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GOP brass: Cuomo backs charter schools evicted by de Blasio

Gov. Cuomo told business leaders that the state would step in to pay the rent of city charter schools denied free space under a crackdown by Mayor De Blasio, according to two sources. They said the governor pledged to support legislation that would give charters extra money to lease new facilities if they get the boot from city buildings.

Cuomo made the comments on Feb. 24 at a private meeting at the Harvard Club in Midtown attended by about 100 Wall Street titans and financiers, according to the event’s organizers.

Three days later, de Blasio yanked approvals that had been granted by the Bloomberg administration allowing three charter schools operated by Eva Moskowitz’s Success Academy to “co-locate” in public-school buildings.

“In the Q&A section, there were two questions on charter schools,” said David Malpass, a GOP businessman and former candidate for US Senate who helped organize the breakfast meeting.

“The governor said he’d support legislation to reimburse charter schools for facility costs if they were pushed out of shared-used facilities,” Malpass reported in a Feb. 26 memo to associates.

Malpass said Cuomo also “asked for help in supporting charter schools” in his remarks.

Asked about his memo on Monday, Malpass told The Post, “Cuomo was clear that he supported charter schools and specifically facility support.”

While confirming he talked up charter schools at the breakfast, Cuomo’s office disputed that he endorsed any proposal.

But a second source at the breakfast backed up Malpass’ account, saying Cuomo vowed to help charter schools “dislocated” by the mayor.

Charters currently receive operating funds from the state based on the number of students they serve. But they don’t get state money for facilities, which is why most of the city’s 183 charters share space with public schools.

The Post reported Monday that Senate Republican leader Dean Skelos also vowed to help address the charters’ space crunch as part of state budget talks.

About 4,500 charter parents, students and educators — many from Moskowitz’s 22 schools — plan to descend on Albany Tuesday to urge lawmakers to protect school choice.

Moskowitz fired off a letter Monday slamming de Blasio for suggesting that the pro-charter rally was a “march against pre-K.”

“That claim is utterly false, and there is no basis for it. We support pre-K, and we are going to march in favor of good educational opportunities for all children,” Moskowitz told Hizzoner.

Additional reporting by Beth DeFalco and Aaron Short