Charter school salary revelations spur lawmakers to scrutinize

November 13, 2024

Following media reports of unusually high salaries for charter school administrators, some of whom do not live in New Jersey, the state’s charter schools association says it now wants to lead reform efforts that will stop “bad actors.”

The charter association’s policy proposals include requiring budgets to be publicly posted and requiring charter management organizations to complete compensation studies. But researchers from Rutgers University say the reforms need to go further to best serve the state’s public school students, whether they attend charter schools or traditional public schools…

Julia Sass Rubin, an associate professor at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University, said board members should be elected, just like for the boards of traditional public schools.

“There’s no real rationale for why charter boards are appointed or only elected by charter parents, and local public-school boards are elected by everybody in the community. They’re both public schools, right? They’re both funded by public dollars,” Rubin said…

The proposals also include requiring charter schools to make their budgets accessible to the public by sharing current-year 108-line budgets, which break down incomes and expenses by category.

Rubin said financial transparency is important and charter schools should go even further by providing user-friendly budgets just like traditional public schools. She said because this format is designed to be accessible to taxpayers and parents, it’s better than 108-line budgets.

“More transparency, more oversight is necessary before we really know how widespread these abuses are. It’s not to say that district schools don’t have things like this happen. It’s just a lot easier to find them because there’s greater required transparency and greater oversight,” Rubin said.

NJ Spotlight, November 13, 2024

Recent Posts

Zhang et al. Study Street-View Greenspace and Exercise

GPS-based street-view greenspace exposure and wearable assessed physical activity in a prospective cohort of US women Abstract Background Increasing evidence positively links greenspace and physical activity (PA). However, most studies use measures of greenspace, such...

NJSPL: Some College, No Credential Population in NJ

Overview of the Some College, No Credential Population and Educational Outcomes in New Jersey, 2023–2024 New Jersey State Policy Lab Supporting New Jersey residents in returning to college after leaving without a credential has been an increasing focus of the state’s...

Loh and Noland Explore Public Charging Station Disparities

Equal charging for all: Are there income-based disparities in public charging stations? Abstract We compare charging station accessibility for different income groups in the San Francisco Bay Area. Using a microsimulation model, we estimate charging station...

Heldrich Center Releases New Work Trends Brief and Website

The Heldrich Center for Workforce Development is pleased to announce the availability of two new research products resulting from its long-running public opinion polling series, Work Trends. To better understand the public’s attitudes about work, employers, and the...

NJSPL Report: Analyzing the Use and Equity of ARPA Funds

Report Release: Analyzing the Use and Equity of ARPA Funds in NJ Local Governments and Beyond New Jersey State Policy Lab The American Rescue Plan Act’s Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (ARPA-SLFRF) represent a historic $350 billion investment to...