If residents eventually do get to vote on whether charter schools should open in their communities, they should consider carefully before pulling the lever.
At a Save Our Schools rally in front of the South Brunswick municipal building Tuesday night attended by parents and politicians from Princeton, West Windsor, Plainsboro and Hillsborough, they called on state lawmakers to vote to allow local referendums on opening charter schools in their respective communities.
According to the proposed legislation, these votes would take place during the annual school elections in April.
Those speaking said they wanted oversight of these publicly funded specialty schools to make sure they would be held accountable.
This makes sense, especially since the charter schools are given money that normally would go to the public schools.
Currently, only the state Department of Education can grant, deny or revoke the license of a charter school.
Allowing each community to decide if it the charter school’s mission is worthy of investing local tax dollars is democratic.
While a board of directors governs each of these schools, it does not report to the local board of education or to the taxpayers of the communities they rely on for the public dollars to operate.
In addition to allowing for a vote, perhaps the Legislature should make it mandatory that at least one of the member of local board of education sit as a non-voting member of the charter school’s board of directors.
This would allow the local school board some oversight on matters relating to the charter school and provide a check on how the school is doing as the year unfolds.
Such a system might make more people feel more at ease with the charter school and provide the accountability many taxpayers want to see.
As it is now, many parents and educators see charter schools, especially those with a very limited focus, as a drain on money from the public schools.
The proposed legislation would mean that groups seeking a charter school would have to present a campaign and educate voters on the value of what they are trying to accomplish and how their school would benefit a community or communities.
In some cases, the proposed charter school could be seen by parents as an opportunity to enrich their children in a way public education does not offer.
In the end, the goal should be to provide educational opportunities for all children in the community.
