Princeton Charter School Files Application For Expansion

Princeton, NJ -- The Princeton Charter School has filed an application with the New Jersey Department of Education to introduce a weighted lottery system that would benefit economically disadvantaged children and to expand in grades K-2, Planet Princeton reports.

Under state law, the charter school was required to file its application to expand by Dec. 1, and did so on the deadline date, according to the report.

Princeton Charter School Board of Trustees President Paul Josephson told the blog the school can now enter into discussions with the Princeton Public School District. He also disputed Princeton Public School District Superintendent Steve Cochrane’s claim that the public school district will lose $1.4 million in funding as a result of the expansion.

“Our public schools must pay for educating our students, regardless of whether they attend Charter or any of the other public schools in our district,” Josephson told Planet Princeton.

Last week, Cochrane said that if students transferred to the charter school from the public school district, it wouldn’t be enough to reduce grade populations to the point where the district would need to employ fewer teachers and staff members, but it would be enough that the district would have to pay the charter school additional tuition, under state guidelines.

It also wouldn’t help with the public school district’s growing population problem, as Cochrane explained the biggest problem is at the high school level.

Josephson said the charter school won’t be taking students from the school district, but instead help accommodate the growing population of students. He also said “it is plain that the enrollment spike is affecting all grades at PPS, not just the high school,” and it will continue in the coming months.

The district has been dealing with population increases throughout its elementary schools and the middle school due to new residential developments on the former hospital site at Avalon Bay, and Princeton University’s Merwick-Stanworth on Bayard Lane.

District policy calls for no more than 25 students in elementary school classes, and 30 students in classes at schools above that.

One possible solution to the problem is a proposed bond referendum to fund capital improvement projects, which may include the construction of a new school, and the district is considering reopening the former Valley Road School.