By Geoffrey Wertime, Staff Writer
FLORENCE — With school budget season in full swing, the district is working on calculating a new charter school into the mix.
In New Jersey, school districts are required to pay 90 percent of the per-pupil cost for a student in the district for each student at a charter school. For instance, that means a first-grader at the planned Riverbank Charter School of Excellence would receive 90 percent of the funding of a first-grade student at Roebling Elementary School.
In the 2008-09 school year, the district’s estimated cost per pupil is $10,657 for grades one through five.
This is only true for charter school students who reside within the district. Riverbank Charter School co-founder and business administrator Debra Pontiero said the school already has reached its limit of 11 out-of-district students for its first year.
Riverbank received approval from state Commissioner of Education Lucille E. Davy in October last year. It is slated to open in the 2009-10 school year with two classes of kindergarten, first and second grades with 36 students in each grade for a total of 108 pupils.
In the 2010-11 school year, the student body is expected to increase to 144 when it adds two third-grade classes.
The school will have nine full-time teachers and two full-time teacher assistants, according to the school’s Web site. Superintendent Louis Talarico said last week that the district originally submitted its budget without considering the impact of Riverbank and came in under the state-mandated 4 percent tax increase cap, but then had to do a separate review to include the new school.
He said the projections of attendance are uncertain because they are based on nonbinding letters of interest from parents.
“What makes it even more difficult is you don’t know until later when the school opens in September what their numbers actually turn out to be,” he said. “So we won’t know the real numbers until probably after the budget is put together so we have to project whatever the estimate is because, otherwise, if it’s overreached, we’ll be obligated to come up with the money.”
Ms. Pontiero, however, said the district doesn’t have a firm grasp on the enrollment process of charter schools.
“Right now, the first year, there are 108 students that could possibly come from Florence Township,” she said. “We already told them there would be 11 children from outside of the district so, really, they’re supposed to be budgeting on 97 (students).”
Riverbank’s administrators already have held three information sessions about the school, sent out 97 enrollment forms to interested parents and received more than 50 responses, Ms. Pontiero said.
“I think for (the district) the worst-case scenario should be budgeting for 97; they think it should be 108,” she said. “If we did not fill the second-grade classes, that’s when the number they’re budgeting for might be a little less.”
Enrollment for the upcoming year will be direct, she added, while a lottery may be held for the 2010-11 school year.
Dr. Talarico also said charter schools usually open in larger school districts with the funds to accommodate them, which need another school to “relieve the pressure” from crowded classrooms.
“It’s a very unique situation for coming into a community and school district here,” he said, “but they obviously have done it in other places so very little can be done.”
Ms. Pontiero disagreed about the placement of charter schools.
“Really, it just so happens that a lot of charter schools started opening up in urban areas because those are the areas parents…would be more apt to move kids out of (the public schools),” she said.
School choice, she said, is the driving force behind opening a charter school. With the closing of the Holy Assumption School in Roebling in 2006, the public school system has been the only choice for parents looking to keep their children in Florence.
“So we thought in order to provide the parents a choice in Florence, we would look at having a charter school,” she said.
Ms. Pontiero, of Lawrenceville, and fellow Riverbank co-founder Beth Kelley, of Roebling, have worked in charter schools before. Ms. Pontiero founded the Pace School in Hamilton Township in 1999 and serves as its business administrator, and Ms. Kelley is a special education teacher and the child study team coordinator there.
Next year, Ms. Pontiero will serve as business administrator for both schools while Ms. Kelley will leave Pace to be the lead person and principal at Riverbank.
Dr. Talarico said there is no way for Florence to appeal the opening of the new school and still is awaiting state aid figures.
The district plans to introduce its budget Monday, March 30.
“As a professional educator, this is the deck we’re dealt; really nothing can be done,” Dr. Talarico said, adding the rules for districts with charter schools “don’t reflect” Florence.
“We’re working hard to focus on the excellent services that we provide and the reputation we’re getting. But to say that it’s been an easy few months would be (overstating) it.”
Ms. Pontiero said she disagreed with Dr. Talarico’s assessment of the situation.
“Everyone always says that,” she said. “I understand they’re upset because it’s something new, but in the long run, I think they’ll find it beneficial. Charter schools have been around since 1998. Not one district has closed up because of a charter school. If anything, it helps them step up to their game because there’s someone else in town who’s providing much the same as they are.”
She also expressed a rosier view of the situation.
“We’re really happy with the response that we’ve had,” she said. “Everything’s going along very well, and we’re excited.”
The school will hold an information session Saturday, March 14, at 10 a.m. at 1238 Hornberger Ave. in the Roebling section of the township. More information about Riverbank is available at www.riverbank.charter.k12.nj.us.
The Department of Education defines a charter school as a public school open to all students on a space-available basis that is funded by taxpayers but operates independently of the district Board of Education under a charter granted by the state commissioner.
Once the charter is approved by the commissioner, the school is managed by a board of trustees deemed to be public agents authorized by the Department of Education to supervise and control the school.
The 62 charter schools operating in the state are receiving $247.9 million in state aid. Total enrollment for New Jersey’s charter schools is approximately 16,000, according to the state DOE Web site.

