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Press of Atlantic City - 16 poor, rural schools ask court to order state to provide full funding
Star Ledger - N.J. senator challenges state Department of Education to reveal those who voluntarily select new charter schools
Njspotlight.com - Fine Print: Newark Charter Compact…A new 'contract' among charter schools stresses transparency and accessibility
Star Ledger - N.J. senator challenges state Department of Education to reveal those who voluntarily select new charter schools
Njspotlight.com - Fine Print: Newark Charter Compact…A new 'contract' among charter schools stresses transparency and accessibility
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The attorney for 16 poor, rural school districts, most in South Jersey, will make one more attempt to get the districts the state aid they have been told they need.
Millville attorney Frederick Jacob, who has represented the districts since their first lawsuit in December 1997, is asking a state appeals court to enforce a March 2008 appellate court ruling that would give the districts additional state funding.
The School Funding Reform Act of 2008 was supposed to equalize funding for all districts, and did provide extra state aid for the first couple of years. But when Chris Christie became governor, and had less school aid to distribute, the districts lost the gains they had made. This year the Education Law Center fought to get full funding for all districts, but the state Supreme Court limited its ruling to the 13 urban Abbott districts, which got an extra $450 million.
Jacob said when the Supreme Court decision came down at the end of May, he considered filing a motion to try to get funding for his 16 districts as well. That motion was formally submitted Aug. 31. Jacob said he has not been given a hearing date, but he hopes it will be before the end of the year.
The 16 affected districts are Buena Regional, Egg Harbor City and Hammonton in Atlantic County; Commercial Township, Maurice River Township, Upper Deerfield Township, Fairfield Township and Lawrence Township in Cumberland County; Woodbine in Cape May County; Little Egg Harbor Township, Ocean Township, Lakewood and Lakehurst in Ocean County; Clayton in Gloucester County; Quinton in Salem County; and Wallington in Bergen County. The districts are called the Bacons after parent Rosalie Bacon, the lead plaintiff in the case.
“When we testified before the (court-appointed) special master he said to Walt Whitaker (Buena Regional’s superintendent) that but for the accident of geography, Buena is an Abbott,” Jacob said.“(Former Education Commissioner Lucille) Davy said the new funding formula would take care of us, but the state is not fully funding it. We got blind-sided.”
Jacob said fully funding the districts would not be that expensive because they are so small. The Education Law Center,which has supported the Bacon districts, developed a chart earlier this year showing funding disparities in more than 200 districts statewide. Their chart shows the Bacon districts would need about $37 million more to get to so-called “adequate” funding.
School officials said even small amounts of money are helpful in a small district.
Hammonton, one of the larger Bacon districts, is under-funded by about $6 million.
“Even if we couldn’t get it all at once, it would be nice to get it phased in,” Hammonton Superintendent C. Dan Blachford said.
Whitaker said things were looking up when the new funding law was passed and Buena Regional did get extra money for the first two years.
“Then in the third year they they took it all back and more,” he said. “We didn’t make it up this year. I know the state is in a hardship. But we were just starting to get our feet back on the ground.”
The district is about $5 million short of what it would get in state aid, if fully funded.
Egg Harbor City Superintendent John Gilly said it’s been very frustrating to get close, but then get cut. The K-8 district is due about $635,000 more in state aid under the law center’s analysis.
“We’ve proven our point,” Gilly said. “But they won’t take the next step and fund us.”
Contact Diane D'Amico: 609-272-7241 DDamico@pressofac.com
Star Ledger - N.J. senator challenges state Department of Education to reveal those who voluntarily select new charter schools
Published: Wednesday, September 28, 2011, 8:04 PM Updated: Wednesday, September 28, 2011, 8:04 PM
By Jeanette Rundquist/The Star-LedgerThe Star-Ledger
Citing possible conflicts of interest on the part of volunteer reviewers who helped select new charter schools, a New Jersey state senator filed a legal challenge to force the state Department of Education to turn over the reviewers’ names.
The department must appear in Superior Court in Mercer County on Dec. 9 to answer the challenge filed by state Sen. Nia Gill, (D-Essex), who said she said she wanted more transparency in the approval process.
State officials in January said more than a dozen volunteer reviewers read applications and gave non-binding recommendations on proposed charter schools. The state did not name them, although a few became publicly known.
With a new round of charter approvals about to be announced, Gill sought information pertaining to both the approvals of 23 schools announced in January, and the pending applications.
"The pursuit is to open up the process as it continues," Gill said. "You would have more information about a volunteer in a cafeteria of your child’s school, than volunteers ... that have an effect on millions of dollars of state money."
DOE spokesman Justin Barra said the department is reviewing the documents, but he could not comment on pending litigation.
In a letter to charter school officials earlier this month, Acting Education Commissioner Chris Cerf said the department "completely revamped the new school selection process," following the best practices of the National Association of Charter School Authorizers. The department did use external reviewers again, according to Barra.
Gill filed a complaint on Sept. 12 asking for names, addresses and occupations of volunteers who reviewed charter applications in 2010 and 2011. She also sought documents, including emails, used to solicit reviewers and outline the process.
Gill had filed several Open Public Records Act requests, and eventually got names of DOE employees who handled the applications, according to the legal papers. But the department would not provide volunteers’ names, citing their "reasonable expectation of privacy."
Gill said they "may have conflicts of interest between their public function in reviewing charter school applications and their respective occupations or organizational affiliations."
One reviewer, school choice advocate Derrell Bradford, said applications were vetted for possible conflicts, while another, former charter school administrator Shelley Skinner said all decisions were made by the department.
Most of the 23 schools approved in January have not opened, and are taking another year for planning.
A similar legal challenge was brought earlier this year by the Newark-based Education Law Center, and is also pending.
Njspotlight.com - Fine Print: Newark Charter Compact…A new 'contract' among charter schools stresses transparency and accessibility
By John Mooney, September 29 in Education|Post a Comment
What it is: The Newark Charter School Fund, a philanthropic and advocacy organization created to help the city's charter schools, has forged a contract with charter leaders in Newark that pledges full transparency and accessibility.
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What it means: The compact -- meant for all charters to sign -- is more symbolic than legally binding, but speaks to a serious issue. It aims to address frequent concerns that charter schools are not following the spirit, let alone the letter, of state law, which requires them to be open and accessible to all students, especially those with special needs. Whether it quiets the critics is probably doubtful, but yet to be seen.
The stakes: Newark is host to the most charter schools in the state. Eighteen charter schools -- including three new ones this fall -- are located in the city, almost a quarter of the statewide total. They serve about 7,500 students. That's one in six public school students in the city.
The three main points: The compact specifically reads that a charter school will follow three general guidelines:
· it will recruit, enroll, and retain students in a fair and open way, focusing especially on those with the greatest needs, be they disabilities, low income, or limited English skills;
· it will provide clear and accessible data about its enrollment, performance and budget; and
· it will collaborate with the host district in sharing best practices and other resources.
The details: The compact reads that schools will post all data about themselves in a ready place on their websites, including updated discipline and attrition rates that some critics contend are high in many charter schools.
Aren't they supposed to do all of this anyway? The law requires many of these practices, but is not explicit regarding all of them. For instance, charters are prohibited from putting up any barriers to people entering enrollment lotteries, but have been accused of holding required pre-lottery interviews or meetings or having cumbersome applications processes. The compact specifically says such practices will not be adhered to.
Have all 18 schools signed? The charter school fund has said a "critical mass" has signed on, including all of the district's larger charters. "That should help get the rest of the group," said Janellen Duffy, the fund's vice president for policy. She has pledged the fund will publicize both those schools that sign and those that do not.
Doesn't quiet the critics much: Two days after announcing the compact, tensions are still high in Newark over the coexistence of charter schools and district schools. This became an issue last spring, when plans were unveiled for district and charter schools to share space. This week at the local advisory board meeting, a parent advocate contended that the shared campuses have led in some cases to disparate opportunities for students in the same building.
Why not a compact for all NJ charters? Acting state education commissioner Chris Cerf this fall put much of the same language in a letter to all charter schools, but how well it will be enforced is to be determined. Critics contend that pledges are one thing, but even stricter restrictions are needed statewide, including those now proposed in the legislature. The compact is "no substitute for badly needed reform of state charter law, now pending in legislature," said David Sciarra of the Education Law Center.
