Updated 8:30 a.m. Monday, June 20, 2011

Save Our Schools NJ hopes to show support for charter reform bills on Tuesday at a local rally that will include Senator Richard Codey and Assemblywoman Mila Jasey.

Save Our Schools NJ has organized three simultaneous rallies in the state, including the one in Millburn  to demonstrate what they say is strong community support for proposed charter reforms, particularly the bills that would allow the public to vote on proposed charters and creates more accountability for charter schools.

The Millburn rally will begin at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Bauer Center in Taylor Park downtown, while rallies will also be going on in South Brunswick and Highland Park, where Hebrew charter schools have stirred controversy.

Sponsors of the reform legislation will attend the three rallies, SOSNJ leaders say. Besides Codey and Jasey in Millburn, Senators Barbara Buono, Shirley Turner, and Linda Greenstein and Assembly representatives Patrick Diegnan and Peter Barnes will be on hand at other rallies.

"The locations were picked because there is tremendous passion in these communities for fixing New Jersey's broken charter school law," said Julia Sass Rubin of Save Our Schools, a grassroots organization that is working with legislators to reform the rules governing charter schools.

"Each of these communities is facing the possibility of new charter schools opening in the fall of 2012 that they will have to pay for, yet the decision as to whether these schools will open will not be made by the communities but by the Department of Education," she said.

Opposition to charter schools has been strong in Millburn, where members of the public turned out in large numbers to a board meeting to unanimously oppose the proposed Mandarin-immersion charter schools; have circulated petitions against charters; and have written state officials to oppose these so-called "boutique" charters in the suburbs.

In addition, both the Mayor and Superintendent Dr. Jim Crisfield, sent letters to the state opposing the two Mandarin-language charter schools proposed for the area, which they fear could potentially draw students and money away from the district and cause unwanted segregation in the district.

Two Mandarin-language charter schools have applied for approval: Hanyu International Academy Charter in Livingston, which would offer Mandarin immersion to students in Livingston, Millburn and Short Hills and Hua Mei Charter School, which would be based in Maplewood and serve students from the Livingston, Millburn, South Orange/Maplewood, West Orange and Union school districts. 

Save Our Schools New Jersey emerged to urge legislators to give districts the final say on charters.

“The position of Save Our Schools New Jersey is the same whether the school district is high-performing or not: Voters in that district, whose taxes will be paying for any proposed charter school and whose community will be affected by the proposed charter school, should have the final say,” Andrea Spalla, a SOSNJ member and a member of the Princeton Regional Board of Education, told Patch recently.

Residents in nearby districts also potentially affected by charter schools are invited and encouraged to attend the Millburn rally, Rubin said.