This past March the ACLU-NJ filed a lawsuit against the NJ DOE to get the list of volunteers who reviewed the last round of charter school applications. The ACLU, representing Education Law Center, charged that the refusal to release names was a violation of the Open Public Records Act. The DOE has just released the names of the volunteers: the list is linked to in this article.
Here's ELC Executive Director David Sciarra: “Even a cursory look at the list of charter reviewers raises a red flag about the ability and qualifications of these persons to give DOE objective input on whether an applicant meets the legal and education standards to open a charter in New Jersey.”
Well, that’s a bit harsh. After all, only four charter school applications were actually approved last month, out of 42 applications. Seems pretty judicious.Labels: DOE, Education Law Center