On Thursday, March 15, 2012, the New Jersey Assembly approved one of the two charter school reform bills for which we have been advocating:

Assembly bill 1877 (bill A3852/S2243 last session), which requires local approval before the establishment of new charter schools.

The final vote was 46 yes; 5 abstentions; 27 no; 2 did not vote. See how individual Assembly members voted here.

Assembly bill 2147 (bills A3356/S3005/S3001 last session) was approved by the Assembly Education Committee and is awaiting a vote of the full Assembly. This bill would increase charter school educational and financial accountability and transparency and address the fact that the students at most NJ charter schools do not represent the demographics of their sending districts.