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SOUTH BRUNSWICK - State gives PIACS one planning year
DATE POSTED: Wednesday, July 20, 2011 3:59 PM EDT
By Charles W. Kim, Managing Editor
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The state
Department of Education is giving the Princeton International Academy
Charter School another year to plan before it opens, according to a July
15 press release from the agency.
The Mandarin-immersion school,
initially slated to open in September for 172 K-2 children from
Princeton, South Brunswick and West Windsor-Plainsboro in a building on
Perrine Road in the township, ran into several obstacles during Zoning
Board of Adjustment hearings earlier this year.
The school is one of 21 proposed charter schools granted a "planning year" by the department, according to the release.
"We
think that all of the schools taking a planning year have the potential
to offer a high-quality educational choice for students," said Carly
Bolger, director of the charter schools office, in the release.
"However, we believe these schools need additional time to plan and
develop, and we will not open a school that we do not believe will be
amongst the best in the entire state."
Another nine charter schools were given the green light to open this fall, according to the release.
Charter schools use public tax dollars from the districts in the charter’s servicing area to operate, according to the state.
Gov.
Christopher Christie strongly supports the growth of charter schools to
better educational opportunities in the state and to give parents a
choice, according to officials.
"Gov. Christie and I strongly
support the growth of high-quality charter schools to increase the
number of options for New Jersey students," Acting Education
Commissioner Christopher Cerf said in the statement. "Our number one
priority is to ensure that all students graduating high school are
college and career ready."
PIACS and its landlord, 12 Perrine
& Associates LLC, have faced a variety of criticisms in the
communities it intends to serve, drawing more than 500 people to both
zoning hearings in April and June.
At several points during those
hearings, the applicant and school officials were chided for not having
plans and reports submitted to the board in time enough for a
professional review.
By failing to get the application through
the board by June 15, the school would not have enough time to be ready
for a September opening, spokesman Parker Block said following the June
meeting.
The hearing on the application, set for July 7,
eventually was adjourned until September at the request of applicant’s
attorney Andre Gruber, according to township planning officials.
The three sending districts also have retained an attorney to try to block the school opening.
South
Brunswick district officials have said they believe the school is
taking much-needed public tax dollars for its operation, forcing the
district to make cuts in instructional staff and programs.
The
state mandated the district set aside more than $700,000 in this year’s
$134 million budget, approved by voters April 27, to fund the $10,000 in
tuition for each of 70 estimated children the district would send to
the charter school, based on state projections.
Department of
Education officials said in June, however, that the district would get
whatever funds not being used for the charter school back in October to
be used as it sees fit.
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