The Red Bank Charter School. (Photo by Brian Donohue. Click to enlarge.)
By BRIAN DONOHUE
For most of the roughly two decades after the Red Bank Charter School opened in 1998, Red Bank parents hoping to enroll their young children entered an annual lottery that often left dozens of them disappointed if their number didn’t come up in a spinning basket of numbered bingo balls.
Then, many joined a wait list that ran over 100 names long, hoping a spot might open up as their child moved through their primary school years at another school.
And the Red Bank Charter School’s enrollment consistently hovered around 200 children, the maximum allowed under its original charter, all of them from Red Bank.
Not anymore.
Enrollment at RBCS has fallen to 168 students, leaving more than ten percent of its current maximum of 195 seats empty, according to data from the school and the Red Bank Borough Board of Education.
An illustration including a page from the Red Bank Charter School’s 2017 state school performance report showing enrollment and wait list data.
The waiting list, which the school’s state performance report shows had 112 children on it a decade ago, is down to ten children waiting for spots in grades K-8 – none of whom live in Red Bank, according to the district. An additional 37 children – including 21 from Red Bank – are on the wait list for the two pre-kindergarten grades.
To fill the empty seats, the school is increasingly recruiting students from outside of Red Bank.
A total of 23 students, or 13 percent of total charter school enrollment, now consist of kids from other towns, according to numbers first presented by Red Bank Borough Board of Education Superintendent Jared Rumage at a budget hearing in March. The numbers were confirmed by Red Bank Charter School Head of School Kristen Martello.
In a series of answers to questions emailed to her by a reporter (see link to full QnA below) Martello did not give a reason behind the drop in Red Bank parents seeking to enroll their kids in the school.
As for the move toward recruiting from beyond Red Bank’s borders, she stated, “The Red Bank Charter School admission policy states that enrollment of students who do not reside within the district is subject to space availability. Priority is given to siblings of current students and Red Bank residents, respectively.”
In response to a question about costs associated with the out-of-town students, Martello replied, “Charter Schools in New Jersey are funded through the resident school districts of the students who attend them.”
The changes come as the number of school-aged children in Red Bank overall appears to be dropping.
Since 2020, the district public schools have seen a roughly 20 percent drop in enrollment for Grades PK3 (three-year-old pre-k) to grade eight. The charter school’s overall enrollment drop for grades K-8 was 16 percent, data show.
Representatives of the Red Bank Charter School at a table outside Lifetime Fitness in Lincroft in 2025. (Reader submitted photo)
But the figures indicate a drop in the demand among Red Bank families for seats at RBCS that is outpacing the wider demographic shift.
Combined enrollment and waiting list figures show parents of just 166 Red Bank children are choosing to enroll them in the charter school or wait for a spot to open up, compared to the roughly 300 who did so a decade ago.
Transfers are also fueling the shift.
In the current school year, 23 students transferred from the Red Bank Charter School to the district schools, according to numbers released by the district. Six students transferred from the district to the charter school, according to the figures.
The changes come as both the Red Bank Charter School and the Red Bank Borough Board of Education are grappling with economic headwinds that have thrown schools across the state into crisis.
The Board of Education is slated to vote on a budget later this month that would raise the school portion of property tax bills by 9.5 percent in the face of state aid cuts and skyrocketing health care costs.
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The Charter School appeared to be hoping to remain at or near its now-maximum enrollment of 195 children to improve its financial outlook.
In a June 30, 2025 annual financial report, RBCS business administrator David Block said the school had anticipated a “slight increase” in enrollment for the 2025-26 year.
Instead, numbers dropped.
“If the Charter School were to experience a significant decrease in enrollment with no appreciable increase in state aid for future budgets, the Charter School will be faced with the following alternatives: (a) reduce programs and services, (b) increase local tax levy or (c) seek alternative sources of funding,” Block wrote in the financial report.
The numbers are likely to fuel the ever-simmering controversy over the charter school’s role, and its very existence, which has periodically erupted into lawsuits and contentious debate.
That debate has included several legal battles in which the Borough schools sought unsuccessfully to prevent the state from issuing or renewing the school’s charter, and a successful battle against the charter school’s 2016 plan to double in size to a maximum of 400 students.
In 2021, the Borough Council voted unanimously for a resolution opposing the renewal of the school’s charter.
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In an email response to questions from redbankgreen, Rumage, whose district manages the Red Bank Primary School and Red Bank Middle School, pointed to RBCS’s dropping enrollment of Red Bank children as evidence that the district schools had in recent years become the “district of choice” for local families.
“Unfortunately, for many years, a false narrative existed in Red Bank about our school district,” he wrote. “Today, I think it is fair to say that many of our new families are usually surprised at all we have to offer.”
Meanwhile, he indicated the recruitment of students from outside Red Bank runs counter to RBCS’s long-stated mission. 
“Historically, the understanding and practice were that the Charter School served Red Bank residents exclusively,” Rumage wrote. “For more than 25 years, the Charter School personnel marketed the school as a school for Red Bank residents with a mission to enhance educational opportunities in Red Bank.”
“The lack of demand for the Charter School suggests the bifurcated system and duplicative costs are even more unnecessary than ever,’ Rumage wrote.
In his budget presentation last month, Rumage once again highlighted the amount of money the district is required pass along to the charter school, a figure he said averaged $2.8 million over the last half decade.
“While the number of Red Bank residents attending the Red Bank Charter School has steadily decreased, the funding we are required to pass through to them has remained relatively static,” Rumage said.
Martello disputed that notion, saying the drop in Red Bank students attending RBCS actually reduces the costs to local taxpayers.
“Charter Schools in New Jersey are funded through the resident school districts of the students who attend them,” she wrote. “Funding is based on per-pupil allocations, meaning that when a student enrolls in a charter school, a portion of the funding that would have gone to the local district is redirected to the charter school instead.”
“As a result of fewer Red Bank students attending the school, Red Bank Borough Schools sees a reduction in what they pay to RBCS,” she said.
Martello also pushed back on Rumage’s assertion that the borough schools had become a more desirable option for parents.
“We respectfully disagree with the assertion that our school’s value has been based on a “false narrative,”‘ she wrote. “Red Bank Charter School has consistently provided a high-quality educational program that extends beyond traditional classroom instruction. Our students benefit from a wide range of enrichment opportunities, including clubs, character education, service learning, partnerships with local businesses that offer real-world learning and internship experiences, and strong family engagement initiatives that foster a true school and community connection.”
Both schools are grappling with financial issues that have hit schools statewide.
The Charter school Board of Trustees voted in October to withdraw from the State Health Benefits Plan, which saw enrolled districts statewide – including the Red Bank Borough Schools – walloped by premium increases of up more than 30 percent for the upcoming year.
“Through this change, the increase in health benefit costs was kept to under 6%, while maintaining comparable health coverage for all employees,” Martello said. “This approach allowed us to manage rising costs while continuing to provide strong benefits for our staff. ”
Red Bank Charter School Head of School Kristen Martello: RBCSKristenMartelloQNA
Red Bank Borough Schools Superintendent Jared Rumage: JaredRumageQnA
redbankgreen editor Brian Donohue may be reached via email at [email protected] or by calling or texting 848-331-8331.
