Dispute centers on whether first-year school has met its required enrollment
The school board filed a motion last week with theAppellate Division of the Superior Court of New Jersey requesting the court to stay the charter school’s grant. It also requested that state Commissioner of Education Bret Schundler reverse his approval of the school.
According to Board of Education Attorney Matthew Giacobbe, either motion would result in the rescinding of Hatikvah’s approval and invalidate its grant funding. Giacobbe said the motions were filed due to the charter school’s failure to show that it has enrolled at least 90 percent of its approved maximum student enrollment, which is required for charter schools under New Jersey law.
“The charter school has not met regulatory requirements for projected enrollment for 2010-11,” Giacobbe said. “They were supposed to demonstrate that they have 90 percent of their projected enrollment, and because they have not fulfilled that requirement, the charter should not have been granted.”
Hatikvah International, which plans to offer a Hebrew language immersion program while focusing on an International Baccalaureate college preparatory curriculum, has been preparing to open its doors in September for students in kindergarten through second grade. This would include full-day kindergarten. The school is set to become the township’s first charter school, and the first public charter school in New Jersey to offer a Hebrew language program.
Hatikvah is to be housed at 367 Cranbury Road at the rear of the Trinity Presbyterian Church property when it first opens. Plans call for its permanent location to be built on the Y Country Day Camp grounds on Dutch Road.
The Hatikvah board has said that each classroom will be staffed with two state-certified teachers, for a maximum teacher-to-student ratio of 1 to 11 and a total of 13 teachers.
The school received final approval from the state Department of Education on July 7.
Giacobbe said the charter school was required to have provided enrollment figures by June 30 — a week before its approval — but that the estimates were never received.
“We asked for enrollment figures, but we were unable to get them verified by the school,” he said. “An auditor from the Department of Education notified us just last week that the numbers weren’t sufficient.”
Giacobbe said the school district had received some certified documents over the past few months, but not a full list. He noted that Hatikvah sent another letter to the school district with more enrollment information on Aug. 12. The attorney said the charter school’s maximum enrollment is 108 students, meaning that Hatikvah must enroll at least 97 students to comply with state requirements. The school currently has 68 students enrolled, Giacobbe said.
“The school board has standards for taxpayer money,” he said. “We need to make sure in the district that taxpayers’ money is scrutinized at every turn, and we need to make sure this charter school conforms with regulations.”
Hatikvah International Academy co-founder and board member Yair Nezaria countered the district’s argument, though he did not provide the exact number.
“In general, I can say that not only did we meet the required indistrict enrollment requirement by June 30, but we exceeded it, and the district knows that,” Nezaria said. “This lawsuit unfortunately appears to be an 11th-hour attempt by the East Brunswick Board of Education to deny an excellent school choice for children of East Brunswick, and to instill fear and anxiety into Hatikvah families. This is a financial issue for the district. By infusing this air of uncertainty, the district hopes to prevent Hatikvah from opening and to then be able to immediately reabsorb all the Hatikvah students into the district system.”
The charter school has been allotted $1.22 million in the Board of Education’s 2010-11 budget, which has been subject to extensive cuts due to a substantial loss in state aid.
“It’s a large sum of money for a handful of kids,” said school board President Todd Simmens. “We won’t get this money back. It’s coming straight out of the district budget, but our costs are not going down. There’s just not enough kids going to the charter school to make an impact.”
“It’s our job to look out for the taxpayers and the district,” he continued.
Hatikvah officials have said that the school will have no effect on the taxpayers. Nezaria described charter schools in general as a more cost-effective way of educating a child since they typically are not unionized and have lower administrative costs than their public district counterparts.
“Hatikvah is working with a lean budget out of necessity — charter school boards do not have the option like public school boards to raise taxes in order to meet their budget,” Nezaria has said. “Charter schools must balance their budget each and every year and live within their means. Consequently, Hatikvah has already raised $335,000 from private donors before even opening its doors.”
The school district is required to give the charter school 90 percent of its per-pupil funding for each student at the charter school. Nezaria said that means the district gets to keep 10 percent of that money for a child that it does not have to educate.
“Therefore, if on an average it costs East Brunswick $13,057 to educate a child, Hatikvah will receive only $11,324 per child, while the difference, $1,733 per child, remains with the district,” he said.
