Here's Dale Caldwell in today's NJ Spotlight on the bill, originally sponsored in the State Assembly by Mila Jasey and Patrick Diegnan and now a Senate proposal sponsored by Shirley Turner:
As a New Brunswick Board of Education member since 1998 and as the head of school at the Village Charter School in Trenton since 2013, I know more than most people about traditional public education and charter public education, and I have seen a large district transform over time. In a few short years, the New Brunswick school district has grown from 7,000 students to nearly 10,000 students. Would it have made sense for the Legislature to prevent New Brunswick from expanding? Of course not, because it would have denied parents the right to send their children to the public school of their choice. So, the logic must apply to charter public schools, where it is just as ridiculous to prevent charter schools from expanding and allowing parents to choose a free public education option for their children. Any bill preventing parents from choosing how to educate their child is anti-parent and anti-democratic.
This bill is enthusiastically backed by Save Our Schools-NJ and NJEA For previous coverage, see here, here, and here,