2026 Achievement First Brooklyn Charter Schools Renewal Recommendation Report

Key Information

• 2026 Full Renewal Recommendation Report for Achievement First Brooklyn Charter Schools
• 2026 Renewal Resolution
• Report Date: March 31, 2026
• Visit Date: December 9, 2025
• SUNY Charter Schools Committee Vote & Approval: April 7, 2026
• Schools Up for Renewal:
  • Achievement First Legacy Charter School
  • Achievement First Voyager Charter School
• Recommendation: Full-Term Renewal with Conditions

Education Corporation Background

Achievement First Brooklyn Charter Schools (“AF Brooklyn Schools” or the “education corporation”), a not-for-profit charter school education corporation, is currently authorized to operate 12 charter schools. The education corporation contracts with the Connecticut not-for-profit charter management organization (“CMO”) Achievement First, Inc. (“Achievement First” or the “network”). The network provides the schools with academic, operations, facilities, and back office assistance. In addition to the two schools due for renewal, Achievement First Legacy Charter School (“AF Legacy”) and Achievement First Voyager Charter School (“AF Voyager”), AF Brooklyn Schools is currently authorized to operate the following open and operating schools:

• Achievement First Apollo Charter School;
• Achievement First Aspire Charter School;
• Achievement First Brownsville Charter School;
• Achievement First Bushwick Charter School;
• Achievement First Crown Heights Charter School;
• Achievement First East New York Charter School;
• Achievement First Endeavor Charter School;
• Achievement First Linden Charter School; and,
• Achievement First North Brooklyn Preparatory Charter School.

Achievement First Charter School 11 is the final charter school in the education corporation.

Executive Summary

AF Brooklyn Schools has served communities throughout Brooklyn since its first school opened in 2005. Upon its expansion into Queens in 2021-22, AF Legacy began serving students in the St. Albans community. In partnership with the network and a director of external affairs, AF Legacy’s leadership has worked to build connections with the St. Albans community and spread awareness about the school’s offerings. Network staff members have prioritized consistency and alignment between the schools in Brooklyn and in Queens.

After serving middle school grades for the majority of the charter term, AF Voyager began serving students in 9th – 12th grade in 2025-26. The school implements the same AF Brooklyn Schools high school program that has produced a strong track record of success for students. AF Voyager offers Advanced Placement (“AP”) coursework access to all students to prepare them for postsecondary success. Leaders continue to refine academic offerings at the high school level to ensure they are authentically responsive to student feedback.

Findings and Information

Is each school due for renewal an academic success?
AF Brooklyn Schools is an academic success. Over the charter term, AF Brooklyn Schools’ elementary and middle school programs implemented new curricula in response to teacher feedback and now provide teachers with more supplemental materials through the new programs. Some schools demonstrated increased performance in the programs’ first year of implementation. This decision demonstrates AF Brooklyn Schools’ ability to effectively make adjustments to its programming in a short time period while maintaining high expectations for student performance.

The high school programs continue to develop and refine their offerings to ensure they are responsive to student feedback and performance trends. The high school programs offer rigorous Advanced Placement (“AP”) coursework to prepare students for college and career success.

The schools due for renewal demonstrate success in the following ways:

• In 2024-25, both AF Legacy and AF Voyager posted English language arts (“ELA”) proficiency rates for tested students enrolled in at least their second year that exceeded those of their local district. Notably, AF Voyager exceeded the targets for all comparative and growth measures included under its ELA goal in each year of the
term.
• In mathematics, AF Voyager posted proficiency rates for tested students enrolled in at least their second year that exceeded the local district results from 2021-22 through 2023-24. In 2024-25, AF Legacy’s 3rd grade students enrolled in at least their second year outperformed their district peers and performed higher than
expected to a meaningful degree compared to similar schools statewide according to the Institute’s regression analysis.

Is each school due for renewal an effective, viable organization?
AF Brooklyn Schools, with support from the network, is an effective, viable organization. AF Brooklyn Schools’ board continues to increase its effectiveness in governance of the network and schools. The board is thoughtful in its oversight as the network experienced turnover in its senior leadership during the charter term. The board is aware of enrollment challenges and is closely analyzing more information from the network on demographic and enrollment trends in both Brooklyn and Queens. Over the charter term, the network built up its leadership pipeline through its principal fellows program and has over 25 candidates for principalship in the program. Given the success of its principal pipeline program, the network is working urgently to restructure its teacher in residence program to support hiring and retention efforts.

Is each school due for renewal fiscally sound?
AF Brooklyn Schools is fiscally sound based on the Institute’s review of the renewal documentation. The education corporation established strong methods of budget creation that enable all departments to develop accurate revenue and expense projections. The education corporation maintained strong enrollment throughout the current charter term to cover its expenses. The 2024-25 annual financial audit did not present any significant deficiencies or material weaknesses. AF Brooklyn Schools maintains a separate bank account with the established amounts for dissolution as required by the charter agreement.

AF Brooklyn Schools demonstrated a positive financial performance during the current charter term with net assets of $94.2 million and 4.8 months of cash on hand as of the 2024-25 financial audit. Although the education corporation posted a deficit in the 2024-25 school year of $5.1 million, AF Brooklyn Schools has a consistent track record of strong financial performance and had a total surplus of $49.3 million over the charter term. In recent years, the education corporation has prioritized spending on staffing, facilities, and teacher development.

If the SUNY Trustees renew each school, are the education corporation’s plans for each school reasonable, feasible, and achievable?
AF Brooklyn Schools’ plans for each school are reasonable, feasible, and achievable. AF Legacy will expand to serve middle school students in the St. Albans neighborhood, if approved. The future budget provided in the renewal documentation contains reasonable and feasible revenue and expense projections for the proposed charter term.

Board members express an interest in continuing to serve in their oversight capacity and hold Achievement First accountable for high quality services and student outcomes. AF Brooklyn Schools operates 19 total sites including 13 New York City Department of Education (“NYCDOE”) co-located facilities and six privately leased facilities. The education corporation does not foresee any changes to its current sites.

Recommendation: Full-Term Renewal with Conditions

Renewal through July 31, 2030. The SUNY Charter Schools Institute (the “Institute”) recommends the SUNY Trustees’ Charter Schools Committee approve the two Applications for Charter Renewal:
• Achievement First Legacy Charter School; and,
• Achievement First Voyager Charter School;
to align each related education corporation’s charter and renewal schedule going forward. If each school is renewed, AF Brooklyn Schools will be granted the authority to provide instruction to students in such configuration as set forth in each charter’s Application for Renewal and subject to a set of conditions listed below. The Institute makes this recommendation based on each charter meeting the criteria for renewal set forth in the Policies for the Renewal of Not-for- Profit Charter School Education Corporations and Charter Schools Authorized by the Board of Trustees of the State University of New York (“SUNY Renewal Policies”).

The Institute is recommending a full-term, four year renewal to align AF Legacy and AF Voyager to the AF Brooklyn Schools’ full education corporation renewal, which will occur next during the 2029-30 school year.

Conditions

By July 1, 2026, the education corporation must provide a Corrective Action Plan, to be approved by the Institute, to come into compliance with teacher certification requirements under the Act inclusive of methods to assist uncertified teachers in obtaining certification, an identified system of monitoring certification status, and
administrative or monetary supports offered to teachers. The education corporation must demonstrate significant improvement regarding compliance with teacher certification requirements in accordance with the Act by the conclusion of the education corporation’s next proposed renewal term. These conditions only apply to AF Voyager as AF Legacy is in compliance with teacher certification.

Revision Request

AF Legacy requests to expand the current elementary school to serve middle school grades and provide current students and families continuity through a consistent Kindergarten – 8th grade program. The board engaged in a rigorous greenlighting process and identified significant interest from existing students and families and prospective families. Given this documented interest and the fact that AF Legacy is the only school within the education corporation located in Queens, the board concluded there exists sufficient demand to meet the school’s intended enrollment.