Students from charter transfer schools, charter school leaders and city advocates urged the City Council to ensure the next Learning to Work (LTW) request for proposals includes charter transfer schools and more baseline funding.

Students’ testimony: Several students from transfer charter schools said exclusion from LTW deprives them of paid internships and career supports. Seventeen‑year‑old Josiah Irizarry, a student at Urban Dove Charter School, told the committee he was accepted into a transfer charter school after being turned away from a district transfer school and that "when I got to Urban Dove and asked about Learning to Work, I was told they didn't get the program because they are a charter school. How is that fair?" He and other students said they missed internship opportunities and the paid supports that allow interns to balance work and school.

DOE and LTW details

- Program size and contracts: Melanie Mack said LTW currently operates at about $43 million. She said $12 million is baseline funding; $31 million has been provided annually since federal stimulus funding expired but is "not yet baselined." Mack said those funds are distributed through full‑value contracts to 19 CBO partners serving 46 transfer schools in the superintendent's portfolio and additional YABC sites.

- RFP timeline and baselining: DOE told the committee the LTW RFP is on track to be released within a month (DOE testimony: "by November"). DOE said its finance office continues to advocate with the mayor’s office and OMB to baseline the $31 million. Mack said the RFP and contract design drew on two years of engagement with students, school staff and CBO partners.

Charter leaders’ arguments

Charter transfer representatives said the requested change is a modest increase relative to DOE’s total budget. "Including charter transfer schools in the Learn to Work program is a rounding error," said Jay Nanda (Urban Dove). New Ventures and New Dawn alumni and leaders described unpaid internship barriers and argued paid placements increase attendance, credits and graduation for students who otherwise must work to support families.

Next steps

DOE committed to release an RFP in the near term and to provide the full list of active CBO contractors to the council. Council members and advocates said they will press for baselining the $31 million and for the RFP to permit a broader footprint so charter transfer schools are not excluded from paid internships.