Tensions Mount Over Local Charter Schools

For 14 years, Princeton Regional Schools have operated in peaceful co-existence with the Princeton Charter School.

Yet as the debate over charter schools heats up and the Princeton International Academy Charter School (PIACS) in South Brunswick moves forward with plans to open in September, there is tension between charter advocates and those who say the schools are draining resources and operating without accountability.

Judy Wilson, superintendent of Princeton Regional Schools, argues that charter schools funnel public money away from top-performing school systems.

The school district pays roughly 90 percent of the district’s prior year per pupil instructional cost to the charter schools--about $4.9 million for Princeton’s two schools for 2012-13.

“It does not fall into this myth of ‘the money follows the child,’” Wilson said.

That’s because if a child enrolls in a charter school, the district still pays the same teacher salary and benefits and the same costs for building utilities and repairs.

WHAT ROLE FOR CHARTER SCHOOLS?

This report is part of a joint project between NJSpotlight.com (an issues-oriented news site that focuses on policy, politics, and community) and Patch.com to provide both a statewide and local look at the politics of charter schools in many NJ communities, and the tensions that sometimes arise regarding their funding in the age of budget cutbacks.

Statewide: Charter schools in suburbia under debate
East Brunswick: Questioning charter school's right to exist
Gloucester: A home-schooler takes on the school board
Hoboken: Can the public schools compete, by getting better?
Livingston: How many Mandarin schools is too many?
Morristown, Morris Township & Morris Plains: Unity Charter may be a jewel, but it's one with costs
Red Bank: 
South Brunswick: A debate or a shouting match?
Teaneck: Innovation or duplication?

Norma Byers, head of the Princeton Charter School, which serves students in grades K-8, said charter schools offer a choice for families unable to afford private school.

“If a person is fairly wealthy in this area, they have choice for education,” Byers said. “If you don’t have money the suburban districts say ‘Too bad, you don’t have choice for your child, we have a monopoly.”

Just as importantly, charters can often be a catalyst for improvement in a larger school district, she said.  

Byers said that, since the school opened with a focus on math and writing, Princeton Regional Schools hired a math coordinator and improved its own writing program.

Wilson said she and members of the Princeton Board of Education do not oppose charter schools, but they do have concerns.

Using public money for a charter school that has not been approved by voters amounts to taxation without representation, especially in Princeton where 95 percent of public school funding comes from local taxpayers, Wilson said.

PIACS, projected to open in September as a dual-language Mandarin-English immersion school for students in grades K-2, will draw students from Princeton, South Brunswick and West Windsor-Plainsboro.  

But its opening may be in jeopardy following a contentious hearing before the South Brunswick Zoning Board of Adjustment on April 14.

The hearing, which lasted more than five hours, brought out vocal advocates on both sides of the issue. The hearing has been continued until June 2.

Developer 12 P & Associates is requesting zoning variances for the 12 Perrine Road site and the school needs an occupancy permit by June 30.

If the opening is delayed, it would be the second time in two years.

The plan is for the building to house both PIACS and the private YingHua International School.

LEARN MORE

To learn how charters in your area are performing—or all schools, for that matter—click on NJ Spotlight's report card.