In the Suburbs, Charter Schools Raise Concerns About Local Control

By Marilyn Joyce Lehren, NJ Spotlight

When a charter school opens in a gritty urban neighborhood, few parents and officials argue that kids in the district don't need an alternative to the local public schools. In a leafy New Jersey suburb -- which may be home to some of the best schools in the country -- charters can spark off a battle between skeptics and believers. The former often dismiss charters as "boutiques," and argue that they'll sap increasingly scarce dollars from local schools. The latter want their kids to have more choices and challenges -- like Mandarin language immersion -- and think their school taxes should pay for them.

Ultimately, the issue comes down to local control. Should school districts have the right to bar a charter from opening in their midst, as well as the right to refuse to pay for it?

Those questions were very much at issue on Friday night in Maplewood, an Essex County suburb, where about 100 parents, local officials, and state lawmakers showed up at a community center to protest a proposed world language school making its second try for charter approval.

“This is an example of the charter school movement gone off the rails,” said Marian Rabb, a Maplewood mother of two young children who helped organize the rally.

Children, meanwhile, decorated colorful anti-charter signs, and one kindergartener tugged at the knees of her mother making an impassioned speech for passage of the bill that would give communities a local vote on charter schools being allowed to open.

Sen. Richard Codey (D-27th) held high a homemade sign then went on to blast the administration’s plans to privatize education, end teacher tenure, and open more charter schools. “We have not seen an attack on a public school system like this ever in our lifetime . . . so ugly and determined,” he said.

The target of the rally is a school led by a licensed acupuncturist who wants to immerse elementary students in Mandarin Chinese. Its application, which was rejected less than four months ago by the Christie administration, has since been retooled to cover fewer towns, and no longer would encompass the governor's hometown of Livingston, as well as Milburn-Short Hills.

The parents from those sending districts (Union was also originally proposed) were the most vocal against the schools. But new parents have stepped up, collecting more than 1,600 signatures opposing the school, and inundating the charter office with letters and petitions.

The Maplewood protest is far from alone. Across the state, in towns including Highland Park, Princeton, Montclair, East Brunswick and Cherry Hill, similar battles are raging. The Maplewood Mandarin proposal is emblematic of many of the charters proposed for these suburban communities. They are called boutiques, centered on niche approaches like immersing students in Mandarin or Hebrew. They especially spark resentment from parents who say the specialty schools will drain dwindling public funds from well-functioning school districts.

The role of these experimental schools -- designed 16 years ago as “laboratories for innovation” -- and how they are approved and evaluated is expected to be among the top education reforms put before state lawmakers this session.

“I’m not opposed to charter schools per se,” said Assemblywoman Mila Jasey (D-27th District), a strong advocate for charter school reform. “However, that role needs to be defined and carefully laid out.”

Jasey proposed legislation signed into law by Gov. Chris Christie that would allow conversion of private and parochial schools into charter schools.

Another bill would allow for local votes on charters, and a third would require financial and educational transparency and accountability. The local vote measure has been roundly rejected by the Christie administration and some of the Democratic leadership, who fear it will effectively stop charter schools from opening anywhere. The transparency law is stalled in the Senate Budget Committee.

Read more at NJSpotlight.com