Leaders from Princeton Charter School (PCS) and Princeton Public Schools (PPS) continue to hold confidential private meetings, most recently last Thursday, in search of a resolution to their clash over PCS’s proposed expansion, with a decision from State Department of Education (DOE) Acting Commissioner Kimberley Harrington expected by the end of February. 

“There is a rigorous review process, during which all comments from the public are taken into account,” according to DOE press secretary David Saentz. He noted that the process is designed to “make sure that the focus is on the best interests of the kids.” Twenty-seven schools, mostly in urban locations, have applied for expansion in the current round of requests for renewals and charter amendments.

The commissioner will have plenty of commentary to review on Princeton Charter School, including the original December 1 PCS application, requesting to expand grades 1-3 by 76 students; a letter of opposition with more than 3000 signatures from “Keep PPS Strong,” a recently formed local group opposing expansion; a formal response filed Monday by PPS, noting severe financial effects on the District if the expansion is approved; a resolution from the Princeton Council, which voted 4-1 last week to oppose the expansion; and a slew of letters from community members on both sides of the controversy.

The District’s response focused on three issues, according to School Board President Patrick Sullivan: 1) “procedural violations in the development and approval of the application”; 2) claims made in the application that are unsupported by facts and could result in a negative Impact on students and “irresponsible use of limited public funds;” and 3) that the application ”violates public policy in that the Princeton community is overwhelmingly opposed to the application,” which has the potential to “undermine the democratic process within our community and the oversight of the charter school movement within our state.”

“This is not the kind of expansion charter schools were created to address,” Mr. Sullivan said. “The Princeton Charter School population is not representative of charter school populations across New Jersey.”

He added, “Overall we think the best focus for us is not to be pitted against each other but to seek a compromise. The funding formula for charter schools puts us in opposition whenever they want to expand and doesn’t allow them to be sustainable themselves in meeting inflation costs. There must be a way to come together, to work on educating all the children in the community.”

Claiming that the financial burden of the proposed charter school expansion “would clearly constrain the productive and creative conversations that are currently taking place,” the PPS official response urges the Commissioner “to allow the two districts to continue to pursue community-specific, locally-responsive solutions, and to deny the PCS application.”