Red Bank’s public schools aren’t getting the same share of financial help from Trenton as the Red Bank Charter School, according to a new study from Rutgers.
The 47-page report, by Julia Sass Rubin, an associate professor at the university’s Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning & Policy, examines the question of whether charter schools statewide are underfunded relative to their district counterparts.
That claim led the Christie Administration and the state Legislature to shift an additional $107.6 million from school districts to charter schools for the combined 2014-15 and 2015-16 academic years, Sass Rubin notes in the report.
But “claims of dramatic underfunding of charter schools are based on faulty comparisons and are not accurate,” she wrote. And along the way, her report zeroes in on Red Bank to conclude that the charter school “is being funded at higher levels than its student population would warrant.”
From the report, dated October 30:
The Red Bank Charter School is being funded at higher levels than its student population would warrant under New Jersey’s school funding formula and (as the case study presented in the next section of this report highlights) at substantially higher levels than the Red Bank Borough School District.
And
…the Red Bank Charter School receives substantial Adjustment Aid payments from the State, to ensure its total funding is at least at 2008 levels. In contrast, the Red Bank Borough School District receives no Adjustment Aid and is generally underfunded by the Christie Administration. As a result of the Adjustment Aid, The Red Bank Charter School is being funded at higher levels than its student population would warrant under New Jersey’s school funding formula and (as the case study presented in the next section of this report highlights) at substantially higher levels than the Red Bank Borough School District.
Here’s the full document: NJ Charter School Funding 103015
