Mother Crusader: Charter School Growth Fund Creating New Breed Of Super CMOs

Mother Crusader: Charter School Growth Fund Creating New Breed Of Super CMOs:

Charter School Growth Fund Creating New Breed Of Super CMOs

You may have noticed, dear reader, a theme running through a few news stories about the NJDOE's recently announced charter closures. Small, independent charters are being given the boot, somewhat unceremoniously and precipitously, to make way for what are essentially big box, prefab, chain Charter Management Organizations (CMOs). 

Phill Dunn from the Courier Post wrote a great piece about how Camden's City Invincible Charter School turned out to be not so invincible in the face of the CMO onslaught, and John Mooney pointed out a similar dynamic in Newark.

The Christie administration’s policies toward charter schools continued to stir debate this week, as a second school shuttered by the administration in the last month questioned whether it was being punished for – among other things -- not being part of a large charter network.

It was announced this week that the Greater Newark Charter School, opened in 2000 and one of the state’s oldest charter schools, was not approved for its five-year renewal in April, ostensibly due to low achievement levels and a lack of plans to remedy them. 

But its director said yesterday that the school is appealing the decision, contending that the state Department of Education did not follow its usual protocol in reviewing the school.

Christopher Pringle, the school’s director, said the school had fallen below set benchmarks in a single area for the first time in its 14 years. He questioned if the state was favoring schools that were part of large charter networks over the smaller independent schools. 
(emphasis mine)

 Even Carlos Perez of the New Jersey Charter Schools Association seems a bit concerned.

The executive director of the state’s charter school association said the issues point to the changing face of the charter movement in New Jersey. 

“New Jersey has had a unique history, in that in most other states, there has been more a mix, while in New Jersey, there were very fewer (charter management organizations),” said Carlos Perez of the New Jersey Charter Schools Association. 

“Now, that’s changing, and while it may seem like major growth, it’s really us just catching up with other states.” 

Perez said he hopes that the smaller, independent charters will continue to thrive. 

“They have been the life-blood of the movement,” he said.“And after all, the big organizations all started as smaller ones in the beginning.” (emphasis mine)

While Perez may "hope" the mom and pop charters of yesteryear live on in New Jersey, if I were him I wouldn't hold my breath. And I disagree that the growth of CMOs in New Jersey is "really us Mother Crusader: Charter School Growth Fund Creating New Breed Of Super CMOs: