Hoboken Board of Education Continues Fight Against HoLa Charter School's Expansion

The Hoboken Board of Education is continuing its fight against a local charter school’s expansion.

Following a recent ruling from the NJ Department of Education which allowed HoLa to continue with its plans to include three additional grades, board members authorized district attorneys to continue the appeal process, pledging that the legal battle would be funded exclusively by private donations.

According to the board’s May 12 agenda, the district has received over $8,000 for the effort so far.

Donators include four of the six school board members who voted for the appeal, according to the Hudson Reporter.

The board has argued that the charter school’s expansion has shown trends of segregation, and that the percentage of minority students who attend HoLa is about half that of the district’s public schools. [See related Patch article]

The NJ Department of Education disagreed with the board’s stance in its April ruling.

CHARTER SCHOOL PAYMENTS ON THE RISE

In a May 5 budget presentation, the Hoboken Board of Education stated that charter schools payments in the district constitute a “large part of the overall operating budget.”

“The estimated increase in next year’s payments to charter schools is $524,956, increasing the total payment amount from $8,494,661 in 2014-2015, to $9,019,617 in 2015-2016,” the presentation states. “The main reason for this significant growth is a new kindergarten class entering HoLa Charter School as they expand school operations to include a new 7th grade.”

According to the presentation, HoLa payments for 2015-16 will total $3.26 million. Payments for Elysian Charter School will come to $3.08 million, and payments to the Hoboken Charter School will total $2.61 million.

Send Hoboken news tips and press releases to eric.kiefer@patch.com