Freehold Borough Council Votes to Support Charter School Legislation

The Freehold Borough Council showed their support for the by passing the charter school legislation at the Feb. 6 .

Charter school legislation, known as Senate Bill 458, is a new bill that would require local tax payer support in order for a charter school to be built in the Borough.

The Borough BOE approved Senate Bill 458 at their Jan. 23 meeting. Before the passing of Senate Bill 458, the Commissioner of Education was able to force communities to pay for an unlimited number of charter schools. With the passing of the bill, New Jersey’s charter law is now in line with the rest of the country and requires voter approval before opening a charter school. Following the passing of Senate Bill 458, .

At the Feb. 6 Borough Council meeting, Council members gave additional information about the charter school legislation.

“One of the things that should be mentioned is that there are a couple of components to this, but the two that I like are 51% of the teaching staff in the school has to sign a petition and also 51% of the parents/guardians of the pupils attending the school also have to sign a petition. So it does bring, as far as the charter school is concerned, it does bring local control back into the equation,” said Councilman George Schnurr.

 “And voter approval,” Council President Sharon Shutzer added.

Present at the Borough Council meeting was Borough Board of Education President Annette Jordan.

“I just want to thank you for the support of the Board of Education,” said Jordan. “On the charter school basically we just want to give tax payers the opportunity to say yes or no to having a charter school in the district.”

The resolution was passed by the council with four yes votes. Councilman Jaye Sims was not present at the meeting and Councilman John Newman voted no to the legislation.

A presentation will be given about a potential Borough charter school at the Feb. 21 Borough Council meeting.