Chalkbeat’s Patrick Wall, an excellent reporter who covers Newark, has a piece today that delves into a set of segregation lawsuits currently inching their way through the New Jersey judicial system. Wall cites our charter school law’s regulations that require the State Department of Education (DOE) to annually assess the “segregative effect” that each charter school has on neighboring traditional schools by enrolling a portion of local students.
But the DOE doesn’t bother. Or it does but doesn’t release its findings. At any rate, no one’s ever seen it, despite Open Public Records requests and the discovery process during litigation. When asked, the DOE says, sure, there’s a requirement to do that assessment but we don’t actually have to write it down.
So Murphy Administration DOE! Of course: we do the work but we just won’t let you see it! Transparency is our middle name!
Ridiculous and worthy of copy. Yet I have a gripe with this otherwise finely-reported piece.
Of course the DOE is being absurd: If the regulations say assess whether charters make NJ’s crazily segregated schools more or less segregated, then assess! Don’t tell us the dog ate your homework!
On the other hand, let’s be careful to not read too much into incompetence: We have seen nothing from Murphy’s DOE that would suggest they can adeqately assess much of anything, whether it’s the need for clear COVID guidance or the value of a high school diploma.
Anyway, where was Education Law Center when the DOE did its “Charter School Act Review” that was supposed to assess New Jersey parents’ appetite for more public school choice? (In Newark, for example, 2/3 of parents consider charter schools an important part of the public school landscape.) When the DOE didn’t release their “Review,” Ed Law Center didn’t make a peep. All of a sudden they’re greedy for DOE data? Since when?
We writers work hard. I have tremendous respect for Patrick Wall. But let’s try to separate opinions from the news.
And, really, let’s show some respect for NJ parents, almost all Black and Hispanic, who desperately want options other than the traditional districts. All the rest is commentary.
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