The New Jersey Appellate Court will hear an important case on March 14, in which the city of Hoboken’s public schools are challenging an expansion of a charter school called Hola Charter School. The ACLU and the Education Law Center have filed amicus briefs on behalf of the Hoboken Public School District. The expansion of the Hola Charter School will have a negative impact on the public schools, by intensifying racial and socioeconomic segregation. The New Jersey Charter Association has submitted a brief defending the charter expansion. Governor Chris Christie favors charter schools as a way to encourage gentrification and stop white flight.
The Hola Charter School has a segregative impact.
61% of its students are white, compared to 25% white in Hoboken public schools.
The Hola Charter School is 3% black, while the Hoboken public schools are 55% black.
The Hola Charter School is 29% Latino, compared to 17% in the Hoboken public schools.
The Hola Charter School enrolls 11% free/reduced lunch, compared to 72% free/reduced lunch in the public schools.
The purpose of the charter school is to provide a refuge for affluent and white parents who don’t want their children to go to public schools. Should the state subsidize white flight and segregation?
If you are in New Jersey, attend the hearing:
Tuesday March 14th 10 am
Middlesex Courthouse, room 103
56 Paterson St, New Brunswick
Judges: Reiser, Koblitz, Rothstadt
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I wonder if hearings can get postponed due to blizzards.
When it comes to charter school applications related to re segregating schools, It is more likely that the blizzard will be postponed than the hearing.
I am powerless to learn anything about the Gateway schools in St. Louis. They advertize themselves as charters, but their stats, which are relatively good, are included in the non charter section of slps by the state board. They were once part of the Gulen chain….no stories have been written about them no longer being in that status. The official reports of their white to black ration in the student body ranges as far as 82% white, and 76% black depending upon which report you read. One knowledgable person from the public schools told me they are now a magnet school. They are interesting schools. Too bad no one has any desire to write about them. They did have a story a year ago, explaining why a black student from St. Louis county could not enroll. It had to do with the de segregation agreement.