Charter v. Board of Education, Again

The New Jersey charter invasion has created such a ruckus because many towns have great schools and the parents of the students that are well served in those schools are willing to go to the mat to protect them.  


That said, there will always be a percentage of parents, no matter how good the schools are, that will avail themselves of choice for whatever reason.  And when the Governor and Education Commissioner are hot for charters and all too happy to steamroll districts that stand in their way, you end up with these two groups of parents pitted against each other, and the charters and the districts as well.  


Great, now what?  


What do the parents that don't want to "avail themselves of choice" do when they see their district losing funding to support the niche wants of a select few at the expense of the majority?  What do the districts that don't want to lose funds do?


A story in the New Jersey Jewish News yesterday really brings home the pickle districts are in.  Debra Rubin reported that Hatikvah International Academy Charter School has filed an OPRA request to make it's host district, East Brunswick, disclose financial documents related to it's opposition to Hatikvah.  East Brunswick filed a suit against Hatikvah that claimed they did not have the enrollment required to open their doors.  The district lost the last round in the appellate court, but recently decided to bring the case to the New Jersey Supreme Court.  


This is reminiscent of the lawsuit Princeton International Academy Charter School lost when they unsuccessfully sued the South Brunswick, Princeton and West Windsor-Plainsboro boards of education, claiming they misused public funds to prevent the opening of the charter.  Davy James of the Patch reported that:

In her decision, Judge Beavers found that the three districts have "discretionary authority to perform all acts and do all things, consistent with the law and the rules of the state board, necessary for the lawful and proper conduct, equipment and maintenance of the public schools of the district."

"The discretionary authority includes activities at issue here, which were taken to protect the financial interest of the resident districts," Judge Beavers wrote in her decision.

Hatikvah asked the district to turn over all financial documents surrounding legal action from March 1, 2009.

“We believe that our fellow citizens should be aware of exactly how much this baseless case, which the town is actually subsidizing both sides of, is costing them,” Hatikvah board member Pam Mullin said in a statement given to NJJN. “East Brunswick’s taxpayers have a right to know how their public funds are being used, or in this case, misused.”

Mullin claims that the board has “wasted tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars” in challenging Hatikvah, the state’s first Hebrew-language charter school, on enrollment issues.

In a series of legal salvoes, the board claimed the kindergarten-third grade school did not meet the state-mandated requirements for enrollment when it opened last year.

Here is the part of the article that makes me the saddest, although I have to admit this sadness quickly turns to anger:

“Hatikvah is now in its second successful year in operation and has a waiting list of parents who desire to enroll their children in Hatikvah,” he continued. “Rather than collaborate with Hatikvah officials to advance the best educational interests of East Brunswick children, your client persists in its campaign, however meritless, to close Hatikvah.”

East Brunswick Superintendent Dr. Jo Ann Magistro wrote a letter to Acting Commissioner Cerf for our opposition to Tikun Olam.  In it she states that East Brunswick lost 1.2M to Hatikvah and she details the services that had to be cut in her district to make these funds available.  It is a striking example of the sacrifices public schools are forced to make.

In order to pay the Hatikvah bill, East Brunswick Public Schools had to cut programs affecting thousands of our public school students; including:            

• The elementary foreign language program
• The Summer Academy for at-risk students
• 21 extra-curricular clubs
• 3 sports programs

Got that?  To provide language immersion to 108 students in K-3, thousands had to lose programs and services -- most notably, the entire elementary foreign language program!  How does this make sense??  And how is the district's advocacy on behalf of ALL of the students in East Brunswick "meritless?"

Hatikvah released a statement on their website that details their reasons for the OPRA request.  The title of the statement reads:

Voters deserve to know how much in public money

is being wasted on legal fees for baseless case

Classic.  

Voters didn't have a say in wether they wanted public money to go to this charter in the first place, but now that it's been approved against the wishes of the district, the voters "deserve" to know how much money is being wasted.  And remember, those same voters that can vote yes or no on the school budget have no say in the charter school's budget.  But I digress...

Hatikvah was approved to take students from East Brunswick, but students from Edison, Highland Park and New Brunswick currently attend as well. If Hatikvah is so successful and there is a waiting list, why are they admitting students from other districts?  Wouldn't they be able to fill their seats with the East Brunswick kids that are supposedly clamoring to get in to this successful school?  

And if they don't have enough interest to fill all of their seats in the only district they listed on their application, how can they claim to be so successful?  

East Brunswick, like many New Jersey towns, can not afford full day Kindergarten and only offer half day.  Hatikvah offers full day Kindergarten for the select few that can get in, and I am sure many parents are looking for a free full day option and would gladly get on a waiting list to get one of those spots.  Here is the Hatikvah "brochure" from their website which touts it's full day Kindergarten.  

Did you catch the 11:1 student/teacher ratio with two teacher in every classroom to go along with that full day Kindergarten and dual language partial immersion?  

Until New Jersey funds public schools so that ALL students have the benefit of a partial immersion, full day kindergarten program with a 1:11 ratio, how can we provide these services to a few while we take services away from the rest?

East Brunswick has my gratitude for taking on this fight, and I hope the parents and residents of that district rally behind their board and administration as they take this to the Supreme Court of New Jersey.  They certainly have my support.

Open, Honest, and Productive: NJDOE style

I just can't let Justin Barra's statement to Gannett Statehouse reporter Michael Symons regarding my meeting with Acting Commissioner Cerf go unanswered.  

Department of Education spokesman Justin Barra said acting Education Commissioner Christopher Cerf met in August with Cimarusti and others from Highland Park, who were opposed to the proposed Tikun Olam Hebrew Language Charter High School, which has been denied three times but has reapplied.

“In addition to evaluating the quality of the proposed program, we also take into account feedback both from districts and the general public. We take seriously all public comment that we receive in the review process,” Barra said. “We welcome an open, honest, and productive dialogue about proposed charter applications.”

While I did meet with the Acting Commissioner, Barra's characterization of the meeting is entirely disingenuous.  I met with him, Carly Bolger, soon-to-be-ex Director of the Charter School Office, and Chief of Staff and former Commissioner David Hespe in August.  Also in attendance were other concerned parents from East Brunswick, Princeton and South Brunswick who feel shut out of the process, as well as one other parent from Highland Park.  

This meeting was NOT about Tikun Olam, the charter school I am opposing.  It was in response to two women, Liz Lempert from Princeton and Lisa Rodgers-Grieco of South Brunswick, attempting to hand deliver a petition to Acting Commissioner Cerf.  Alan Guenther, the director of communications accepted the petition, not Cerf.  The petition asked the Acting Commissioner not to approve an additional planning year to the Princeton International Academy Charter School (PIACS) in Princeton.  The Acting Commissioner did not listen to the voices of those 1200 residents and granted PIACS their second planning year.  

Liz and Lisa continued to follow up and request a meeting, which was granted only after much persistence on the part of these women.  They asked representatives from Highland Park and East Brunswick to also attend as our districts have been very outspoken on this issue.  The meeting was cancelled by the Acting Commissioner when PIACS sued the affected districts stating that they were using public funds to object to their charter.      

The meeting was rescheduled only after much persistence and multiple assurances that discussion of PIACS would be off the table.  There was little to no discussion about individual charters at this meeting, instead it was about broad overarching issues related to the lack of community involvement in the charter application process.  At one point when I attempted to discuss specifics of the Tikun Olam charter application Ms. Bolger became agitated and threatened to end the meeting.

What we are asking for is an equal say in the application process.  While we fight for legislation that would give voters a say, we are demanding that the DOE have open discussions about pending charters with districts and communities.  

From January 3-13 to DOE will conduct interviews with applicants, but there are no such meetings for the effected districts or communities to discuss specific charters.  That is what we are asking for, and that is what the NJDOE is refusing to provide.  

"an open, honest, and productive dialogue about proposed charter applications"??  Really Mr. Barra?

Then why do I need all of these elected officials in suits backing me up to try to get my voice heard?  And why didn't ANYONE from the NJDOE come to the meeting despite numerous requests?  

  

The Acting Commissioner is approving charters against the wishes of communities and is not meeting with those communities to discuss the applications or the approvals; ONLY the applicants.  Just look at East Brunswick and Cherry Hill for examples.  For them to say they take community or district input into account would be laughable if it weren't so destructive and misleading.

My speech before the Senate Education Committee 10/13/11

Here's a good launching point to give you some background on not only the situation here in Highland Park, but how it ties into the "big picture."

Below is the testimony I presented to the Senate Education Committee when Senator Ruiz held a hearing on several pieces of pending charter legislation, including Senate Bill 2243, which would require voter or board of ed approval before charters could open in a district.  This would solve so may of the problems we are facing here in Highland Park, and I was honored to testify about our experience.  I testified alongside other organizers from Save Our Schools NJ, a grassroots organization that advocates for public schools, specifically on charters, vouchers and the funding formula.

Several things were quite striking about the hearing.  First, the members of the Education Committee we most wanted to hear our testimony because they were not supportive of the legislation, Senators Kean and Allen, just didn't show.  Second, the lobbyists there to argue against the legislation, the New Jersey Charter School Association, the National Association of Charter School Authorizers and the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, all came in their crisp suits carrying shiny brochures, and chit-chatted in the hall with the representatives from the Department of Education.  The DOE folks certainly weren't looking for any hallway chats to hear the concerns of any of the Save Our Schools folks...

Most importantly, all three lobbying organizations, there to argue against the reforms advocated by ACTUAL New Jersey parents with children in the public schools, are funded by the Walton Foundation.  In 2010 alone they received:

New Jersey Charter School Association $950,000
National Association of Charter School Authorizers $1,874,274
National Alliance for Public Charter Schools $1,175,000

The Walton Foundation spent $157,220,283 in 2010 alone "to infuse competitive pressure into America’s K-12 education system."  

While these lobbying groups may be called "New Jersey" this, or "National" that, they are all CORPORATE reformers.  Make no mistake about it.  Their agenda has nothing to do with what's good for this state or this country.  It has to do with what's good for them and the foundations that support them.

Without further ado, here's my testimony:

Good morning Senators.  I am here to talk about the need for local control over charter schools in our state.  I am from Highland Park, a small, diverse district with four schools that educate 1300 students.  Over 50 languages are spoken in the homes of our district. 

We currently send students to two charters, Greater Brunswick Charter School in New Brunswick, which follows a Montessori philosophy, and Hatikvah International Academy Charter School in East Brunswick, which is a Hebrew Language Immersion Elementary School.  We are also faced with an application for a third charter, Tikun Olam Hebrew Language Charter High School.   

Currently eighteen Highland Park students attend Greater Brunswick in grades K-6 and five students attend Hatikvah in grades K-3.  For these 23 students Highland Park pays $352,208 in tuition and transportation costs.  This is roughly equivalent to the salary of six teachers. 

I ask you, when we lose 23 students spread over seven grades, how are we to cut six teachers to absorb the subsequent loss of funding? 

In Acting Commissioner Chris Cerf’s September 2011 letter to charter school leaders he stated, “The promise of charter schools is that they will offer parents another high-quality public school alternative, especially for children whose needs are not being successfully met elsewhere.” 

Highland Park ranks among the top 200 high schools in the country, has a graduation rate of 100% and 98% of our students go on to college.  It’s therefore important to look at whether Highland Park student’s needs are being met as successfully when they leave our schools.  The 2010 No Child Left Behind School Report Cards for Highland Park and Greater Brunswick reveal that almost five times more kids in Highland Park are scoring Advanced Proficient in Math and Language Arts than at Greater Brunswick.

New Brunswick is the host district for Greater Brunswick, and pays $3,625,000 for 241 students to attend.  While New Brunswick has far more ELL and almost twice as many Free Lunch students, their test scores in Language Arts are roughly equivalent to those of Greater Brunswick.  However, Greater Brunswick fairs far worse in Math.  Almost twice as many New Brunswick students scored advanced proficient in Math than Greater Brunswick students.

In that same letter Chris Cerf also said, “the Department of Education must set a high bar for accountability and ensure that these schools are fulfilling their promise of improving student achievement and serving all students.”

I ask you, why is Greater Brunswick allowed to take funds from public schools when they aren’t meeting their student’s needs as successfully as the public school districts and are serving significantly less ELL and Free Lunch students than their host district?  

There are also significant concerns that Hebrew Language Immersion schools are not intended to serve our diverse public school population.  Of the four children from Highland Park who enrolled in Hatikvah last year two enrolled in the district only to immediately transfer to Hatikvah, without ever sitting in a public school classroom.  There is evidence that Hatikvah failed to report to the state that students were transferring from private schools.  If children transfer from private schools to a charter the state is responsible for paying the first year’s tuition, not the district. 

I ask you, when students attending charter schools have never stepped foot in a public school classroom, how can we say that charters are meeting an unmet need in the public schools?

There is legitimate concern that these are not isolated cases and that if Tikun Olam is approved many students would come from private Jewish schools, not public schools.  In fact, the lead and qualifying founder, who is from Highland Park, does not send her own children to our public schools, she sends them to a private yeshiva.

According to New Jersey Charter School Law the lead and qualifying founder is ineligible to found a charter school, as is the Edison qualifying founder.  The law clearly states that charters may be established by teaching staff members, parents with children attending the schools of the district, or a combination of teaching staff members and parents.  Neither qualifying founder is a teacher and the superintendents in both school districts confirmed that neither has children enrolled in their public school districts. 

The founder’s ineligibility was overlooked by the Department of Education in two application cycles, only to be uncovered by members of our community in the third application.  This raises troubling questions regarding the DOE’s lack of oversight of the charter application review process.  There is no evidence that the DOE has acknowledged that the founders are ineligible to apply for a charter.  In fact less than one week after the DOE denied Tikun Olam for the third time, the United States Department of Education awarded Tikun Olam a $200,000 grant to plan their curriculum and open their doors. 

I ask you, when founders of charter schools are not parents of public school children, how are charters like the proposed Tikun Olam offering “parents another high-quality public school alternative” and not a publically funded private school education?

Members of the Highland Park community have collected over 2100 petition signatures and 600 letters of opposition to Tikun Olam.  These have been delivered to the DOE and I have copies here for your review.  Our elected officials oppose Tikun Olam as well.  Our school board, Borough Council, Mayor, Freeholders, Assemblymen and Senator have all been outspoken about the need for local control over charter schools.

I ask you, when less than 2% of Highland Park public school students leave for two charter schools does that demonstrate an unmet need in our district? 

I ask you, why shouldn’t the parents of 98% of Highland Park public school students get to decide if we think it’s worth the price we will pay to finance charter schools in our district?

I ask you, why shouldn’t we have local control?