State gives preliminary go-ahead to two new charter schools
The Christie administration continues to be picky about new charter schools, with just two applications approved in the latest round announced yesterday — one in Newark and one in Camden.
If it receives its final charter, the Newark school would be the first approved under a new law allowing existing private schools to convert to charter schools. The new school would be Philip’s Academy Charter School, a renaming of St. Philip’s Academy, a well-established independent school in the city’s Central Ward.
The Camden application is for the International Academy of Camden, an elementary school founded by a group of New Jersey entrepreneurs and likely to be run by a private education management organization.
Among those under discussion is the operator of the Ascend Learning charter schools in New York City, but one of the founders of the Camden school stressed that others are also being considered in a public bidding process. (Mooney, NJ Spotlight)