Charter School Supporters Hope Fourth Time's A Charm

Despite being rejected three times by the state Department of Education, proponents of a Quest Academy Charter School in Montclair say they will not give up and will apply again.

"We will apply again the end of this month," said Tracey Williams, one of the founding members of the Quest Academy organization.

"Right now, we are filing an appeal to the last decision because we don't believe that we should have been denied the last time," she said. "The [New Jersey Department of Education] has not given us a legal reason for denying this last application [in January].

"So we'll see what the judge has to say when all of the evidence is reviewed," she added. "Then when we apply again ... it's the same timeline as before."

Gov. Chris Christie and Chris Cerf, the state's acting education commissioner, have expressed their support to expanding the number of charter schools in New Jersey. Indeed, the state is likely to approve another series of charters in March. If a new Quest application is approved this month, the school would hope to open in September 2011.

According to Williams, the student population served by the charter school would comprise 9th and 10th graders initially but would later expand to include 11th and 12th graders. Class size would be capped at 20 students and each grade would be limited to 80 students. With six instructors per grade, the ratio of instructors to students would be less than 14:1.

With a total student body of 160, enrollment would be based on a lottery with 90 percent of spaces reserved for residents.

Nonetheless, Superintendent Dr. Frank Alvarez and the Board of Education do not support the charter school, as Alvarez stated last June, at the end of a difficult school year marked by severe budget cuts and staff layoffs.

According to the district's website, "a new school of 160 students will mean Montclair taxpayers will have to come up with $2.1 million more than they do already to fund the school. And even with 160 fewer students at Montclair High School, services will still be needed for the remaining students. A cut of over $2 million would mean many more layoffs."

The board statement also noted that federal law requires charter schools to spend 90 percent of per-pupil costs on instruction-related expenses.