NJ School Boards Association Changes Policy on Charter Schools

The New Jersey School Boards Association on Saturday overwhelmingly approved an emergency resolution from Princeton Regional Board of Education to change the association’s policy on charter schools.

The association's policy now states that charter schools should have voter approval before opening and that voters and school boards should have input into charter school decisions.

The resolution was approved by NJSBA’s 115-member delegate assembly by a 90 percent vote at its meeting in Trenton on Saturday.

The vote clears the way for the state association to lobby the state legislature to support passage of similar legislation.

Rebecca Cox, president of the Princeton Board of Education, said she was pleased by the delegation’s vote.

“We now basically feel that we pay twice as much to educate students in a charter school than in one of our own districts,” Cox said, referring not only to the per pupil funding that follows each charter school student, but also to the disproportionate number of special education and special needs students left in the district schools and the money needed to support those students. 

“We also believe the local taxpayers need to be offered the choice of whether to have a charter school in the community,” Cox said.

Princeton Regional Schools have operated alongside the  for 14 years. Now the Princeton International Academy Charter School (PIACS) in South Brunswick is attempting to open at a Perrine Road location in September.