N.J. To Open First Hebrew Charter School
New Jersey has given final approval to open the state’s first Hebrew-language charter school.
The state’s Department of Education in a July 6 vote gave permission to open the Hatikvah International Academy Charter School in East Brunswick, according to The New Jersey Jewish News.
The school, which will open next year with 108 students in kindergarten through second grade, had to ensure that 90 percent of its students came from East Brunswick. The rest will be chosen by lottery.
Hatikvah will open in rented space but plans to build a permanent site in East Brunswick.
Hebrew charter schools, which offer non-religious but Hebrew-focused curricula, are being looked at across the country as less-expensive alternatives to Jewish day schools.
Several of the schools exist in New York and Florida.
Hatikvah received start-up grants of $35,000 and $50,000 from Michael Steinhardt’s Areivim fund to help build a Hebrew charter school movement.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
