Assembly Speeds Two More Charter School Bills Through Committee

The Assembly yesterday moved two legislative proposals to change how New Jersey’s charter schools are approved and reviewed, but the Senate looks like it won’t be moving so fast.

With little discussion, the Assembly’s Budget Committee easily approved two charter school bills yesterday: one would allow parochial schools to convert to charters, the other would expand the number of authorizing agencies.

Both will go to the full Assembly for vote on Wednesday, along with two others that would reform other aspects of the state’s charter school process. The most controversial would require a local vote of approval for any new charter school, a proposal that Gov. Chris Christie is almost certain to veto.

Yet even if all are approved by the Assembly, the Senate appears poised to take a much slower road, with an influential senator saying that she is planning public hearings on these and other charter school legislation over the summer.

State Sen. Teresa Ruiz (D-Essex), chairman of the Senate’s Education Committee, said her committee would not act on any of the measures until a fuller discussion can be held.

She said there may be two dozen bills altogether that deal with charter schools in one form or another, including her own competing charter authorizer bill. The Christie administration has also proposed a sweeping charter reform bill that opens up the way for charter schools even further.

State Assemblywoman Mila Jasey (D-Essex) looked resigned to the news that Ruiz would be holding summer hearings, and she added that she doubted the local approval bill would ever become law with this governor.

"But just because he will veto it, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t post it," she said.

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