Charter school awaits decision from state
E.B. board opposes school due to budget, other concerns
BY BRIAN DONAHUE Staff Writer
The state Department of Education is scheduled to render a decision next week on a charter school application that is being opposed by East Brunswick's Board of Education.

The Hatikvah International Academy Charter School would use a curriculum developed by the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO) and teach Hebrew as a second language. The program would incorporate the New Jersey Core Curriculum Standards while basing its framework on an IBO model that challenges children "to cultivate their creativity and develop into innovators and risk takers," according to the proposal.

"While public schools offer different honors and accelerated courses, International Baccalaureate programs are fully inclusive curriculum pathways," according to the school's petition. "Drawing on research and practices from a variety of national systems, the program provides students with challenging educational frameworks for each age and ability level. Students learn how to critically evaluate information, while also learning facts and complex concepts. Students are prepared for higher education by encouraging inquiry-based lessons and activities, while developing a sense of self, culture, identity, and communication. The culmination is an education that is sought-after by the world's leading universities."

The school, if approved next week, could open in September 2010 for 108 students in kindergarten through second grade. It would be open to students from any town, but would give preference to East Brunswick residents if there are more applications than seats available. Like all charter schools, Hatikvah would be publicly funded, with no tuition payments.

"We want to create a public school that offers the world to our students, through the International Baccalaureate curricular framework and a partially immersive environment of a foreign language, Hebrew," Yair Nezaria, one of the school's founders, said in an email. "Parents today know that every advantage gained as a child will help our children reach their full potential as adults. No program in this country offers IB and a partially immersive foreign language of Hebrew. This unique combination of learning tools and skills will support our children's growth into well-rounded individuals prepared to contribute in a significant and positive way to American society."

But the East Brunswick Board of Education, as well as a group of residents who supplied the state with a petition signed by 200 township residents in April, opposes the school. The board submitted its response to the application last spring, shortly after the proposal was filed. The board offered numerous reasons for the state to reject the application, stressing the potential impact on its budget and raising questions about the school's focus.

"The title [of the school] implies a broad focus on the cultures of the world in order to meet the needs of an East Brunswick community that is culturally diverse. However, it is clear from the application that only the Jewish culture and the Hebrew language will be the center of instruction," according to the board's response, signed by Superintendent of Schools Jo Ann Magistro and board President Todd Simmens. "… Even the name of the proposed school, Hatikvah, the name of the national anthem of the State of Israel, illustrates the very narrow 'international' focus on Israel. We believe that the proposed focus on Jewish culture and the Hebrew language is at odds with the spirit of public school education in multicultural New Jersey and specifically East Brunswick, where the citizenry is very diverse."

The proposed school, according to the board, is designed to serve a primarily Jewish constituency and would have the effect of factionalizing the community.

Nezaria said such claims demonstrate a lack of understanding about the school's mission and vision. The school would teach Hebrew as a partial immersion language, "with supporting study of Hebrew culture, [and] an emphasis on incorporating the multi-cultural perspective of a diverse student body."

"Hatikvah will not be a religious school; it will be fully dedicated to upholding the sanctity of the separation of church and state," Nezaria said. "The concern around separation of church and state appears to be based on a misguided notion that Hebrew is inextricably linked to the Jewish religion. However, this is a misconception. There are many partial language immersion charter schools in this country, schools that teach Spanish, Russian or French, for example, and there has been little or no concern that these schools would blur the line between church and state."

The Board of Education noted that there are already several private schools in the area for parents who want their children to have a sectarian education, naming the Solomon Schechter Day School of Raritan Valley, Ryders Lane, as an example of a K- 8 Hebrew immersion program that is a finalist for national designation as a Blue Ribbon School.

The Hatikvah proposal calls for full-day kindergarten for 44 children, which is an issue for the school board, since the township only provides a half-day program due to cost and facility issues. Many working parents currently enroll their children in tuition paid full-day private kindergarten programs, and hundreds pay for childcare for the half day that their child is not in school, according to the board. Those same parents, the board noted, would now also be paying for full-day kindergartners for 44 students at the charter school.

Nezaria said the school's founders know that many families are interested in full-day kindergarten, and want to meet their needs.

"I can't speak to the township's cost and facility factors, but we anticipate that our facility will be able to accommodate the students in a full-day program, and as a result, we structured our budget to allow for the full-day program, in accordance with the needs of many East Brunswick families," he said.

The tax impact of the proposal is not clear. New Jersey law dictates that the local school district pays the charter school for each student enrolled, equal to 90 percent of the district's own school budget per student for each grade level. The school board estimates it would have to budget more than $1 million for the charter school's 108 students in 2010, but projects that the annual payment will increase to $2.6 million for 240 students in 2013. Since the school board must comply with the state's annual cap on tax increases, it could have to cut its own programs, which "would jeopardize the public school educational program," according to the board.

Nezaria said the school's founders found no data indicating that the presence of a charter school has negatively impacted taxes or the local school board budget elsewhere in New Jersey. He noted that the state educates charter school students for approximately 10 percent less than those in public schools, and the school board still receives a portion of the state aid that would have been allocated for those students, even though the board does not have to provide services to them.

"To keep things in perspective, Hatikvah is only expected to offer space for a maximum of 108 students its first year, out of the approximately 8,000 students in the East Brunswick public school system. Accordingly, Hatikvah's student population would represent roughly 1 percent of the total township school population and ultimately would have a negligible impact, if any, on the school district budget, and therefore, on local taxes," Nezaria said.

The school board also took issue with "the reported list of 302 active signatures" on petitions filed with the charter school application, saying they show only 81 names. Of those, 13 are not East Brunswick residents, nine have children too old to attend the school, and 25 have incomplete information, leaving 47 expressing interest in writing, according to the board. Also, the board said the signatures include 44 names of parents who pay tuition to send their 95 children to Jewish private or nonprofit schools. The board concluded that Hatikvah would "serve the parochial desires of one segment of the East Brunswick multicultural community."

According to Nezaria, the school's online petition included 150 signatures of families that could directly benefit from the school, along with others who supported the concept. He said the list has since grown to more than 400 signatures, and that they represent diverse groups in the community.

"We have 108 spots for the first year, in grades K-2, and since the filing of the application, the demand has greatly outweighed that supply," Nezaria said. "The more that people learn about and understand the mission and vision of Hatikvah, the more we have found people excited about the possibilities Hatikvah has to offer."

Residents opposed to the application present many of the same reasons listed by the board. Liti Haramaty said she too questions the school's compliance with separation of church and state regulations, among other concerns.

"They claim that Hebrew is an important language for international business, but the fact is that less than 7 million people in the world speak modern Hebrew, and the majority of them speak at least one other language," said Haramaty, a native of Israel. "Clearly, it is not an important language to improve anyone's success in business, although it will be very helpful for anyone wishing to have a conversation with my mother …"

The school's founders disagree, arguing that Hebrew is considered a critical language by federal government standards, and that like Greek and Latin, has influenced many languages in Western culture.

"From an economic and global perspective," the charter school's literature states, "Hebrew is becoming increasingly relevant in the world of international business as Israel's influence in the world markets continues to expand; Israel is second only to the United States in having the greatest number of companies listed on the NASDAQ exchange …"