By MICHAEL NUNES
Staff Writer
RED BANK — New Jersey Commissioner of Education David Hespe denied the expansion request of the Red Bank Charter School, according to a member of the borough board of education.
The Red Bank Charter School is disappointed in the Department of Education’s decision to deny expansion to the charter school. This is a missed opportunity to have served Red Bank and an increased number of its economically disadvantaged students via the weighted lottery,” said Principal Meredith Pennotti in a press release.
Before the decision came down from the state, the borough schools and charter school sparred over flyer sent out by the Red Bank Charter School.
The flyer presented information leading the reader to believe there would be minimal to no impact on the borough schools as a result of the expansion, that would see the population of the charter school double to 400 by the 2018-19 school year.
Red Bank Public Schools Superintendent Jared Rumage hit back at a flyer sent to residents from the Red Bank Charter School containing what he calls “inaccurate” information on the impact a proposed enrollment expansion would have on the district.
“Regardless of all other factors and false claims which have repeatedly been refuted, there is only one crucial point when considering this expansion: Any expansion to the charter school will decimate the Red Bank Borough Public Schools,” Rumage wrote in a letter that was posted on the school district’s website.
The flyer, titled “Red Bank Charter School Expansion Facts and Application,” is written in both English and Spanish and presents information showing that a doubling in the school’s enrollment to 400 students would not have an effect on the finances of the district schools.
The State Commissioner of Education, David Hespe, was expected to make a decision on the expansion at the end of February.
In a letter posted to the school district website, Rumage refuted the figures on the flyer.
The charter school flyer claims that residents save $541,054 in taxes because of the school’s existence.
Rumage contends that through maintenance, salaries, facility costs and debt service, the district would save $851,000 if the charter school did not exist.
The flyer also noted that increasing the charter’s school population by 200 would help students in the “overcrowded” Borough schools saying that “overcrowding will lead to increased taxes in order to build more facilities to accommodate the growing population of students.”
According to Rumage,the district “comfortably” accommodates its 1,110 K-8 students at Red Bank Middle School and Red Bank Primary School.
“The district is not overcrowded, and we have no plans to purchase, lease or construct an additional facility,” he wrote.
At the bottom of the flyer, the charter school writes that the expansion would not cause taxes to increase.
Rumage responded by saying that the increase would force the district to hit the 2 percent cap on taxes, and even with that the district would be in bad shape.
“The district will be forced to make significant and devastating cuts to staff and educational programs,” he said.
The flyer also included an application for admission to the charter school with a deadline of April 25. The enrollment lottery date is April 28.