Arete Charter School

CHURCH, STATE, AND CHARTER SCHOOLS; AS AN INCREASING NUMBER OF RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS BACK CHARTER SCHOOLS, CHURCH AND STATE ISSUES MAY LOOM LARGE, October 25, 2010, NJ Spotlight 

The announcement came about halfway through yesterday’s service at St. Matthew’s AME Church in Orange, when the Rev. Reginald Jackson broke from the celebratory music and prayerful message to talk education policy…

In another chapter in the pastor’s venerable and outspoken advocacy for school choice, Jackson had instantly added an intriguing twist to the New Jersey’s charter school movement. 

Jackson, better known for his advocacy of private school vouchers, has applied not just to lead a charter school himself, but has helped steer four other charter applications this year from pastors in the Black Ministers Council of New Jersey, of which he is president…

Churches’ involvement in charters is nothing new in New Jersey or nationwide, sometimes a sticky confluence but all legal as long as religious teachings stay out of the classroom. Several established charters in Newark and elsewhere have the overt backing of prominent churches. 

And it's not just black churches. A Hebrew-language charter is planned for East Brunswick, and another two are proposed in Englewood and Highland Park.

If approved, the new schools would mark a significant increase in New Jersey charter schools with religious backgrounds. With Rev. Jackson, the movement also gains a powerful and sometimes controversial voice…

New Jersey is explicit in its regulations on charter schools. They cannot be operated by religious organizations, nor are they permitted to include religious instruction in the curriculum, the same as traditional public schools.

“It has been an area of some tension in the charter school movement, and there have been some instances where the boundaries were crossed,” said Katrina Bulkley, an associate professor of education at Montclair State University. “But on the whole, religious organizations are very aware of this concern and tried to keep them separate.”

Hebrew-language schools are an especially tricky point, since they have an inherent link to the Jewish state of Israel. But elsewhere, she said they have so far tread the legal line by focusing instruction on the Hebrew language, much like Chinese and French-language schools…

Either way, the new dynamic has its political intrigue as well. Bulkley [Katrina, an associate professor of education at Montclair State] points out the role of black churches in charter schools is especially interesting, given they are historically liberal institutions siding with what is traditionally a more conservative cause. Led by people like Jackson, black ministers have been outspoken proponents of private school vouchers as well.

“It was brilliant move by Republicans to get aligned with them,” Bulkley said. “When this shifted to being about low-income kids, it became an entirely different conversation.”…

And yesterday, as his parkside church filled with hymns and amens, Jackson invoked the opportunities available – and not available – to children in cities like Orange that prompted him to file to open the school.

Called the Arete Charter School, it would house up to 300 students in grades K-3. If approved in January, part of an expedited application process, it would open next fall…