Riverbank Charter School expansion is not in Florence’s best interest

Debbie Reyes of Florence Township
To the editor:
   An expansion of the Riverbank Charter School is not in the best interest of Florence Township.
   I am a resident of Florence Township and my children attend township schools. Since the charter opened in 2009, the magnitude of cuts to programs and services has been overwhelming to our small district.
   Currently, we are forced to pay the charter more than $1.3 million a year for approximately 120 students.
   If the charter is allowed to expand against the wishes of the district, the district will be forced to set aside an additional $700,000 each year for approximately 70 more students.
   Programs already eliminated or reduced include all extracurricular activities and sports from middle school, most extracurricular activities, all freshman sports and many JV sports from high school, not the mention the reduction of staff, technology freeze, salary freeze and elimination of other programs from all three schools in our district.
   The funding of charter schools simply does not work in small districts like Florence Township. Chris Cerf, Department of Education commissioner, testified last week before the senate education committee that “the smaller the district’s budget is, the greater the impact a charter school has and that’s because certain costs are fixed, and certain costs are variable . . . therefore when you have a charter school in a smaller community it has a larger impact.”
   His comments were in response to questions asked of him by Senator Diane Allen specifically relating to the Riverbank Charter School.
   I am also outraged by the segregative effect the charter has on my district. The charter is segregating our district by race, income and special needs. 1 percent of charter students have special needs compared to 15 percent in the district.
   The charter also has only about half the percentage of African American and low-income students.
   Florence is not the only community impacted. Ten students from Mansfield attend the charter at a cost to their district of over $90,000 a year.
   The expansion will have a rippling effect on the community. How do we attract businesses and families into our community, maintain the value of our property and not see an increase in property taxes?
   By offering a top notch school district.
   The expansion will further limit our ability to do this. The charter opened without any input whatsoever from local taxpayers.
   Residents of Florence Township are not going to stand by and watch while the educational opportunities of our 1,700 school children are further limited in order to provide, essentially a private, segregated education to a handful of students.
   It is time to speak up, support our school district and all its students.
   Please consider signing our petition www.change.org/petitions/commissioner-chris-cerf-deny-riverbank-charter-school-s-expansion-application.
   A more detailed account of the charter school battle in Florence Township, written by education advocate, Darci Cimarusti can be found http://mothercrusader.blogspot.com/2013/01/charter-expansions-new-suburban-charter.html.
Debbie Reyes
Florence Township
The writer is a member of Speak Up Florence Township.