Residents of Cherry Hill and Voorhees continue to speak out against the arrival of Regis Academy Charter School in Cherry Hill, which was approved by the state Department of Education last fall.
Earlier this month, Cherry Hill Schools Superintendent Dr. Maureen Reusche, along with members of the community, presented testimony before the Assembly’s Education Committee, expressing opposition to the school that would draw students from Cherry Hill, Voorhees, Lawnside and Somerdale.
In the past, school district officials from Cherry Hill and Voorhees expressed concern over setting aside money from next year’s budget to support the publicly funded charter school. Cherry Hill schools are projected to contribute $1.9 million. Voorhees Schools are projected to set aside nearly $700,000 for the charter school.
“I need my elected officials to dot every ‘i’ and cross every ‘t,’ because a lot of tax money is at stake here. I need a local approval process so that no charter school will be allowed to open without community support,” said Cherry Hill resident Loraine Carapellucci at the Feb. 2 Assembly Education Committee meeting.
At the meeting, Reusche advocated for allowing residents to vote on whether a charter school should be able to operate in a community.
“In Cherry Hill, as in many suburban school districts, funding for public education comes primarily from local property taxes. Yet our local taxpayers have had no say in whether a charter school can open in our district,” Reusche said. “The decision to approve the Regis application rested entirely with the acting commissioner of education.”
After testimony was given at the meeting, the Assembly committee passed bill A-1877, which would require local voter approval at the annual school election of a charter school.
An identical bill, S-458, is currently on the Senate floor awaiting further movement. Sen. Jim Beach signed on as a cosponsor of the bill.
The bill would still need to be passed by both the full Assembly and Senate. The Assembly is expected to vote in early March on the bill.
The bill also was recently amended to include language that would allow for residents to vote in favor or against a charter school, even if it has received DOE approval, but has not yet opened.
This retroactive amendment, if passed in time, would allow voters to deny Regis Academy Charter School before it is set to open in the fall.
Cherry Hill resident Rita McClellan also presented her views to the education committee on Feb. 2, reiterating the negative impact she said the charter school will have in the community.
“So what can Cherry Hill, Voorhees, Lawnside and Somerdale do about this situation? Very little. We are now forced to accept a charter school that our high-performing districts did not need, want and cannot afford,” McClellan said. “If we had been given the right to vote on this charter, I’m certain that all the problems with the Regis application would have been highlighted and this school would not have been approved.”
Voorhees Township Public Schools continue to support the Cherry Hill School District’s fight to get the legislation passed that would allow for local voters to approve or deny the charter school.
“As a district, our goal is to make sure our public schools stay intact and retain quality,” said Voorhees Schools spokesperson Irene Afek.
