Here is an ad last month from College Achieve Public Schools (CAPS), a public charter school network in New Jersey with campuses in Paterson, Plainfield, and Asbury Park

Just one problem: The New Jersey Department of Education, whose Commissioner is the sole authorizer of public charter schools, has not approved an expansion for CAPS in Jersey City. CAPS is urging parents to register their kids for a school that doesn’t yet exist.

And, at a time of growing awareness of the “steady erosion” of America’s K-12 schools during the last dozen years (NJ is no exception) and our lack of success in giving students the skills they need to succeed in college and the workplace, CAPs taints a whole sector of alternative public options for families, especially those who can’t just pick up and move to another district.

Now, let’s be generous: Perhaps leaders of CAPS got a little ahead of their skis in their eagerness to start up a new school in a district where two out of three students can’t do math at grade level (although statewide it’s a mediocre 42%). But surely they know the application process for new charters in NJ* wouldn’t give an aspiring applicant a final answer until July 2027 so no one is “enrolling now,” as the ad says. (The DOE received an application for a CAPS in Jersey City but a review of press releases, public notices, charter application records, and news coverage found no record that the state has approved it.)

The consequence of CAPS’ apparent false advertising reflects poorly on its management. But it’s worse than that because they’re running the risk of making all NJ charters look bad. These schools, after all, serve as lifelines for many low-income families stuck in low-performing school districts. Newark, which has more charter school students (over 21,000) than any other NJ city, is the #1 public charter school sector in the country. outperforming the state average in reading proficiency two years in a row (despite far less funding per pupil). In Camden, our second largest sector, charter school students are 2.3 times more likely to read at grade level than their peers in the city’s district schools. In Trenton, where only 8% of district students are proficient in math, one of the city’s charter schools, Foundations Academy, has the highest growth rate in math in the entire state.

It’s hard to escape the conclusion that CAPS’ advertising — which is at best presumptuous and at worst duplicitous— is messing with other charters’ sterling reputations. It’s not unfair to point out here that, unlike the vast majority of NJ charter schools, CAPS’ reputation is not unblemished, especially the Asbury Park location where an investigation found school leaders “violated public contracting laws and nepotism policies and put a private organization in control of its operations without state approval.” (In a NJ quirk, former Lieutenant Governor Dale Caldwell was the head of the CAPS Asbury Park school board.)

I suppose the “why” doesn’t matter. In New Jersey, public charter schools are one of the very few ways low–income families have a shot at educational opportunities that don’t require entrée into posh gated enclaves that segregate high-performing traditional schools. Let’s protect that choice.

* This is the process for charter approvals in NJ, which is not mysterious. The state runs two application rounds each year. In the March round, applications are due March 31 and decisions come Sept. 30 for schools that would open the following fall. In the expedited October round, applications are due Oct. 15 and decisions come by Feb. 15 for schools opening that same fall, and that round is limited to proven operators.

1. Phase One application. Applicants submit to the department, county offices and the affected school district.
2. Public and district comment. The local school board and the public can weigh in. Each district has 60 days from receipt to submit comments to the Commissioner.
3. Qualified applicant notice. The state tells applicants whether they may advance.
4. Phase Two application. A deeper submission from applicants that advance.
5. In-depth interview. The founding team meets with state reviewers.
6. Initial decision. The Commissioner approves or denies.
7. Preparedness review. Approved applicants must show they have the academic, fiscal and organizational pieces in place before a charter is granted and the school can open.
8. Final charter. For the current cycle, final approval is scheduled for July 15, 2027, and only for applicants that complete the preparedness process. Those that don’t are notified by the department.