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Teachers, students and staff members at Astoria’s OWN Elementary School met with representatives of local elected officials last week to seek their support for fair rent and capital funding to expand their facilities. The charter school currently faces a 400 percent rent increase when its lease ends in 2015, according to Principal Brian Ferguson.

OWN, which stands for Our World Neighborhood Charter School, opened in 2002 at 36-12 35th Ave. and has since expanded to include a Middle School on 37th Street and a separate sports complex with an indoor gym space that the students use for physical education classes. The largest charter school in New York City, OWN serves 708 K-8 students and is seeking to expand their elementary school to accommodate both the younger grades and middle school students.

Since the school’s inception, the neighborhood has experienced a significant amount of growth and development, Ferguson said. With an Applebee’s restaurant down the block, a Starbucks on the corner, and new condominiums stretching across the horizon, he suspects the area’s newfound fame may have something to do with the Economic Development Corporation’s recent decision to drastically increase the amount of rent the school pays, which is currently $700,000 a year.

“We’re in the process of renewing our lease and we need assistance with this situation,” Ferguson said. “The numbers they’re bouncing around now don’t seem possible. It isn’t feasible to pay that rent and keep and grow programs. It’s very difficult, if not impossible.”

One major reason why Ferguson called a meeting with elected officials’ representatives was to make sure they are aware of the school’s programs and achievements. In addition to core academic subjects, OWN, which accepts students from across New York City but gives preference to those in District 30, offers Spanish for grades K-8, reading and math academy programs for students who are struggling in these subjects, and after school clubs such as piano lessons and chess club.

The culturally diverse student body has also outperformed their District 30 peers based on the overall NYS test results, Ferguson said, with over 80 percent of students passing the 2008 NYS English Language Arts test and 2007 NYS math and social studies exams.

The school’s rent increase would reflect market rate rents, according to Janel Patterson, a spokesperson for the EDC. This cost, however, is not set in stone and the city-run organization is trying to work something out with the school.

“We’re aware of their situation and are in talks with them,” Patterson said.

Ferguson said the school’s programs are operating as efficiently as they can right now to get the results they want. They haven’t reached the point where they’ve discussed cutting back on programs or increasing class sizes.

“This is not our fate yet,” he said. “Everyone we’ve spoken to, including senators and city workers, has been very supportive. I hope we can work this out.”