Newark's Charter Schools Can Expand, N.J. Supreme Court Says

New Jersey's highest court has upheld the expansion of seven Newark charter schools greenlit by the state's Education Commissioner more than four years ago. The ruling comes after the Education Law Center, a Newark-based nonprofit, contested the decisions arguing they would saddle traditional public schools with the neediest students and drain the district's budget. 

In a unanimous decision, the judges ruled that the nonprofit and the local School Board, which joined the suit, didn't show how the district had been financially harmed. The ruling did, however, find the commissioner's approvals "deficient" for failing to consider how increasing charter enrollment would impact racial segregation as well as affect English language learners and students with disabilities. 

But given that more students are already attending the charter schools, the court declined to rescind the expansion decision and said considerations of racial impact should be made moving forward. 

"Rather than kicking thousands of students out of the schools that they love, the court recognizes what the  Education Law Center fails to understand: public charter schools are an integral part of the education ecosystem in Newark and the continued expansion of Newark charters has improved the quality of the overall public education system in the city, " Harry Lee, president of the New Jersey Public Charter Schools Association said in a statement. 

The ruling also said the Education Law Center and the School Board, which joined the lawsuit, didn't show how the district had suffered financially from increased charter growth. 

David Sciarra, executive director of the Education Law Center, said in a statement that the group would "step up its efforts to work with district officials across the state to ensure they understand their responsibility to bring forward evidence of the fiscal impacts of charter schools and provide them with the tools they need to analyze and make public those impacts."