parents at the controversial charter school, which doesn’t have a stand-alone cafeteria, say it still doesn’t have needed supplies and tutors for kids.
“They may have cut the rent, but we still have other problems,” said Faye Hodge, the parent of a fifth-grader and parents’ association president.
“We have no idea what our school funds are being spent on,” she added.
NHA, which manages four city charter schools, has taken heat for its dealings with Brooklyn Excelsior for years.
State Controller Thomas DiNapoli ripped the firm in a 2012 audit of Brooklyn Excelsior, where he recommended the rent be cut from $46 per square foot to $32. He also found NHA couldn’t account for $1.7 million in expenses.
Matt McGuire, an NHA spokesman, confirmed the management company chopped the rent. In addition to cutting the rent, NHA also increased the frequency of its financial reports to the Brooklyn Excelsior board and hired a new director of stakeholder engagement.
Records also show that NHA altered its agreement with Brooklyn Dreams Charter School after The News investigation found it charged high rent there as well. Minutes from a Brooklyn Dreams board meeting indicate the charter is altering its deal with NHA, but the company wouldn’t say how it’s changing the arrangement.
NHA sublets classroom space to the school at $46.99 per square foot — far more than $14.25 to $25.50 per square foot the city typically pays to lease similar spaces.
City Council Education Committee Chair Daniel Dromm (D-Queens) said NHA’s dealing with city charter schools showed the need for greater transparency in the charter school business.
“You can’t take public money without scrutiny,” said Dromm.
With Greg B. Smith
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