Giving Compass' Take:

• Residents of Newark, New Jersey had a chance this week to sound off on charter schools, which remain an issue of debate in the city even though they educate more than one in three Newark students.

• How do these simmering questions apply to other charter schools in the country? How can donors take a closer look into charter schools and their funding?

• Here's another example on addressing issues with charter schools in America. 

As part of a statewide charter school “listening tour,” the state education department hosted a public forum Monday in Newark, where nearly 18,900 students attend charters — making Newark the charter capital of the state. Yet of 90 registered attendees, only six people showed up.

“I enjoyed this,” said Denise Cole, an advocate for Newark’s traditional schools, near the end of the 80-minute meeting. But, she added, “If we wouldn’t have come, y’all wouldn’t have had nobody here.”

The unusually low turnout soon sparked rumors that some unnamed entity had packed the guest list to block others from attending. Both charter critics and supporters said they were unable to register because the sign-up list quickly reached capacity.

At the union’s meeting and Monday’s forum, as well as in interviews with advocates, several themes emerged. They point to still-simmering debates about Newark charter schools that are unlikely to be resolved any time soon:

  1. Expansion — should the charter sector keep growing?
  2. Performance — what have charters achieved?
  3. Funding — do charters get too much money or not enough?

Read the full article about charter schools in New Jersey by Patrick Wall at Chalkbeat