Unlike last year, more of NJ's charter schools get state's OK

Mary Ann Koruth, NorthJersey.com
·3 min read

New Jersey's charter schools received some good news from the state Department of Education this week.

Eleven of the 14 charter schools that applied for expansions and 17 of 18 schools that applied for renewals this year received them on Wednesday from acting Education Commissioner Angelica Allen-McMillan.

Four of the renewals were granted under probation. Also, of the three charter schools that requested a reduction in enrollment, two were approved, said a spokesperson for the department.

The expansion approvals will allow an additional 2,299 students, mostly in the state's poorest districts, to attend charter schools, according to the New Jersey Public Charter Schools Association, which applauded the state’s move to support charters.

In North Jersey, charter schools in Paterson, Clifton and Newark will expand and offer new grades. Many of the state's charter schools have thousands of students on their admissions waitlists.

The Murphy administration’s “thoughtful consideration” went into "making performance-based decisions," said Harry Lee, president and CEO of the Public Charter Schools Association.

Lee said data shows charter school students outperformed public school students in their districts on 2022 standardized state tests.

Loyalty Jones, 6, a student at Northstar Academy in Newark, listens to her mother, Jasmine Morrison speak during a rally outside of the New Jersey State House in Trenton on March 10, 2022, calling on Governor Phil Murphy and Acting Department of Education Commissioner Angelica Allen-McMillan to #LetMyChildLearn. Nine out of seventeen charter school expansion requests were denied by the DOE, according to the state charter school association. Of the 9 schools, the charter school association says 5 are Tier 1, and high performing. Some local school districts opposed expansions, while some low-income parents insist this is the best option for their children.The #LetMyChildLearn campaign was launched following the New Jersey Department of EducationÕs denial of expansions to top performing charter schools in the state.

“I think the difference here was the data,” Lee said, opining on why the state gave out more expansions and renewals this year than in 2022.

Last year, Allen-McMillan denied requests to expand some of these same schools, a move that charter supporters criticized, saying it left parents in low-income districts scrambling to place their children.

The Department of Education did not provide a specific reason for approving more expansions and renewals this year, saying it's part of its "annual decision."

"The department weighs a broad range of data to make thoughtful decisions on each application — evaluating schools on their record of performance and ensuring overall accountability," the department said, responding to requests for more information.

Charter supporters last year pointed the finger of blame at the influence of the New Jersey Education Association, the state's largest teachers' union and biggest financial supporter of Gov. Phil Murphy's campaign in 2020. The NJEA opposes the expansion of charter schools; a spokesperson did not reply to a request for comment on the approvals. Public school districts have to pay charters a portion of per-pupil state funding for every student enrolled.

Charter school students outperformed public school students in the 2022 New Jersey Student Learning Assessments and “were twice as likely to be proficient in English and Math compared to their district peers,” said a December 2022 report from the charter schools association.

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The Public Charter Schools Association criticized the Education Department last year, saying it used data from before the pandemic to deny expansion requests. In 2022, the state denied nine of 17 expansion requests, five of which were from top-performing charters, Lee said at the time.

Since then, the charter association and its supporters launched a campaign called #LetMyChildrenLearn in response to the state's denials. They also met monthly with state education officials to make their case and win support.

The 2022 NJSLA test was the first standardized assessment administered to New Jersey’s public school students after testing was suspended during the pandemic in 2020 and 2021.

Charter schools, unlike public schools, have to apply for extensions every four years. Approvals are at the discretion of the education commissioner, who awards them in consultation with the governor’s office after a review.

Achievers Early College Prep Charter School in Trenton received a 330-seat expansion, which will allow its ninth graders to continue to 10th grade next year and in three years to 12th grade. The school applied for an extension through an amendment that bypasses the standard four-year application process.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: More NJ charter schools get state's OK to grow