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Charter schools, the school district’s goals, and the expanding District budget were some of the topics covered October 8 in a Board of Education candidate forum, held at Franklin Middle School – Sampson G. Smith campus.
The forum was sponsored by the League of Women Voters of the Greater New Brunswick Area and the Central Jersey Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.
Candidates participating in the forum were Meher Rafiq, Jennifer Welch, and Clara Wilson – running on the “Choose All Three” slate – and Martin Czebotar, who is running on the “Moral, Thoughtful Education” slate with Catherine Barrier and Nita Villuri. Barrier and Villuri did not attend the forum.
There are two charter schools located in Franklin: Thomas Edison EnergySmart Charter School, and Central Jersey College Prep Charter School. The traditional district pays a set fee for each Franklin student who attends the charter.
One question on charter schools dealt with how the candidates think the school board should relate to charter schools and the budget impact of the schools on the traditional district.
Wilson said that the best way for the district to deal with charter schools is to make the district “more appealing” than the charter schools.
“And in some ways they are, but parents don’t realize that,” she said. “As a parent who considered sending my child to charter, there’s a reason why I didn’t. As a teacher I know that they’re not better in certain ways.”
“I’ve taught students of charter schools, and the public education provides a more well-rounded student, a more well-rounded person,” she said. “And that is our main goal, to raise and educate adults that are well-rounded.”
Meher agreed with her running mate, saying, “if we raise our own academic standards in many different ways, perhaps we give them the option not to go to the charter schools. And our school system, the district, is much more well-rounded.”
Czebotar pointed out that charter school funding is set by the state Department of Education, adding that “charter schools, most of them, exceed Franklin High and other schools on a high school level. So we really should take a look at what do they do to make them succeed so well.”
“Is it the ratio of teachers to students?” he asked. “What do they do that does better? What do they do that makes their students learn more efficiently than the rest of us? We’ve got to look at all the issues. It’s just not the charter school or the type of school. It’s what do they do that makes them better than the rest of us? Or how do they succeed? What makes their students want to come and learn on a day-to-day basis? I don’t really know, but I’m willing to find out.”
Welch agreed with Czebotar’s statement that the charter school students outperform district schools.
But, she said, “they choose the students that they want to educate. And the students who aren’t performing well get returned to the public schools. Often two days before the mandatory state test.”
“But expanding charter schools, doing anything that pulls money away from public schools in this town, hurts kids,” she said. “So the more that we can keep that money here, including asking for the accountability from the charter schools that we’re already sending our students to, and ensuring that there is no further discussion, as there has been from the other slate, of an expansion from charter schools into a voucher system, which means that public tax dollars would go to St. Matthias and Rutgers Prep.”
Czebotar said that he had not talked about any school voucher system. Welch said that was true, but that discussion is on campaign material put out by his running mates.
Another question regarding charter schools dealt with the district’s practice of not allowing charter school students to participate in Franklin school athletics. The candidates were asked their position on that policy.
“If we don’t allow it, so I’m gonna go both ways, right? It hurts the student, it hurts the child,” Meher said. “Yet the charter schools take money away from the district. So what is a good way to do this? Do we allow the students, the charter schools and the private school students to participate in sports? So maybe we should be charging them back. I don’t know.”
Czebotar said he thought that all students “should have the opportunity to succeed and excel in any sport activity.”
“Since it’s all part of the same budget trickle down, we have to know how many students from each charter school is gonna be attending the different sports,” he said. “I don’t know exactly how many we’re referring to, but … everybody should have an opportunity to succeed in their own endeavor, whether it’s a charter school or a public school, they should have the opportunity to succeed on their God-given talents.”
“Well, it’s not the same playing field though, right? Not the same playing field,” Welch said. “Because the money for that student already walked out the door to TEECS. If you wanted TEECS education for your child, that’s awesome, I’m glad that your family made that choice, but those are the extra-curriculars that come along with the TEECS education.”
Wilson said the district should charge the charter school students if they want to play on district teams, or participate in after-school activities in the district.
“Private schools have their own after-school programming, and I guess if they wanted to participate in public school after-school programs, I suppose the private school students could,” she said. “The district does not pay money to private school for private school students. So as far as I’m concerned, I guess they could, but there would be a question in terms of fees.”
The candidates were asked if they had any plans to change the district’s goal regarding diversity. The goal, one of six adopted by the Board, states: “Eliminate systemic barriers to equity by promoting diversity, inclusion, and belonging across the FTPS community. Ensure all students have equitable access to the district’s curriculum, instruction, and academic programs. Reinforce that discrimination in any form will not be tolerated. Inclusion will remain a core value, guiding all aspects of the educational environment.”
Wilson said that she has no plans to change any goals.
“Stepping in, I would see how everything is working and then take it from there,” she said. “Being in a school system where you’ve had quick change is really detrimental to everybody involved, to the entire community. So, the short answer is no, I have no plans.”
Diversity, Meher said, “is the beauty of Franklin.”
“I’m not sure how to answer that question,” she said. “Are we going anti-diversity or more diversity? So, I have no foresight or plans of changing that.”
“I agree, the diversity of Franklin Township does make a difference,” Czebotar said. “As the population changes, it could be even more on a diversity level than it used to be 20 years ago. It is a challenge to all school systems to make sure that every student succeeds.”
“So, therefore, it’s not the goal that needs to be changed, it’s how do we make the changes to the school system to support the changing population,” he said.
“There’s a saying in teaching circles that half the curriculum walks in with the students,” Welch said. “There’s absolutely no way that students can learn unless their schools and their community and their curriculum reflect and celebrate and make sure that those students know that they are seen.”
Speaking of the District’s goals in general, the candidates agreed that they would not want to immediately change them, were they to win the election.
“I think that I’ve come in new to enough situations to know that it’s very important to observe and try to learn the culture of a new organization before coming in and trying to upend it,” Welch said. “I’ve seen the work that the last few boards have done in terms of working coherently and improving the quality of education for students in the district, and I think at this point I definitely want to work on supporting those goals and then seeing how I can contribute from my own perspective and my own experience.”
“The school system, it’s gotten much better and I would not immediately go in and change goals as a first-year board member,” Wilson said. “I would see what needed to be done and then take it from there.”
“I work in the corporate world, so whenever you join a new company, you have to understand the culture,” Meher said. “You have to see what the policies are. You have to see what’s been done before and where the gaps are.”
The Board, she said, has “done a good stewardship of what their job is. So my role is if I come in, I like to see what has happened and where the improvements can be made, and then we can figure out the goal with the new board members.”
“I really wouldn’t want to change goals, I would want to find out why we’re not succeeding to achieve those goals for our students,” Czebotar said. “Because we’re failing below average in the state in math and English, there must be something wrong that we can do better.”
“Those goals are very laudable and very inspiring, and we need to inspire students to succeed,” he said. “That’s how I want to look at it. It’s not changing the system, it’s how we can make the system do better.”
Meher responded to Czebotar, saying, “I know why we’re not performing. It’s because we have a population, a special needs population, English as a second language.”
“There are homes that if you have food insecurity and you can’t get food on the table, the last thing you’re worried about is getting the scores high,” she said. “So we need to address that, and that comes directly from federal funding. That comes directly from the federal education department, which has been dismantled.”
Another question was about whether the candidates thought there were any subjects that should be added or eliminated from the District curriculum.
“In this ever-developing, polarized world, every opportunity you have to seek knowledge, it should be sought and children should be able to learn everything that’s around them,” Meher said.
Martin said he would like to see foreign language education extended to the lower grades, and also an expansion of technical courses.
“We’re very fortunate that the state of New Jersey makes sure that they protect their curriculum at the state level to ensure that the students are receiving the history and literature and sciences that they require,” Welch said. “I think that the fact that the students have been advocating for their own courses is a testament not only to their passion for learning and education, but also their skills in being able to advocate for themselves that they’re receiving as well here.”
“Full exposure to age-appropriate curriculum is very important,” Wilson said. “We want to keep students curious. We want to keep that spark of learning throughout childhood into adulthood and keep them learning. It’s so important to learn.”
The candidates were also asked how they would approach expanding school budgets.
Wilson said the District could save much of the $28 million it sends to charter schools by meeting students’ needs so that fewer of them switch to charters.
“And if we are meeting those needs in-district, we would be saving us a lot of money and keeping that money,” she said.
Meher said her goal would be to not take money away from the classroom, but “to look to see where there is duplication, where there is lack of efficiencies.”
Czebotar said the budgets “definitely” need to be looked at.
“If you go to the school board, it’s amazing what we spend money on that needs to be slowly trimmed out to lower everybody’s taxes,” he said.
Welch said the first thing she would look at is the charter school expenditures.
“The charters that we are currently sending our pupils to, we have no idea what the tuition is,” she said. “They can change the amounts, and from year to year, with no road map, there’s absolutely no transparency in those budgets whatsoever, and they are selecting the least expensive pupils to instruct. So that’s the first chunk that I would want to examine.”
Here is a video of the candidates’ opening statements:
Here is a video of the candidates’ closing statements:
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