Brentwood community, officials oppose proposed charter schools at June 3 public hearing

More than a hundred people filled the Brentwood Union Free School District hearing room on June 3 for a public hearing on a proposal to open two charter elementary schools and one charter middle school in the district. Community members, district officials and elected leaders urged the district to oppose the application to the State University of New York, saying the proposal would drain funding and duplicate existing programs.

"We are home to over 18,000 students, including more than 6,500 English language learners," said Juan Ortiz, who identified himself at the hearing as a superintendent of schools for the Brentwood Union Free School District. "Let's make one thing very clear. We are not waiting to do the work." Ortiz and other district officials displayed program details they said the district already offers, from bilingual and dual-language instruction to career and technical pathways.

The hearing focused on the Academy Charter School application, a 711-page submission in the district's files. Candace Gomez, general counsel to the district, reminded speakers that the record will go to state reviewers: "Your voices and your comments this evening are very, very important," she said, explaining that a court reporter is transcribing remarks for submission to the New York State Education Department and to SUNY.

Assemblyman Phil Ramos (D), deputy speaker of the New York State Assembly, told the audience he opposes the charter proposal and urged residents and elected officials to record their opposition for SUNY. "Tonight, I rise with urgency and with clarity to oppose the proposal to bring this charter school into the Brentwood School District," Ramos said, and he urged support for legislation to return charter-approval authority to the Board of Regents.

Community organizations and educators also opposed the application. Daphne Erizari, founder and president of the Long Island Latino Teachers Association (LILTA), said the application would divert what she described as more than $98 million from local public schools over time and questioned staffing credentials listed in the redacted application. Robert Vecchio, executive director of the Nassau Suffolk School Boards Association, told the board that charter operators "divert public money into private corporations" and said the association will support legislation to change the SUNY approval route.

District staff presented data and comparisons they said show substantial differences between Brentwood's student population and enrollment at existing Academy Charter sites. Dr. Vincent Leone, the district's director of programs and policy, and Stacy O'Connor, assistant superintendent for finance and operations, cited higher shares of English language learners, students with interrupted formal education and students with disabilities in Brentwood than in the charter operator's other Suffolk sites, and they warned of fiscal impacts.

O'Connor provided the district's projection for the charter's early years: the application proposes opening in the 2027–28 school year with 300 students; using recent tuition trends the district estimated a tuition cost in the roughly mid‑$20,000s per pupil range and calculated a multi‑year impact that could reach tens of millions of dollars on the district's general fund and on federal grants such as IDEA and Title programs. The district also noted construction spending of about $99 million in recent years to expand facilities and said those fixed costs would not decline proportionally if students left for a charter school.

Speakers representing parents, alumni, teachers and students described programs they said Brentwood already provides and warned of selective enrollment practices at some charter sites. Felicia Thomas Williams, a member of the New York State Board of Regents, told the room she supports keeping charter approval authority with the Regents rather than SUNY and said public schools must be protected as a matter of equity.

Several parents and residents urged the board to address overcrowding and performance concerns within Brentwood as reasons for vigilance; a small number of speakers and parents said they had considered or supported charter enrollment because of crowding or individual student needs. One parent in the audience said approximately 175 people she knows were ready to place children in a charter if they had the option.

The board did not take a formal vote on the charter application at the hearing. The district recorded public comments for the official transcript and will forward the record to SUNY and the State Education Department as part of the application review. The meeting ended with a motion to adjourn called by Julia Berger; the transcript records the motion but does not note a formal recorded vote on adjournment.

The district announced a follow-up hearing scheduled for June 5. Speakers continued to urge residents to submit written comments and to contact elected officials; several called for local governments and town planning boards to oppose facility approvals if a charter operator seeks space in Brentwood.

What happened next: the district will compile comments from this hearing and submit them to SUNY and the State Education Department as part of the record they will review. No approval or denial by SUNY was recorded at this meeting.