Neil Brown, Chief Academic Officer for RISE, which is designing a charter school for homeless kids and children of incarcerated parents, has a measured editorial in the Star-Ledger that explains why Assembly Bill 3582 is a mistake. The bill would require voter approval in order for a proposed charter school to get a green light by the DOE. This bill, Brown argues, is “ thoroughly misguided and symptomatic of a disappointing trend in how we view charter schools and the role they play in addressing the horrible inequities in our state.”
The original intent of charter schools, Brown reminds us, is not to compete with traditional public schools but to have the freedom to experiment with non-traditional ways of educating kids. Certainly, oversight must be “more scrupulous and rigorous,” but requiring a public vote is “absolutely the wrong way to go.”
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