18A:36C-2 Findings, declarations relative to the "Urban Hope Act."

2. The Legislature finds and declares that:

a. Maintaining a thorough and efficient public school system is among the Legislature's most important responsibilities;

b. Although New Jersey's per pupil public school expenditures are among the highest in the nation, many of the State's students are failing to achieve the core curriculum content standards;

c. Many of those students are confined to a number of persistently failing school districts and schools that, year after year, have been unable to convert increased State aid and other resources into improved student achievement, higher graduation rates, or greater student readiness for postsecondary education and gainful employment;

d. For those school districts and schools, it is necessary to provide local boards of education, parents, students, and teachers with more and better options for addressing their failing schools; and

e. One such option is to allow a small number of school districts with high concentrations of at-risk students to, on a limited pilot program basis, partner with one or more nonprofit entities to create "renaissance schools." While creation of these schools is voluntary, it is the hope of the Legislature that the districts will find suitable nonprofit partners and establish one or more renaissance schools dedicated to providing New Jersey's students with the educators, facilities, and resources to prepare them for college and career.

L.2011, c.176, s.2.