East Brunswick BOE Urges Commissioner to Reject Hatikvah Expansion

"Four years of enrollment evidence makes it obvious that the proposed expansion of the charter school would serve no East Brunswick residents," the Board of Education said in a prepared statement. "However, as the proposed single 'district of residence,' such an expansion, if approved would burden the East Brunswick Public Schools and taxpayers with an additional cost in excess of $1 million dollars annually, to provide services to what would be solely non-district residents."

A charter school is a public school operated under a charter by the Commissioner of Education. Charter schools operate independently of the local Board of Education and are managed by a board of trustees.

Charter schools can’t charge tuition and enrollment is done on a space-available basis.  Funding for charter schools comes from local tax dollars; 90 percent of public tax dollars per student follow a child from the district they reside in to finance the charter school. The remaining 10 percent is retained by the home district.

In a statement sent to Commissioner Cerf, the BOE questioned how an expansion would serve East Brunswick as the designated residence district for the charter school.

"Over the past three years, only 19 students who have ever attended an East Brunswick Public School have transferred to (Hatikvah), while 49 students who have attended (Hatikvah) have transferred back to one of our eight elementary schools," the statement read. "Clearly (Hatikvah) overestimated the need for and community interest in a charter school as an alternative to the existing East Brunswick Public Schools."

According to the East Brunswick BOE, the expansion of Hatikvah would cause serious financial harm to the East Brunswick School District, while serving students from outside of the township. 

"The Hatikvah International Charter School, with its proposed continuance status as 'single residence school,' has over the past four years created and continues to create an educational and financial hardship for East Brunswick," the BOE statement read. "The New Jersey Department of Education has required the East Brunswick Public School District to budget a cumulative $6,243,940.00 from the 2010-2011 through 2013-2014 fiscal years to fund the Hatikvah International Academy Charter School.

"For example, in the first year of the charter school forward funding requirements of the entire first year of the school exceeded the district’s cap increase and resulted in the necessity for East Brunswick to cut its entire elementary world language program for over 3,000 students and to reduce teaching staff in other areas. Each year since, forward funding the gap between actual enrollment and approved enrollment has resulted in a significant portion of the district’s allowable 2 percent increase be obligated to forward fund the charter school."

The board claimed that an approval of the proposed expansion would cost East Brunswick schools and township taxpayers, about $1.1 million in additional funds, which comprises 46 percent of the district’s cap increase of approximately $2.2 million from the district’s 2014-15 budget, to fund students who would not otherwise attend an East Brunswick school.

"This is in addition to the estimated district’s budget obligation of $2,130,450 to fund the K-5 students who live in East Brunswick and attend the charter school, which is an increase of $304,350 over 2013-14. This increase must also be absorbed in within the 2 percent budget cap," the board said.

While the district has expressed concern over the loss of funds due to Hatikvah's expansion, the charter school claims the board has wasted thousands of dollars harassing the school at every turn, including a lawsuit where the state Supreme Court upheld the validity of Hatikvah’s charter.

“This puts a welcome end to East Brunswick’s blatant waste of tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars and puts control of our education dollars back in the hands of East Brunswick’s families, empowering them to choose what kind of public school is best for their children," said Hatikvah Board Member and spokeswoman Pam Mullin of the court ruling in a statement on the school's web site. "We just hope this definitive ruling will also end the unproductive and unjustified harassment we have received from the East Brunswick school board, so we can get on with our shared mission of providing great schools for every child in our town.”

In protesting the expansion proposal, the Board of Education stated Hatikvah does not offer a meaningful alternative to the programs currently offered in East Brunswick schools.

"During the past four years, the Charter School curriculum has also morphed in many ways into a mirror of the curriculum in the eight East Brunswick elementary schools," read a statement from the board. "The centerpiece of their new application is the adoption of the Columbia Teacher’s college Workshop program, assessed and guided by using Fauntas and Pinells Running Records to assess and guide instruction. The Columbia Workshop Model for Reading and Writing has been the East Brunswick curriculum for more than 15 years, with the use of Fauntas and Pinell running record assessment.

"Our teachers are not only extensively trained in this program, but a number of our hold master’s degrees from the program. The math and science programs as described also appear to parallel our programs."

In closing, the board stated the proposed expansion would obligate East Brunswick to fund a school for non-East Brunswick residents that threatens the ability of township schools to maintain its programs, meet contractual obligations and to address increasing enrollment and security.