Newark School Advisory Board chairman Rashon Hasan… said he felt that efforts to stem the expansion of charters were unlikely to bear fruit given the demand from families. 

“It is a basic civil right that every child in Newark be afforded a high quality education,” said Rashon K. Hasan, MBA, School Advisory Board Member. “That means that our children must have access to the best teachers, the best technology, and the best facilities. Parents should not be forced to accept a subpar education for their children. If we fail our children today we can only blame ourselves if they stumble and fail our city in the future. As leaders we should be developing a plan to improve education for every child in Newark while working diligently to create opportunities instead of stripping them away. Whether it’s a traditional public school or charter school, every school in Newark must be a great school. We owe this to our children and we owe this to our city!” 

Until recent years, Newark Public Schools had a monopoly on public education in the city of Newark, but the emergence of charter schools has created a competitive environment for market share among providers…We acknowledge that the expansion and growth of charter schools has provided a broader variety of school options but we also know that this variety comes at a steep price: declining enrollment in traditional schools means enormous financial pressure on the district and is the root cause for employee lay-offs and reduction in per-pupil resources.