Yesterday the Newark City Council, duly-elected representatives of Newark residents, passed a resolution that opposes Assembly bill 4351, sponsored by Patrick Diegnan and Mila Jasey, which would shut down all charter school growth for three years. Here’s Newark Councilman Anibal Ramos:

“On behalf of the children of our city, I want to congratulate my council colleagues who voted in favor of this resolution,” said Ramos, a former member of the Newark Public Schools Advisory Board and a strong supporter of quality public schools. “This is a vote that supports the children and families of our city. We have thousands of children in Newark alone who are on waiting lists to attend charter schools. The last thing the legislature should be doing is limiting their growth. What we need instead is legislation that would improve the monitoring of existing charter schools and allow quicker corrective action on those schools that are not performing well.”  

The press release on the 7-2 vote adds,

Newark has 20 charter schools enrolling more than 11,000 students. Charter schools are widely supported throughout Newark. A recent survey of 500 Newark residents conducted for the Newark Charter School Fund found that 71 percent support the expansion of the city’s public charter sector.