Concerned Citizens against Hebrew Charter School in East Brunswick NJ

To Whom It May Concern:

We are the East Brunswick residents. Couple of days ago, we learned about the recent approval of opening a Hebrew Charter school in our community.  We are very confused and we all think it is outrageous because no public hearing, from different ethnic groups, was given to the public before tax payer's money is spent to build such a school.

If this Hebrew Charter School is approved in East Brunswick, we expect more applications will be sent to the state government and East Brunswick Board of Education for opening of a Hindi Charter School, a Bengali Charter School, a Chinese Charter School, a Korean Charter School, an Arabic Charter School, a Russian Charter School, etc. in the near future.  Please remember that there are many foreign languages spoken in East Brunswick since this is a very ethnically diversified township. The East Brunswick Board of Education opposed the school in its response to the application last spring. The board raised questions about whether the school's focus on Jewish culture and the Hebrew language would be "at odds with the spirit of public school education in multicultural New Jersey."

The East Brunswick Board of Education also suggested that funding the charter school could prove disastrous for the district's budget. Can you imagine the disastrous impact on our school district's budget these new charter schools will cause?   Please remember that New Jersey law dictates that the local school district pays the charter school for each student enrolled, equal to 90 percent of the district's own school budget per student for each grade level. The board estimates it will have to budget more than $1 million for the charter school's 108 students in 2010, and projects that the annual payment will increase to $2.6 million for 240 students in 2013. Since the school board must comply with the state's annual cap on tax increases, it may have to cut its own programs, which "would jeopardize the public school educational program," according to the board.  Can you imagine the burden that will be passed onto all of East Brunswick taxpayers if many more charter schools are approved and opened followed by this Hebrew Charter School's opening?

As President Theodore Roosevelt said in 1907, "In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant, who comes here in good faith, becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin.  But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American.  There can be no divided allegiance here.  Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all.  We have room for but one flag, the American flag.  We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."

We don't oppose anyone who wants to learn a foreign language. The point is that learning Hebrew and opening a Charter school by spending public taxpayer's money is not fair and is wrong. The approval of opening such school is geared toward the interests of a special group who is using taxpayer's money to achieve the group goal, which gives no benefit to the rest of non-Jewish residents in our community.  We strongly oppose such an outrageous move.

We would like you to reconsider the approval of opening the Hebrew Charter School.

Sincerely,

A Group of East Brunswick Residents