Yesterday the New Jersey Assembly Appropriations Committee approved a bill, A4496, that would reform the Schools Development Authority, an agency that is responsible for constructing and maintaining school facilities in low-income “SDA” districts, formerly known as Abbott districts. One change that draws accolades from those who support public school choice and educational equity, especially for students trapped in low-performing districts, would allow the SDA to give loans at low interest rates to public charter schools, which are currently on their own in securing funding for facilities.

A4496 is sponsored by Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin and Assemblywoman Pamela Lampitt.

Currently 30 public charter buildings are over a hundred years old. The cost for necessary repairs is estimated at $1 billion, according to a a report released by the NJ Public Charter School Association (NJPCSA) and JerseyCAN. “The inclusion of public charter and renaissance schools in A4496/S3247,” says NJPCSA, “fundamentally comes down to EQUITY and FAIRNESS. Students who attend public charter schools are the same students who attend traditional district schools

The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools has long called out the inequity of New Jersey’s charter school law, which fails to provide facilities aid to charters in SDA districts..

Here’s more from NJPCSA, which tags its advocacy #SameKidsSameNeeds:

“Despite leaking pipes, broken boilers, crumbling roofs, crowded classrooms and an estimated $900 million in facilities needs, charters have never had access to facilities funding. Conversely, since 2000, New Jersey has invested over $17 billion in school construction for SDA districts, regular operating districts (RODs), and vocational schools. All while charter schools have been forced to pay for their school facilities through operating dollars, money that would otherwise be spent on teachers’ salaries and in the classroom.”

And,

Every public school student in New Jersey deserves to learn in a SAFE, HEALTHY, and SECURE school building.

Despite educating 1 in 5 public school students in New Jersey’s 31 poorest communities, public charter and renaissance schools have been excluded from funding for their facilities and have over $1 billion in facilities needs. Join us in urging Governor Murphy and the Legislature to address this long-overdue issue.

Worth noting: NJ Education Association lobbyists oppose the bill because charter schools cut into their market share. So does Education Law Center, which is supposed to represent the families in those 31 SDA districts. (From 2012-2020 NJEA funded ELC to the tune of $5.5 million, which is why some call ELC the “legal arm of NJEA.”)

Will the bill pass the Assembly? Will it pass the Senate? Will Gov. Murphy sign it? We’re in unknown territory here.

Here is a video that is part of NJCPSA’s outreach: