Charter School Approved for Voorhees Students
UPDATE DECEMBER 3, 2011
Read the Op-Ed letter from the Superintendents of Voorhees, Cherry Hill and Somerdale titled: Don't force taxpayers to fund charter schools
Hear Governor Chris Christie responds to an inquiry from a Cherry Hill resident as to why charter schools are being approved in successful school districts. He responded that while the charter school law allows for the approval of charter schools throughout the state, his preference would be that charter schools be approved only in failing districts. Click HERE to listen to an audio clip of the question and answer; or click HERE to access the audio from the NJ101.5 website (the question comes approximately 2 minutes into Segment 3).
The New Jersey Department of Education released the names of outside persons brought in by the DOE to review charter school applications. Click HERE for an ACLU-NJ press release and HERE for the reviewers' names
UPDATE NOVEMBER 22, 2011
-The district has filed a notice of intent to appeal the Commissioner of Education's approval of the Regis Academy Charter School. This has been filed in Superior Court of New Jersey - the Appellate Division.
-The Board of Education authorized the board attorney and the administration to take all necessary steps to appeal the decision in the matter of the Grant of the Charter School Application of the Regis Academy Charter School.
-Two resolutions were unanimously approved that object to two new charter school applications for the school year 2012 - 2013: Resolution Objecting to the Creative Studies Charter School Application
UPDATE NOVEMBER 1, 2011A new Charter School Application for the Creative Studies Charter School in Voorhees was recently received by the Board of Education. This application is currently under review.
Today, the district received guidance from the New Jersey Department of Education that $1,911,598 are the estimated funds to be diverted from the Voorhees Public School to the Creative Studies Charter School if approved by the state in January 2012.
When you add the already approved Regis Academy Charter School set aside of $727,472 to $1,911,598 you have a total of $2,639,070 that will be taken from the 2012 - 2013 K-8 School Budget.
Local charter school approvals will directly impact upon the Voorhees Township Public Schools. The district could be forced to eliminate programs, reduce staff and increase class size.
The Board of Education is working to ensure that our public schools are able to educate all children in Voorhees at the level of excellence that our community expects.
OCTOBER 27, 2011The New Jersey Department of Education recently approved the application of the Regis Academy Charter School to open in September 2012. Regis Academy Charter school will attract students from Voorhees, Cherry Hill, Lawnside and Somerdale.
The financial implications of this charter school upon the Voorhees Township Public Schools is significant.
Our school district will be required to set aside $727,472 from the school district budget for the 2012-2013 school year to support a charter school approved by the New Jersey Department of Education. Funding for charter schools comes out of the local school budget and is borne by the local taxpayer. The local school board and taxpayers have no say in whether a charter school can open or not and draw students from their district.
The Voorhees Board of Education was notified in October of 2010 and March of 2011 that an application had been submitted for a publicly funded charter school to open in Cherry Hill that would draw an estimated 63 students from the Voorhees School district. The Board of Education objected to the approval of the Regis Charter School and submitted letters outlining its concerns about the school, as did the other three sending districts Cherry Hill, Somerdale, and Lawnside.
A resolution was passed by the BOE objecting to the approval of the application.
Click
here to read the Regis Charter School application.
Click
here to read the resolution.
Click
here to read the objection filed in May 2011.
The Board of Education along with Cherry Hill, Somerdale and Lawnside are reaching out to legislators, Department of Education and local officials to appeal the approval of this charter school.
Two new charter school applications were recently received by the Board of Education that would also open for the 2012 - 2013 school year. These applications are in the process of review.
