After passage of charter school legislation in Minnesota in 1991, New Jersey joined the national school choice movement. Seeking alternatives to school reform, especially in the state’s poorest districts, charter school legislation was sponsored by Assemblyman Joseph Doria and Assemblyman John Rocco in 1994. Governor Christine Whitman signed the nation’s twentieth charter law, the Charter School Program Act, in 1996 allowing for 135 charter schools to be established in four years. In the first year, 37 applications were received and 16 charters were granted, of which 13 began operations in September 1997. Ten schools were located in the state’s poorest districts, also referred to as "Abbott" districts. In the second year, 23 charters of another 37 applicants were granted.
During this time, several local school boards filed appeals with the State Board of Education to overturn the charters. These districts felt threatened because financing of charter schools came directly from their operating budget. In other cases, appeals were brought to the New Jersey Supreme Court, which upheld the constitutionality of the charter law. State Senator Jack Ewing, Chairman of the Senate Education Committee at the time, founded the Charter Consortium, a legal defense fund to provide legal services to charter schools. In testimony to the broad support for, and longer-term viability of, charter schools, Governor Whitman signed into law the Charter School Funding and Research bill in 2000 that eliminated the caps on the total number of charter schools. It also permitted charter schools to provide continuity of educational programming for students moving into higher grades.
In January 2001, the NJ DOE approved 9 additional charter schools. Despite their infancy, charter schools are popular with students, parents and teachers -- on average, they have waiting lists greater than 50 percent of their enrollment. However, they only represent 1 percent of the 1.3 million public school students in New Jersey. Charter schools are still a new idea and a relatively small movement, and should be given the time and space to reach their full potential.
8 New Jersey Charter School Report History in New Jersey Despite their infancy, charter schools are popular with students, parents and teachers -- on average, they have waiting lists greater than 50 percent of their enrollment.
CSRC History
Charter Schools in New Jersey: A Growing Movement
1996 -----
January:
Gov. Whitman signed legislation allowing up to 135 charter schools in four years. This legislation was sponsored by Senator Jack Ewing (R) and Assemblymen Joseph Doria (D) and John Rocco (R).
August:
37 first-round charter school applications were submitted to the Commissioner of Education.
December:
The Charter School Resource Center (CSRC) opened and began providing assistance to charter school organizers.
1997 -----
January:
Commissioner Klagholz granted conditional approval to 18 new charter schools.
Two charters (Greater Brunswick Regional CS and Red Bank CS), which were opposed by their local boards, were formally appealed. The State Board of Education heard the appeals and rescinded the two charters. The State Board’s decision left 16 approved charters.
July:
The CSRC Coordinator met individually with two dozen charter school planning groups to assist them with their proposals.
August:
In the second round, 37 (coincidentally, the same number as in the first round) more charter applications were submitted to the Commissioner.
September:
Of the 16 approved charters, 13 began operating (Three had previously decided to take an extra planning year), serving 1,400 students. Ten of these 13 schools were located in "Abbott" districts.
1998 -----
January:
Commissioner Klagholz granted conditional approval to 23 new charter schools. In response to the Commissioner’s announcement, 14 school boards filed appeals with the State Board against the newly approved charters.
February:
The State Board overturned the appeals, upholding all 14 challenged charters. Most of the school boards submitted requests for reconsideration and/or for stays to squelch the charters. The State Board denied all of these requests.
March-May:
The 14 school boards filed appeals with the Appellate Court against the approved charters in their districts. Senator Jack Ewing launched The Charter Consortium, a joint legal defense fund to provide legal services to the appealed charters. The Pleasantville School Board withdrew its two appeals after the new board was elected, leaving 12 appealed charters. Eight of these charters joined the Consortium (The other four had access to independent legal services).
June:
Researchers from Teachers College, Columbia University, presented findings from their four-month study of the 13 first-year charter schools, a study commissioned by the New Jersey Institute for School Innovation. The CSRC held Review Panels for 12 charter school planning groups to provide feedback on their applications-in-progress.
July:
The CSRC worked with two dozen planning groups preparing for the August deadline.
August:
In the third round, 35 new charter applications were submitted to the Commissioner.
September:
Of the 39 approved charter schools, 30 opened this month (9 opted to take a planning year), 22 in Abbott districts. Six of the newly approved had originally planned to take an extra planning year; three were forced to (Marion P. Thomas CS in Newark, Ocean City Charter-tech HS, and Patrick Douglas CS in Matawan) because of facilities challenges. Several others overcame strenuous opposition from local municipalities (specifically, zoning boards) to find suitable facilities.
1999 -----
January:
15 new charters were approved, bring the total approved to 54.
March:
The Appellate Court ruled in favor of three charter schools that had been legally challenged by their districts (Clifton, Englewood, and Franklin Twp.) and thus upheld the constitutionality of these charters. The districts appealed these decisions to the New Jersey Supreme Court.
Legislators introduced a bill to establish interdistrict school choice (favored by the Governor); this bill also proposed to cap the percentage of students who could attend charter schools in any given district at 7 percent. The CSRC worked with other charter school leaders to stop the bill (and succeeded).
August:
The New Jersey Department of Education rescinded the charter of Patrick Douglas Charter School in Matawan before the school opened because of its inability to obtain a Certificate of Occupancy. This action dropped the number of approved charter schools in the state to 53.
In the fourth round, 45 new applications were submitted to the Commissioner.
September:
17 new charters opened their door, bringing the total in operation to 47, serving nearly 9,000 students. Of these 47 schools, 34 were located in Abbott districts.
Fully 80 percent of the students in charters statewide were from Abbott districts.
November:
New Jersey Charter Public Schools Association, the first statewide charter schools association, was formed, with Sarah Tantillo hired as Executive Director.
2000 -----
January:
14 new charters were approved, bring the total approved to 67. (Note: One of these new charters, Galloway Community Charter School, proposed to served K-6, and would thus replace the existing Galloway Kindergarten Charter School.)
Of these newly approved charters, five were submitted by individuals who had already started a charter school (Deborah Nataloni of Galloway, Joseph Conway of Camden, Gloria Bonilla-Santiago of Camden, William Granville of Trenton, and Jerri Morrison of Trenton).
Six of the approved 14 planned to take a planning year (thus to open Fall 2001).
The first full membership meeting of NJ Charter Public Schools Association was held; some 30 schools were represented.
The Council on Local Mandates heard final oral arguments in yet another legal challenge brought by the Highland Park Board of Education.
The Supreme Court granted certification to appeals against Englewood, Clifton, Highland Park, and Franklin. In other words, in spite of the unanimous Appellate Court decision, the Court agreed to hear the case.
February:
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the cases of Englewood, Clifton, Highland Park, and Franklin. Eventually, all the charters were upheld by Court.
2005-----
Since January 1996 when the charter school law passed in NJ, 237 charter applications have been submitted to the NJ Department of Education. As of January 2005, 91 have been approved and of them:
• 48 charter schools are currently operating;
• 43 of them having met the NJ Department’s rigorous standards for charter renewal.
• 4 new schools are scheduled to open in Fall 2005; and
• 2 are scheduled to open in Fall 2006.