N.J. approves eight ore charter schools for 2010
Posted Wednesday, September 23, 2009 from The Star-Ledger

N.J. approves eight more charter schools for 2010

By Kristen Alloway

September 23, 2009, 7:02PM

The state has approved eight applications to launch charter schools -- including one that teaches Hebrew and another that immerses students in Spanish -- which are expected to open in September 2010, officials said today.

The charter schools, which are funded through their local schooldistricts but independently run, were approved from among 27 applicantsto the state Department of Education last spring. The department lastyear approved six charter schools out of 25 applicants.

The eight schools this year -- including a school to be named forPresident Obama in Plainfield -- are the largest number of approvals inthe state since 1999 and will bring the total number of charter schoolsin New Jersey to 76.

Some 14,496 New Jersey students attended charter schools in 2006.That number is expected to increase to more than 22,000 this year.

Of the new schools, half are elementary, half are high schools. Thelist includes Hatikvah International Academy Charter School in EastBrunswick, which will teach Hebrew.

Hatikvah, Hebrew for "hope," will open in fall 2010 with 108students from kindergarten through second grade, said one of theschool’s founders Yair Nezaria.

"My head is completely spinning," Nezaria said. "Our community couldn’t be more ecstatic."

The application submitted earlier this year ignited a localcontroversy on whether the school would violate the principles of theseparation of church and state. Two petitions circulated in the spring,with more than 100 area residents signing, and Jewish residents on bothsides of the issue.

Critics claimed the application was a thinly veiled substitute for alocal private Jewish school in town that teaches religion and chargesup to $13,000 a year in tuition. Critics said the charter school wouldunfairly siphon business from Solomon Schechter Day School of RaritanValley.

But Howard Rosenblatt, head of the private school, said he doesn’texpect competition from the charter school because it doesn’t offerreligious education.

Hatikvah founders, meanwhile, stressed their school would steerclear of religion and said it will teach a vital 21st-century skill --a second language that would prepare students for the global economy.

Hoboken Dual Language Charter School expects to enroll 132 studentsin kindergarten through second grade and expand over time to fifthgrade. The school will teach English and Spanish with the goal ofproducing bilingual students.

The other new schools are: Trillium Charter School in HunterdonCounty; Academy for Urban Leadership Charter School in Perth Amboy;Charter High School for Environmental and Civics Studies in Teaneck;Barack Obama Green Charter School in Plainfield; Visions AcademyCharter High School and Newark Legacy Charter School, both in Newark.

Charter schools have become a topic in the New Jersey governor’srace with GOP challenger Chris Christie saying the state needs to workwith charter applicants to approve more schools. Independent candidateChris Daggett also has said charter options should be expanded.

Gov. Jon Corzine has noted the number of charter schools in NewJersey has increased during his term, and he announced the approvalstoday during a ceremony to mark the opening of the SPARK AcademyCharter School in Newark.

"Given all the attention being given charter schools in thisgovernor’s race, it’s an announcement we were hoping for," DebraWachspress, spokeswoman for the N.J. Charter Public SchoolsAssociation, said.

At Corzine’s direction, the department of education also last weekproposed new regulations that would allow faster approval for certainapplicants with experience running successful charter schools. Thiswould reduce the application time from 18 months to about 10 months.

The charter schools association welcomed that move.

"Anything that allows more high-quality charter schools to educatemore kids and meet these growing demands for seats in charter schoolsis a positive thing," Wachspress said. "There are over 11,000 kids onwaiting lists for charter schools around the state."

Staff writer Karen Keller contributed to this report.