Panel Sees Segregation, Financial Burden In Red Bank Charter School Plan

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By John Burton
RED BANK – A report issued by a group appointed by the mayor to review a plan to expand the charter school offers some strong objections, and local officials quickly dispatched the report to the state commissioner of education.
The borough clerk’s office rushed both a digital and hard copy of the analysis by the “blue ribbon” group of citizens, appointed by Mayor Pasquale Menna, to Commissioner David Hespe in Trenton last week, to meet the end of January deadline. Hespe’s decision on the charter school’s application is expected near the end of February.
Six of the commission’s seven members signed on to the 2 ½ page report, which offers a cautionary view of what has become a controversial plan to expand the facility and enrollment for the Red Bank Charter School at 58 Oakland St.
The report recommended the state commissioner deny the application to amend the school’s charter to allow for an additional 200 students over the next three years, doubling the current enrollment.
Among the committee’s concerns is the expansion’s possible impact on segregation in the community schools and on local property taxes. The committee, as others have maintained, found that the borough’s public school district “is home to the most segregated district in the state of New Jersey.”
According to the report, which cites state Department of Education figures, the charter school population is currently 52 percent white, while the borough’s primary and public schools stand at 7 percent white. The other groups making up the schools’ population also represent a “deep demographic disparity,” with the public schools having an 80 percent Hispanic population, while the charter school has 34 percent; public schools have 44 percent of its students classified as limited English proficient, with the charter school at 4 percent. In the category of economically disadvantaged, the public school population is 88 percent and the charter school is 40 percent.
The majority of the commission found that a number of the charter school practices for enrollment, including offering a sibling preference, the mechanics of the enrollment lottery and withdrawal practices “contribute to the apparent segregative effect the charter school has on the borough.”
“Based on the stark differences in the demographics between the two schools,” the report concluded, “there are serious questions as to whether the Red Bank Charter School is fulfilling this statutory requirement and it appears that its outreach to the Hispanic community of Red Bank has not been successful,” referring to the state statute regarding charter schools, requiring them to not have a negative impact on existing diversity in the public schools.
Under that statute, the education commissioner can hold a hearing to determine if the charter school practices exacerbate the problem that exists. The commission recommended that Hespe conduct such a hearing.
The Greater Red Bank branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), a civil rights organization, agrees with the commission’s findings, branch president Rev. Henry Davis said Friday. “We believe it is very much segregated and the charter school has had an adverse effect upon it, in that respect,” Davis said, noting the organization sent a letter to the commissioner to that effect.
Spokesman David Saenz said the Department of Education would evaluate all district and community input. “Beyond that it wouldn’t be appropriate to comment,” since the commissioner was still reviewing the school’s application.
The commission noted charter school students receive more per-student state funding than the public school district, about $2,000 more year – getting $15,343 per student. The commission also accepted the assessment put forth by Jared Rumage, the public school district’s superintendent of schools, who estimated the expansion would have a “devastating” effect on the public school finances, resulting in a $2 million budget shortfall. To cover the cost of the expansion, Rumage had said previously, would mean increasing the tax levy to the maximum permitted and the district would still have to cut programs and staffing. The supposition was also supported by Robert W. Allision, the public school district and borough auditor, the report added.
The charter school had no comment on the commission’s findings, said Kevin King, parent of three charter school students who is serving as a volunteer spokesman for the school.
Michael Stasi, a charter school founder who has “supported the school over the years, with the hope of improving the quality of education for all children in Red Bank,” was the lone, dissenting voice among the commission members.
For Stasi the commission erred by concentrating solely on the segregation and financial issues at hand. The commission failed to appreciate academic achievement, scores and standards, believing there were too many variables to consider in that evaluation, given the commission’s short window of opportunity to issue its report, he believed. “In my view, the issue of greatest importance would be that of academics and the educational well-being of the children of Red Bank,” Stasi said in his letter to Hespe.
And as for the financial impact, Stasi said, “One could argue that adjustments and cuts could be made without affecting the classroom environment.”
Menna said his appointees “did a thorough job” inviting the public to offer its comments and compiling the information. The mayor also chided the charter school for deciding at the last moment to not participate in a Jan. 22 public forum on the issue. “They wanted to change the game,” with charter school representatives seeking a closed-door opportunity to present its case, the mayor charged. “And that is unacceptable.”
Charter school supporters are now being encouraged to send signed form letters to local elected officials and Hespe in Trenton voicing their endorsement of the expansion plan.
Borough Councilwoman Kathy Horgan, who is the council’s liaison to the commission, said she and other elected officials are being “inundated” with the response letters.
But Menna estimated about one third of them are coming from non-Red Bank residents.
Menna hoped “that commonsense would prevail,” as local educational and government anxiously awaits Hespe’s decision forthcoming sometime in February.
“I would hope the statutory imperative of the creation of charter schools to be reflective of the demographics of the community would have some impact on the commissioner,” Menna offered.
On Friday, Hespe appeared at the School Choice Summit held at St. Peter’s University in Jersey City.
Hespe said, echoing Gov. Chris Christie’s comments during the State of the State speech last month, “We fully support the expansion of high-quality charter schools and hope to realize our goal of authorizing additional charter school seats to more than 50,000.”
According to the state Department of Education, there are approximately 41,500 New Jersey children enrolled in charter schools. There are currently 46,000 authorized charter school seats in the state.