Categories: News

“Suburbia” Comes Out Against Charter School Amendments

About three dozen opponents to New Jersey’s proposed charter school amendments showed up at the State Board of Education meeting yesterday.( Coverage from NJ Spotlight, The Record, and Star-Ledger.) Most seemed less than enthused about an expansion of virtual charter schools, although Ed. Comm. Cerf’s amendments cover much more ground.

According to NJ Spotlight, the nay-sayers “came mostly from suburbia, communities like Princeton, Westfield, South Brunswick and Cherry Hill, where the growth of charter schools under Christie have seen their stiffest resistance.” Notably absent, apparently, were representatives from towns that actually need charter schools.

Here’s a compromise: virtual charters no doubt have their place in the fabric of a school system, especially for home-schoolers and kids with specific disabilities that render them either physically or emotionally incapable of attending a typical brick-and-mortar building.

Now, one can make a reasonable argument that kids barred from access to higher-performing neighboring districts — those not from Princeton, Westfield, South Brunswick, or Cherry Hill — could benefit from a virtual school. But perhaps the Christie Administration should make a concession and focus on NJ’s critical need of expanding school choice in other ways in persistently failing school districts. Stand firm on more salient issues, like barring laws that put charter schools on public ballots, akin to putting civil rights up for a vote. But the virtual charter idea? Maybe right now that’s a back-burner issue.

Laura Waters

View Comments

  • How about a "virtual community" for kids from failing schools embedded in failed cities and towns?

    We certainly aren't going to see any material assistance to failing communities under this Administration.

Recent Posts

BREAKING: Statement from JerseyCAN on State’s Long-Delayed Release of Student Test Results

This is a statement by Paula White, Executive Director of JerseyCAN, on the New Jersey…

2 years ago

NJEA: Murphy’s Elimination of Teacher Performance Test Is a Major Win for Students and Educators

This is a press release. Earlier today, Gov. Phil Murphy signed a bill to eliminate…

2 years ago

Murphy Signs Bill Eliminating EdTPA Test for Teacher Certification

Today Gov. Phil Murphy signed Senate Bill 896, which prohibits the New Jersey Department of…

2 years ago

LILLEY: Blue States Had More School Closures and More Learning Loss — Just Like NJ under Gov. Murphy

The 74 conducted a study of the relative learning loss in Democratic (Blue) and Republican (Red) states and…

2 years ago

One of Newark Superintendent’s New High Schools Tolerates Racism Against Black Students

In October 2020 Newark Superintendent Roger Leon announced with great fanfare the opening of district’s…

2 years ago