Hello Again. I'm Barbara Buono, the State Senate Majority Leader in New Jersey. You can learn more about me at www.BarbaraBuono.com
The original tea party in Boston Harbor was about taxation without representation. Today, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is pushing for a new form of taxation without representation: charter schools. While charter schools are publicly funded - in large part through property taxes - they are unlike traditional public schools whose budgets are voted upon by local taxpayers.
With charter schools there is no opportunity for local taxpayers to have a say over whether they want to pay for a new charter school that when opened, will draw students and scarce funding from traditional public schools. Allowing taxpayer funded charter schools to take advantage of a loophole letting them operate without voter approval makes no sense in these tough economic times.
Today, state funding for public schools has been slashed, parents are being charged to have their children play in the band or on the athletic field and property taxes continue to rise. Yet Governor Christie and Education Commissioner Cerf are encouraging, almost demanding, taxpayers take funds away from existing public schools and hand them over to charter schools without public approval and little or no oversight and accountability.
Even worse, the Governor's budget proposes the "elimination of certification requirements" for charter school employees. That means that teachers in these schools, which receive taxpayer dollars to operate, will not be subject to the same certification requirements as teachers in traditional public schools.
There are two unacceptable consequences from the governor's insistence of creating special rules for charter schools. The first is local school districts are being forced to cut existing programs and increase class size to pay for new, niche charter schools that serve only a few. The second undesirable outcome is taxpayer money is being misspent and mismanaged by unelected bureaucrats.
In East Brunswick, an exemplary school district, state aid for 2012 is $5 million below their state aid of 2008-2009. Cuts required to balance the budget with the 2% cap included eliminating 25 teaching positions, reducing 40 special education aides to half-time and eliminating the summer program for at-risk elementary students. The school district was also forced to increase class sizes at the elementary level.
Yet, despite the economic impact, the state pushed a new charter school on the district. The state then billed local taxpayers $11,324.31 for each of the 108 projected charter school enrollees for a total of $1,223,025 plus costs of transportation. The East Brunswick school district can't afford a full day kindergarten but its taxpayers are paying for the charter school's full day program.
In Trenton, a state approved charter high school was forced to close after misspending hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars. The charter school's reckless spending included thousands for stays in Atlantic City and overspending on other travel stipends. An audit also found that the school lacked a certified business administrator, leading to "gross mismanagement of public funds."
The audit also "revealed a weak educational program, lacking in rigor and not meeting the goals set forth in the school's charter." Little surprise, this charter school is now under investigation by the State Police.
Charter schools, if we are to proceed, must meet the same rigorous standards as every other publicly funded school. And they must be subject to the same voter approval and oversight. Taxpayers, students and parents deserve nothing less. There can't be one set of rules for the charter schools Governor Christie favors and another for the public schools he attacks.
Cross Posted on Blue Jersey