Vid: Is New Jersey's Charter School Movement Faltering?
National School Choice Week kicks off its cross-country Whistle Stop Tour.
In 2013, the New Jersey Department of Education approved the opening of just three new charter schools statewide out of an applicant pool of 38. Have New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (R) and Education Commissioner Chris Cerf, who in the past have been outspoken supporters of school choice, lost interest? Currently, New Jersey has just 87 charter schools out of 2,492 public schools altogether.
"I'm concerned that a state as populous as New Jersey has so few charter schools compared to other areas of the country," says Larry Patton, who's the head of school at the Princeton Charter School. "There's a resistance to their growth that's pretty firm in New Jersey."
