Cerf's Comments Spur Questions About Support for 'Boutique' Charters in Suburbia

New Jersey's Acting Education Commissioner Christopher Cerf acknowledged that what he called “boutique” charter schools, like those offering language immersion programs, might not be needed in suburban districts that are “humming along.” 

At a forum sponsored by NJ Spotlight last week in Newark, Cerf cited a proposed Mandarin-immersion charter in Princeton in questioning whether the harm such charters could cause to their districts outweighs their potential to enhance a “portfolio” of educational offerings. 

“I think you really can have a very serious debate, the outcome of which is unclear, as to whether that rounds out the portfolio or impairs the success of the overall district,” Cerf said, referring to the

It's unclear what Cerf’s statement means for the future of applications to open two Mandarin-immersion charters in Livingston and neighboring districts, but it could signal a change in the acting commissioner’s thinking about the role on charters in high-performing suburban districts.

Charter schools are public schools that use tax dollars but operate independently of the school district.

Nationally, charter schools do about as well as regular public schools, though the best charters lead the country are credited in raising the achievement of low-income children.

In Livingston,  of the special-interest charter applications contend the schools will drain money away from the traditional public schools and lead to segregation. The debate is being heard everywhere, from the school playground to dozens of opinions being offered on Patch and other media sites.

In his softening stance toward suburban charters, Cerf said, “I can certainly see, particularly in successful school districts, particularly in smaller suburban ones that are kind of humming along, that sort of marginal gain of having a school that serves a particular boutique need … the cost-benefit analyst might take you in the direction of: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” Cerf said.

“I can very much understand how that would be a sensible policy argument,” he said.

Charter schools in  are being approved in records numbers, and the two Mandarin charters for Livingston would open in September 2012 if approved by the NJ Department of Education.

On Saturday, the New Jersey School Boards Association approved an emergency resolution to change the association’s policy on charter schools and allow it to lobby the Legislature on pending bills that would allow voters and school boards to have input into charter school decisions.

“Charter schools are part of the landscape,” said state Assemblywoman Mila Jasey (D-Essex) at the NJ Spotlight forum. “We need to find a way to rationally and unemotionally find a way to talk about the issue.”

 (Read more @ A Charter Conversation: NJ Spotlight Roundtable brings together key players to talk charter school policy).

“In responding to the only question raised about ‘boutique’ schools applying for charters in successful districts, Acting Commission Cerf noted that a cost benefit analysis and serious debate need to occur on this issue because, in his words,  ‘If it ain't broke, don't fix it,” said Livingston School Board President Leslie Winograd said.

According to Cerf, “Where we ought to be putting all our political energy is not around that (boutiques), but where we ought to be putting all our political energy is that it is just unforgiveable that we live in a country based on the premise of equality of opportunity and we’re not actually acting on that. That if you are poor, and poor urban, and typically of color, you are being failed by the system and you are not going to get an equal chance at life.”