Bill lets ailing N.J. parochial schools turn into secular charter schools
Published: Tuesday, September 27, 2011, 8:45 AM
Teacher Andre David, center, works on a language arts tutorial with two seventh-grade students at the Great Oaks Charter School in Newark.TRENTON — Some New Jersey parochial schools facing closure because of declining enrollment may be allowed to convert into a public charter school, under a bill that passed the Senate yesterday.
The schools could not teach religion or display religious symbols, and if their name has a religious reference, it would have to be changed, according to the bill. The state would oversee the schools.
One of numerous charter school bills proposed by the Legislature, a bill allowing nonpublic schools in failing school districts to convert to charters won passage in the full Senate yesterday. An identical bill was approved earlier by the Assembly.
Sen. Ray Lesniak (D-Union), the bill’s sponsor, said he introduced it about three years ago to help a struggling Methodist school in Newark that wanted to convert to a charter school. The bill is too