Maybe it’s because New Jersey voters support public charter schools by a 2:1 margin. Maybe it’s because of achievement data. Maybe he’s moderating his positions in advance of a potential presidential run. Or, maybe he’s finally listening to frustrated parents. Regardless, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy recently took a softer line on public charter schools by allowing 11 in his state to expand to accommodate wait-listed students. We applaud his decision and encourage other Democrats to follow his lead.
Charter schools are free, open enrollment public schools that operate outside of traditional school district bureaucracies. In many states, they are concentrated in cities where most parents cannot afford private school tuition if their assigned district school is lacking.
Parents love them because they generally get better results than district schools operating in poor, urban environments. For example, Camden is New Jersey’s poorest city by most measures. On the first state assessments since the pandemic began, 52.9% of Camden’s charter school students were meeting or approaching English Language Arts (ELA) state standards in the fall of 2021. On the same test, only 35.5% of traditional public school students met or approached the ELA standard. Math was even tougher for Camden’s students, but again, public charter school students outperformed their traditional school counterparts at 29.5% to just 13.7% in meeting or approaching state standards.
