Rally for Charter Reform Set for Tuesday

Save Our Schools New Jersey organizers will hold three rallies in the state, including one in Millburn, next week to demonstrate what they say is strong community support for proposed charter reforms, particularly the bill that would allow the public to vote on proposed charters.

Senate Majority Leader Barbara Buono and Assembly Education Committee Chair Patrick Diegnan have said they will be attending Tuesday's rally in Millburn, according to a spokeswoman for Save Our Schools.

The Millburn rally will begin at 7 p.m. at  downtown, while rallies will also be going on in South Brunswick and Highland Park, where Hebrew charter schools have stirred controversy.

"The locations were picked because there is tremendous passion in these communities for fixing New Jersey's broken charter school law," said Julia Sass Rubin of Save Our Schools, a grassroots organization that has been working with legislators to reform the rules governing charter schools. 

"Each of these communities is facing the possibility of new charter schools opening in the fall of 2012 that they will have to pay for, yet the decision as to whether these schools will open will not be made by the communities but by the Department of Education," she said.

Opposition to charter schools has been strong in Millburn, where members of the public turned out in large numbers to a board meeting to unanimously oppose the proposed Mandarin-immersion charter schools; have circulated petitions against charters; and have written state officials to oppose these so-called "boutique" charters in the suburbs.

In addition, both the  and sent letters to the state opposing the two Mandarin-language charter schools proposed for the area, which they fear could potentially draw students and money away from the district and cause unwanted segregation in the district.

 have applied for approval: in Livingston, which would offer Mandarin immersion to students in Livingston, Millburn and Short Hills and which would be based in Maplewood and serve students from the Livingston, Millburn, South Orange/Maplewood, West Orange and Union school districts. 

Save Our Schools New Jersey is a grassroots organization that emerged to urge legislators to give districts the final say on charters.

"The position of Save Our Schools New Jersey is the same whether the school district is high-performing or not: Voters in that district, whose taxes will be paying for any proposed charter school and whose community will be affected by the proposed charter school, should have the final say," Andrea Spalla, a SOSNJ member and a member of the Princeton Regional Board of Education, told Patch recently.

Residents in nearby districts also potentially affected by charter schools are invited and encouraged to attend the Millburn rally, Rubin said.

 If it rains, the rally will be held inside the  at the park.