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Health & Fitness

Charter Schools and South Brunswick

What do you think of charter schools coming to South Brunswick?

There's been a lot of talk lately about a new charter school trying to make its way into South Brunswick, where learning Mandarin Chinese will be the main focus.  Yesterday in the mail, we received an unsolicited offer for yet another charter school in the area that will focus on being eco-friendly, or "green."

Last year, many East Brunswick residents opposed a new charter school in that town focusing on learning Hebrew, though the charter school ultimately did open.  The only pro to that school, from what I can tell, is that it offers a full day kindergarten, something East Brunswick public schools don't have.

There's already noise from South Brunswick residents who don't want the new Mandarin Chinese immersion school in this town.  A Facebook group has been started and angry residents have come to zoning meetings to squash it. 

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If you read the research about charter schools, you'll find that they don't make much of a difference in well performing school districts. But they can help in poorly performing ones. In a place like Trenton, where the schools are chaotic and falling apart, a charter school might be a good idea.

But in a place like South Brunswick? How does this make sense?

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Most people don't realize that charter schools are funded from the township school districts they draw from, not through private monies.  So if a hundred of South Brunswick's parents decided to send their kids to the Mandarin Chinese immersion school, the South Brunswick School District would have to give its own funds to that school for those students.

The fact is, South Brunswick is one of the best school districts in the state.  And its per student cost is lower than many other districts.  Our kids get a solid education, most go on to college, and there are a slew of options to fit the needs of our diverse population. I have two kids in the school system -- one in middle school, one in the high school, so I've seen this first hand.  Is the district perfect? No, of course not, but it's excellent as far as school districts go.

So I'm trying to figure out why we need two new charter schools.  To offer what, exactly? And are these charter schools going to do better than our own school system already does? And if so, how, exactly, will they?

But it doesn't matter what I think, what questions I ask, or what any other township resident thinks, frankly. As long as the charter meets the law, it gets financed. On our dime.

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