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Christie Approves New Charter Schools in New Jersey
posted by: Alix | January 20, 2011, 04:37 PM   

As a champion of education reform, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has made good on his promise to expand charter schools in the Garden State. This week the Christie administration approved 23 new charter schools ranging from traditional schools, to single-sex learning environments and an online learning school.

"We cannot ask children and families that have been relegated to failing public schools to wait any longer for relief while their hope is stolen away," Christie said in his address from Robert Treat Academy in Newark, one of the state's most successful charter schools. The time was now to act on expanding school choice options according to the Governor.

Seventeen of the schools approved will open this coming September, bringing the charter school total in New Jersey to 97 schools. The additional schools are expected to open the following year.

In an effort to streamline the application process and decrease the headaches associated with starting a charter school, the Christie administration vowed last year to allow local school boards the authority to approve charters.

These new schools will have various specialties and focuses, including a Hebrew-language immersion school, a school that will team up with the Liberty Science Center on a curriculum emphasizing math, engineering, technology and science; and a school for students with autism all scattered throughout the state. Other charter schools will focus on helping struggling students, seek to emphasize a particular subject, or incorporate online learning techniques.

Despite the hope of perhaps expanding on traditional learning environments, union officials are quick to bash the move. "Charter schools are not a panacea," NJEA Spokesman Steve Baker said. "You don't have a successful school just by putting charter on the name."

While expanding charter schools is not a cure-all, it is certainly a step in the right direction of creating a 21st century education system. New Jersey is once again ahead of the curve with expanding on school choice options and seeking to create a system that caters to parents and students.

Do you support New Jersey's expansion of charter schools?
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