(UPDATED) Hoboken Says Its Charter Schools Won't Get PILOT Money

HOBOKEN, NJ — Hoboken's three charter schools are hoping to get a portion of funds that were earmarked years ago for city schools by a local developer, but officials have said that the money is set to go only to the regular district schools.

Elysian Charter School, one of the Hoboken's three charter schools, asked its community this past Wednesday to contact their council representative about the monetary giveback from the developer.

Elysian representatives wrote, "The mayor’s administration sent a letter to all City Council members late today advising them that a payment for all public schools (including ECS) is now planned to be paid to only the Hoboken district schools. This is in direct conflict to our review of the city resolution with the City Council that states the public charters are eligible. This action would have the effect of cutting out millions of dollars of funding to Hoboken’s charter schools over the next several years."

By law, developers in New Jersey can make an agreement with their town for an annual Payment In Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) rather than being subject to fluctuating property taxes. PILOT payments go straight to a city, rather than being divided among the city, county, and school budgets.

Some cities, when they make agreements, also earmark some of the money for the schools or county. But does that include charter schools?

On Thursday, Mayor Ravi Bhalla sent a Nixle alert to residents saying, "I would like to take this opportunity to provide an update on the Seventh and Jackson PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) agreement. There has been discussion among some parents and community members regarding this topic, although others may be unaware of recent developments.

"The developer [of 770 Jackson St.] agreed to provide $52 million worth of community givebacks, including the resiliency park at Seventh and Jackson, a children’s playground, a pedestrian plaza, underground flood infrastructure, 42 units of affordable housing, and a new basketball gymnasium."

He added, "The resolution authorized a payment of a portion of the PILOT received by the city to the Hoboken, each year to the Public School District (“District”) in an amount comparable to what the District would have otherwise collected. This is especially important [due to] costs associated with additional children enrolled from residents at 770 Jackson. As it pertains to the Hoboken Charter Schools, the PILOT payment has no effect on funding to which the charter schools are entitled. Charter schools are provided a payment each year from the Hoboken Public School District based strictly on a formula established by the state of New Jersey which is unaffected by any previous, current or future PILOT agreements."

He said if some of those children increase enrollment at a charter school, the state formula will help that school.

On Wednesday, Councilwoman Emily Jabbour further explained, "This matter is about how taxes and PILOTs work. By definition, PILOT payment cut out the allocation that would have otherwise gone to the Board of Education. As such, the council passed a resolution to make the Hoboken Board of Education whole by allocating the sum of money that they would have otherwise received via property taxes."

She said, "The building at 770 Jackson St. adds students to the Hoboken Public School District because the district is open enrollment and legally required to take all children in the community. Charter schools have enrollment caps and therefore will not have increased enrollment. As such, this payment should appropriately be directed to the Hoboken Board of Education."

A petition has been posted for people to keep the funds within the regular public schools.

In response to the mayor's message, a representative for one of the charter schools passed along a statement over the weekend that has been made by all three charters:

"Traditional PILOT programs hurt all public schools, district and public charters alike, as they cut out property taxes that fund school budgets. In 2016, the Hoboken City Council admirably addressed this issue in the 770 Jackson PILOT by earmarking money for our Hoboken public schools. Excluding funding for all public charter school students now — four years after the resolution passed — would be both unfair and inequitable. We remain committed to working collaboratively for fair funding for our 1,000 public charter school students, their families and our staff."

It was signed by Lauren Calmas, Hoboken Charter School Nicole Cammarota, HoLa Hoboken Dual Language Charter School Chris DeFilippis, Elysian Charter School.

Others were critical of other aspects of the city's message last week. Residents on Twitter said they didn't fully understand the issue. Second Ward Councilwoman Tiffianie Fisher commented on the issue in a series of Tweets, and questioned why the city's update needed to be sent out via Nixle, referring to those types of messages as "campaign Nixles."

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