Bob Braun, veteran reporter turned independent blogger, charges that officials in New Jersey broke state laws requiring a random lottery to advance the charter movement in Newark.
He writes:
“New Jersey and local school officials have been involved in a conspiracy to evade laws governing the operation of charter schools in order to allow the wholesale “charterization” of public schools in Newark, the state’s largest city. State Education Commissioner David Hespe allowed the city’s charter schools to ignore legally-mandated lotteries while, at the same time, he secretly amended the charters of those privatized schools as an after-the-fact method of justifying the elimination of lotteries.”
Read it all, to this sad conclusion:
“By April, Cerf had left as commissioner, joining the private company “Amplify” so he could use the contacts he made as New Jersey commissioner to make a lot of money. Hespe, a once-trusted public servant who previously served as state education commissioner, took over in February. He apparently needed the job more than the good reputation he had developed in the past as commissioner under former Gov. Christie Whitman, so he did his new master’s bidding. He stretched the law until it broke.
“And he did it while, all the while, assuring union leaders and others he was desperate to get rid of Cami Anderson. That was a great if laughable ploy–fooling the most vocal critics of Cami Anderson so they would stay quiet while he and Anderson prepared both to impose “One Newark” on the city, quiet anger against the incompetent superintendent, and give Christie’s agent another three-year contract.
“Scamming the city. Its parents. Its children.
“One Newark” is illegal. It’s illegal because it discriminates on the basis of race. It is illegal because it violates a raft of state laws and regulations.
“And it is illegal because it violates the charter school law.
“But, in a New Jersey operated by Gov. Christie’s Mafia, illegal is only what the governor says it is. And Hespe and Anderson do his bidding.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
All of the above could well be true as reported. It is hard to believe that there is no public interest group/law firm in the state that is willing to expose this illegality. Is it as simple as saying that New Jersey is a throwback to the old Boss Tweed, in NYC? No one is willing to take on this crass, open illegal practice? What does that say about NJ?Is it a total ‘clamp down’ state?
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It’s a state of many demographics, including mixtures of many of these: The uber-rich whose interests lie with themselves, the upper middle class who are happy shopping in their boutiques and one-upping each another by having lavish parties for their kids, the lower middle class who are holding down so many jobs that they have little time to get involved in community affairs, and the poor who have no advocates or social power to rise above hardship. The only advocacy the poor had before was the public education system. Now the politicians have seen fit to take that away from our neediest people.
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To add insult to injury, parents still are unable to register their children. They are being told go to the school who by the way has no staff because Cami Anderson fired them all. NEWAR IS A NIGHTMARE!
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xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Posted this at Steve Kornacki’s (Up w/SK at MSNBC) facebook page: Hey Steve wish you guys were all over the One Newark fiasco. Have to read about it at Bob Braun’s ledger.
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xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (oops– cont’d:)…Another black feather in BrigegateMan’s cap.”
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It is really depressing to realize that any law that gets in the way of the grand plan can be ignored with no consequences. Unless these decisions are fought in court, nothing will be done to stop the privatization of Newark schools. All those civics lessons go out the window. The rule of law only applies when someone is willing and able to challenge those who would subvert it. What happened to government of, by, and for the people?
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What’s the background on this? I get that Braun is alleging that the mandated lottery process has been tweaked by some algorithm that hasn’t been disclosed. What’s the purpose of the algorithm? From what Braun says toward the end of this piece, it seems like it has a racial component.
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The whole clandestine tone of the article makes the process seem suspect. If charters want to compete with public schools they should have to follow the rules and not be allowed defer to a secretive algorithm which is probably designed to cherry pick certain students. If the NAACP has any civil rights concerns, they should contact the Attorney General. New Jersey’s bully governor should have to follow the rules!
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My assumption was that it was designed to achieve more diversity, perhaps in response to concerns about hyper-segregation. I wish Braun had been clearer about this.
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