Furor in N.J. Over Charter School Space

The idea proffered by teacher union bosses that charter schools, sharing space with conventional public schools, would "set up the opportunity for "the haves and the have-nots" because some charter schools raise money from private donors" is outrageous and dishonest.

In New Jersey, public charter schools receive 90% of the per-student funding received by the conventional, district-run public schools.  The school districts also have established foundations and raise enormous amounts of money from corporate donors, private foundations and individuals, and unlike the public charter schools, their facilities are funded by state taxpayers.

The union bosses do, indeed, fear a contrast between "the haves and have-nots," but it is not the contrast they suggest.  It is instead the contrast between dedicated teachers who have made a sacrifice to work as professionals teaching in charter schools, and those teachers who work to the letter of the contract as a union member.  The labor union mentality is at the heart of public school failure.  It strips teachers of professionalism and turns them into laborers, and it punishes those who go the extra mile and show initiative and dedication.

There are public school teachers in New Jersey who secretly offer their students extra-help off-site; because were they to stay after school and work hours not specified in the contract, they would become the subject of union harassment.

The students of New Jersey should be thankful they finally have a governor who is standing up for them and against the self-serving union mob.

From The Wall Street Journal

By Barbara Martinez

The union representing Newark's teachers is rallying its members to what is expected to be a raucous meeting Tuesday night over whether charter schools should share space with traditional public schools.

"Say No to peaceful co-existence in the same school building!" said an e-mail that went out to all 4,800 teachers of the Newark Teachers Union asking them to appear at the regular meeting of the Advisory School Board.

The space battle is the first frontier of a system-wide restructuring effort spurred by a $100 million grant from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.

Over the past month, the school system, which is under the control of the Christie administration, began raising the possibility that charter schools could take over space in under-used public school buildings. Almost immediately, the teachers' union and others objected.

"There isn't going to be any way that there will be co-existence with charter schools while I'm breathing," Joseph Del Grosso, president of the NTU, said during an interview Monday.

He said sharing space sets up the opportunity for "the haves and the have-nots" because some charter schools raise money from private donors, which allows them to upgrade their part of the building.

"We're saying to kids: 'You don't get into the lottery and you're banished to the school down the hallway?' That's horrible, it's just wrong," he said.

Charter schools, which have more demand than spots, hold lotteries to determine entry. Thousands of children are on waiting lists in Newark.

Newark is following the path of New York City, which began similar space-sharing efforts about five years ago. Now a majority of New York City charters are in the same building as a traditional public school—a combination that still raises protest and fears of a two-tiered system.

In Newark, the arguments against sharing space are "adult issues involving adult interests and are quite removed from what parents want and kids need," said Christopher Cerf, acting New Jersey state education commissioner.

"What every parent is interested in is whether the school is going to be effective" and not whether it's a traditional or charter public school, he said.

About 14% of Newark students attend 15 charter schools, and that number is expected to increase to 19% in September, according to the Newark Charter School Fund.

One of the buildings that may get a new charter school is Camden Street Elementary School, whose enrollment totals 40% of what the building can hold.

Last year, 10% of its third graders were proficient in English, while 33% were proficient in math.

A spokeswoman for Newark public schools did not return a call for comment.

Great Oaks Charter School, one of seven new charters expected to open in Newark in September, will start with sixth and seventh grade and eventually have a high school.

"We are eager to serve students in Newark," said Michael Duffy, one of the school's founders and the former director of the charter school office in New York City. The school plans to grow in a building that will soon start construction, so "in the meantime, we need space to incubate," he said.

"These buildings were made to educate public school students" regardless of the governance structure of the school, said Carlos Lejnieks, chairman of the New Jersey Charter Schools Association.

He estimated that the 45,000 students in Newark schools is half the number it was decades ago.

Amid the conflict, officials are still looking for a new superintendent for Newark, where the position has been without a permanent occupant since February.

The president of the advisory board, Shavar Jeffries, said he's "not surprised that the union leadership would be opposed," to the idea of sharing space with charter schools, which generally don't have teachers unions.

"They seem to have done pretty well with the status quo. It's kids who haven't done well," said Mr. Jeffries, who will preside over Tuesday's meeting.

The union's Mr. Del Grosso said his opposition to sharing space has nothing to do with whether charters have unions.

"That's ridiculous. I've been offered money" from his affiliated national organization, the American Federation of Teachers, "to bring them into the union and I refused. I don't want them."