Charter Schools Come Down to the Wire

With charter schools around the state days away from learning if they will be allowed to open, the question last night at a debate in Livingston touched this hot-button education issue: Can charter schools and traditional public schools coexist?

The of Livingston brought two of the prominent players to the table: Carlos Perez, president of the New Jersey Charter Schools Association, and Julia Sass Rubin, a founder of Save Our Schools. The room was packed to weigh in on the debate, which state Sen. Richard Codey has called “a watershed moment” in education.

The state Department of Education has before it for new charters, including Hua Mei (pronounced hwah may and meaning Chinese American) Charter School, a Mandarin-language immersion school serving South Orange/Maplewood, West Orange, Livingston, Union and Millburn school districts. The would be housed in the St. Joseph’s RC Church on Prospect Avenue in Maplewood.

The tensions have been building over the past six months, especially in the suburban that say these so-called boutique charters will drain money away from public schools already scrapping by. counter that charter schools are public schools and offer opportunities that the traditional schools are failing to address.

“I think that having charter schools are an essential component of the overall array of the public schools available to kids throughout the community,” Perez said during the Wednesday night debate.

would agree — to a point. Speaking at Temple B'nai Jeshurun in Short Hills, the governor said his support for charter schools isn't limited to urban areas. But over the city line, he said, “there should be a need for that school and a demand for that school.”

The remarks echoed his top education chief — — who last spring said “boutique” charters, such as those offering language immersion programs, might not be needed in suburban districts that are “humming along.”

If approved, the schools would open in September 2012 for Grades K-2 and expand over time.

“We think that the example of Charter Schools is one that we can show that when educators and those at the school level have the ability to make decisions on that particular school and those particular kids, education thrives,” said Wednesday night.

Judith Friedman, president of the League of Women Voters of Livingston, welcomed the full house to Livingston. The debate drew residents from all the nearby communities that are affected by the pending decision by the state Department of Education. There is also legislation slowly making its way in Trenton to reform the existing charter school laws. The in the state Assembly but is stalled in the Senate.

 “We think that the New Jersey Charter Law is broken and we think that charter schools and traditional schools can absolutely coexist but the charter law needs to be reformed,” Rubin said on Wednesday night. “It needs to reflect the wishes of the host communities, that’s probably the most dramatic of change.”

Rubin represents Save Our Schools, a grassroots group that has been fighting for the legislation that also guarantees "a standard high level of transparency and accountability which some charter schools currently abide by, but not all,” Rubin said.

Rubin also addressed the disproportionate number of minority and special education students in charter schools. “Charter schools having fewer limited English proficiency students, so fewer immigrants and fewer very poor students, then the traditional school systems from which they come,” Rubin said.

 “There’s a bunch of reasons for that — not that the charter schools are doing it on purpose — it’s mostly a function of that you have to apply and so if your parents don’t speak English or if they’re so poor that they’re just trying to put food on the table they probably don’t have the bandwidth to find out about it,” Rubin said.

“Charter schools are not the enemy per se,” said (D-27^th District), during a public forum in Livingston last spring. “They have a role, but we need to define that role and have a say in where they are located and make sure that where they are located they have the support of the community.”

If the charter schools are approved by the NJ Department of Education, the school districts would pick up 90 percent of the cost per student.

— South Orange Patch Editor Marcia Worth and Maplewood Editor Mary Mann contributed to this report.