Hoboken School Board Votes to Oppose Charter School Expansion

HOBOKEN, NJ —One of Hoboken’s three charter schools wants to add two more students to each of its classrooms, but the city’s Board of Education — fearing a loss of funding for programs in the other public schools — isn’t having it.

At a Hoboken Board of Education meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 10, the board voted 8-0-1 in favor of a resolution opposing Elysian Charter School’s request to the state to add 36 students in K through fifth grade.

The resolution approved 8-0-1 states, “Imposing increased charter school costs on the Hoboken Public School District, in addition to the aforementioned loss of state aid and on top of normal and expected annual cost increases, will result in further budget reductions and program cuts in the district schools to the detriment of the district academic programs.”

It also charges that the charter schools have an “increasing segregative” effect on students, saying that Elysian educates a “disproportionately low number of economically disadvantaged students.”

Elysian has denied that there is a segregative effect. They also say the increase will equate to $490,000, “a very small fraction of Hoboken’s public school budget.”

“Our funding has been flat for over a decade," said Elysian Board of Trustees President Jennifer O’Callaghan on Tuesday. "We are requesting this modest expansion in enrollment to be able to increase our budget.”

The students would be added gradually over the next four years, O’Callaghan said.

Hoboken has five regular public schools – a high school, middle school, and three K-5 elementary schools – as well as three charter schools that were founded in the last 22 years by parents and educators. New Jersey’s charter schools are also considered "public" and do not charge tuition, but have their own boards and are considered separate districts. Yet much of their state funding flows through the main Board of Education for distribution.

In order to shed more light on school funding, the Hoboken board recently posted a rundown of how the school system allocates money to the charter schools. The document notes, “It’s been 22 years since New Jersey’s first thirteen charter schools were approved by the state, yet district and charter school funding continues to be misunderstood. Here are the basics.”

The document explains that each year, each New Jersey school system receives funds based on property taxes, and also receives special funding from the state for certain programs based on the school population and its needs. However, the state will reduce aid to Hoboken over seven years, a process that started in 2018.

The state decides how much money Hoboken gives to the charter schools based on a calculated per-pupil cost that may not be realistic in practice, the document notes. If the charter schools expand, “…the district would need to cut, curtail or modify its own programs in order to meet its obligation to fund the charter schools.”

The Board of Education is limited by state law on how much it can increase its tax levy each year, with a 2 percent cap.

The board does not have the authority to prevent the charter school from expanding, but can send its position on the matter to the state.

All Hoboken school board members voted in favor of the resolution except for Board Vice President Tom Kluepfel, who abstained. Kluepfel was one of the original founders of the Elysian Charter School in 1996.

Elysian, which opened in September of 1997, was among the first 13 charter schools approved by the state. It currently educates 288 students in grades K-8.

The school's website notes that it was founded by a group "primarily of Hoboken parents with young children, [who] shared a sincere interest in public education and an overall commitment to the betterment of the quality of life for children and their families in Hoboken."

In the 1990s, it was common for families to move out of Hoboken to the suburbs when their children reached school-age, a situation summed up in a 1994 New York Times article called “Hoboken: Having it all, then leaving it.” However, in recent years, the Census has shown an increase in families in town with children over age 5, as well as more and more children enrolling in the district's free pre-K programs.

In response to last week's school board vote, O'Callaghan said on Tuesday, “We respect HBOE's decision to oppose our expansion request, but we are all public school students and we believe there is room for everyone to exist and flourish in our community.”

Addressing rumors in the community that the charter school might close, she added, “We have been in existence for 22 years and have no plans of closing, nor are we in danger of that happening. We are a high performing school with a healthy fund balance and a strong staff and community.”

After the school board's vote last week, Elysian’s Board of Trustees released a detailed statement to their school community, responding point by point to what they said were “misleading claims being circulated by the Hoboken Board of Education and the Superintendent of Schools.”

The statement explained, “The Hoboken Board of Education voted on Tuesday, December 10 to oppose the Elysian expansion request. This does not come as a surprise and their support is not required as part of the approval process.”

It added, “Our funding has been flat…and we still manage to do more with less. And as everyone is aware, costs continue to escalate. Therefore, the only way to increase our budget is through enrollment growth. We asked the state to increase by 36 students. That equates to a 12.5 percent increase. In the time Elysian has excited, the Hoboken population has grown from roughly 38,000 residents to 53,000, a 40 percent increase. Our waitlist gets longer every year.”

The letter urges parents to write a letter of support to the state, saying they anticipate a decision in February.

The letter includes a fact sheet opposing the claims of “segregation” and responding to the "FAQ document included in Superintendent Johnson’s Weekly Message dated November 27, 2019, and similar claims made in a presentation given during the Board of Education meeting on December 10.”

This is not the first time that the public schools have been at odds with a charter school over the prospect of expansion.

From 2014 through 2017, the Board of Education fought the HoLa Dual Language Charter School’s application to the state to add a seventh and eighth grade. Ultimately, the charter school won the battle — which cost taxpayers $200,000 — and was allowed to expand.

Last year, when the schools superintendent appeared at a HoLa function, Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla said he saw it as a sign that “we as a community have turned the page and we are coming together to work together. There are great things happening in the district schools, great things happening in the charter schools, and what really matters is that we start having a conversation.”