Stop Hatikvah's Runaway Statewide Expansion
New Jersey Education Commissioner David Hespe
New Jersey charter law does not allow for statewide charter schools. But the NJDOE is currently considering an expansion request for Hatikvah International Academy Charter School, and Hatikvah is acting like a statewide charter school. Hatikvah was approved to serve only East Brunswick, but pulls students from 27 other districts across the state.
Now Hatikvah wants to expand to pull new students from even more districts - we need your help to stop the expansion.
Hatikvah has epically failed to fill their seats with students from East Brunswick, with only 50% of their student body originating from the only district they are approved to serve. As a result, to remain financially viable and keep their doors open, Hatikvah has begun to draw students from dozens and dozens of districts they are not approved to serve. They have in essence become a statewide charter school, even though state law has no provisions to allow such charters, and no regulations to oversee them.
And unbelievably, even though Hatikvah knows that the majority of the seats created by their expansion will be filled by out of district students, they are not required to notify the other 27 districts. Most of these districts therefore have no idea that they will lose additional funds. They have been provided no notice of the expansion by the state or the charter, and they will not be afforded the opportunity to weigh in on the state’s decision.
The state is not only turning a blind eye to Hatikvah's quasi-statewide charter status, they are enabling the process that allows Hatikvah to raid the budgets of these voiceless districts.
We must protect our schools and our funding. We must demand that this request for statewide expansion is denied and that no further expansion requests be granted.
Please sign the petition below and demand that Commissioner David Hespe stop Hatikvah's runaway statewide expansion.
Sponsored by
To:
New Jersey Education Commissioner David Hespe
From:
[Your Name]
Please deny the expansion request submitted by Hatikvah International Academy Charter School in East Brunswick. Hatikvah has epically failed to attract sufficient interest in the district they are approved to serve. To compensate for this failure, they are actively recruiting students from other districts to fill their seats. Hatikvah currently serves students from 28 districts in 7 counties.
Hatikvah recently sent direct mail advertisements to several districts outside of their district of residence in an attempt to recruit students to fill the middle school seats they were awarded in their previous expansion. Despite assurances in their previous application that there was sufficient community demand, Hatikvah's 6th grade class remains under-enrolled by 30%, with only 35 of 50 available seats filled.
Hatikvah is operating their charter in a manner that is not spelled out in the state's charter school law. There is no provision that allows for the operation of a statewide charter school, and no regulations have been drafted to oversee their operation.
Despite this failure to attract sufficient enrollment from their district of residence, their inability to fill the seats in their 6th grade class, and their need to pull students from around the state to reach enrollment targets, Hatikvah has submitted yet another request to dramatically expand their enrollment. Their application implicitly states that they expect only 4 of the 50 new seats created next year will be filled by East Brunswick students.
Hatikvah's acknowledgement that 92% of the burden of the expansion will fall on districts that they have not been approved to serve is egregious. Hatikvah has given these districts no notice of the expansion, and these districts have no legal standing in the state's decision.
One thing is abundantly clear. If Hatikvah was forced to enroll students only from the district they are approved to serve, they would cease to exist for lack of enrollment. In Hatikvah's original application to the state for approval in 2009 they stated, "non-district enrollment is not projected." Fast forward to 2015, and half of their enrollment is coming from the "non-district enrollment" they didn't project.
It's hard to see how your department can justify allowing Hatikvah to expand for the second year in a row under these circumstances. I therefore urge you to deny the expansion request submitted by Hatikvah International Academy Charter School.