The New Jersey School Boards Association is asking the state to give voters a say in the development and budgeting for charter schools.
The organization “overwhelmingly” backed a resolution from Princeton that ask that the state change rules governing charter schools so that the schools would need the same kind of voter backing that new public schools require. Princeton already is home to one charter school and a second one has been approved that will draw from Princeton, South Brunswick and West Windsor-Plainsboro.
The vote is the first major challenge to the charter school movement and could give supporters of proposed charter reform legislation the boost they need to get their bill to the governor’s desk. While there is little chance that charter-backer Gov Chris Christie would sign the legislation, it would make public the basic issues at play in the debate over charters.
The fact is that local tax money is used to fund charters, but the entity elected to manage the public’s money — the school board — has been forced to sit on the sidelines as charter schools have popped up around the state. Some survive and thrive, others muddle along and many fail, but no one other than the state Department of Education has any say over whether they are needed.
The legislation proposed by state Sen. Barbara Buono (D-Middlesex) would change that. Before the NJSBA vote, it seemed unlikely the bill would go anywhere, even though Buono is the chairwoman of the Senate Budget Committee. Maybe this will alter the balance.
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