Governor Chris Christie and Education Commissioner Brett Schundler both took the opportunity of our annual conference to make strong statements in favor of charter schools in New Jersey.

 

The Governor noted the extraordinary success of charters, especially in our inner cities, and voiced strong support for the expansion of charters throughout the state. Commissioner Schundler spoke passionately about the role of charters in achieving social justice by providing all students with an opportunity for a high quality public education. The Commissioner also spent the day at the conference, meeting with school leaders and Association board members.

 

We look forward to continuing our productive dialogue with the Governor and the Commissioner, and we will work closely with them to support the growth of high quality charter schools throughout New Jersey.

 

Governor Christie signed into law Senate Bill 3 which, among other provisions, requires employees of boards of education to contribute 1.5 percent of their base salary toward the cost of health care coverage received under the State Health Benefits Program. This includes charter schools. Provisions are included to address schools with collective bargaining agreements that are still in effect. Schools that purchase insurance from outside the state system are not affected.

 

Consult your human resources specialist or board attorney for further review. Neither the Division of Pensions and Benefits nor Department of Community Affairs has issued their official interpretation of the legislation. We will provide timely updates on official interpretations as they become available. The reforms take effect on or about May 21, 2010.

 

The Association is in the process of collecting and analyzing charter school projected revenue data for 2010-11. Many schools are reporting losses in per pupil funding, and we are preparing the data needed to address the issue with Commissioner Schundler. We appreciate the prompt response of many school leaders who have provided their funding information in the form of the state-issued PDF reports available through the DOE's NJ Homeroom website. If your school has not yet provided this data, please do so as soon as possible via an e-mail to Rick Pressler. Please note that we need both your 2009-10 and 2010-11 aid data to complete the comparison. We will share our analysis as soon as possible.

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