Legislation Would Allow RU to Approve Charter Schools
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July 20, 2010
Legislation (A-3083 (Jasey/Voss) / S-2198 (Ruiz/Cunningham)) has been introduced that would permit Rutgers University, in addition to the Department of Education, to approve new charter schools. It also would end deadlines for organizers to apply for charters, allowing applications to be filed at any time and requiring decisions on them within five months.
The proposal would also expand the types of charter schools allowed in New Jersey, allowing virtual or e-charter schools, charter schools with students of only one gender and charter schools catering to students with behavioral needs or disorders, such as autism.
Charter schools began operating in New Jersey in 1997. Last school year, 67 charter schools enrolled nearly 21,700 students, a little more than 1.5 percent of the state's 1.38 million public school students. The latest batch of charter-school approvals is likely to be announced this week by the state Department of Education.
More than two-thirds of charter school students come from families with incomes low enough to qualify for free or reduced-price lunches.
According to one of the bill’s sponsors, Assemblywoman Mila Jasey, (Essex) the goal in giving Rutgers authority is to shift some of the burden from the short-staffed Department of Education and improve New Jersey's prospects of getting federal funds through the Race to the Top program, which favors states in position to generate and support more charter schools.
Rutgers' Graduate School of Education operates the New Jersey Charter School Resource Center through its Center for Effective School Practices, which provides information, resources and technical assistance to help organizers design and operate charter schools. That center would gain the ability to grant charters. Eight states allow higher education units to grant charters.
The Senate bill sponsor, Sen. Teresa Ruiz, (Essex) has said she would like to allow other higher education institutions beyond Rutgers to issue charters, if the Department of Education approves them. Ruiz also said the oversight of new, virtual charter schools needs to be better defined.
Ruiz said she is particularly interested in the concepts of special-purpose charter schools, such as all-boys or all-girls schools.