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INTRODUCTION
Fifty years after the landmark decision of Brown v. Board of Education,1 the issue of whether state educational systems are providing equal educational opportunities for historically disadvantaged students remains unsettled.2 The issue has recently received additional attention as states have moved toward offering increased opportunities for school choice, including the establishment of charter schools.3 The emergence and expansion of the charter school movement in the United States has been one of the most significant components of public school choice during the last decade.4 Seymour Sarason has classified the charter school movement as "the most radical educational reform effort in the post World War II era."5 By the beginning of the 2003-04 academic year, more than 2,500 charter schools were operating in thirty-eight states and the District of Columbia.6
Despite the apparent success of the charter school movement, representatives of historically disadvantaged students have voiced concern that charter schools may not be providing equal access to disadvantaged students.7 These advocates have maintained that equal educational opportunity must remain one of the public education system's most important objectives, insisting that the institutions of public school systems must be vigilant in eradicating patterns of inequality, discrimination, and segregation.8 In the aftermath of Brown, advocates have especially sought to advance opportunities for African-American and other minority students in their efforts to secure greater access to programs and achieve more integrated settings.9 Similar efforts have since been extended on behalf of female students, students with disabilities, immigrant students, and other students with limited English proficiency.10
Martha Minow, one of the most distinguished of these advocates,11 observed that the demands of "the law-driven equity movement" need to be carefully evaluated with respect to charter school programs to determine whether these fledgling schools are complying with the requirements and achieving the goals of applicable civil rights law.12 Minow and other commentators also voiced alarm that state policymakers have implemented charter school programs that may result primarily in enhancing opportunities for well-to-do and well-informed families while reducing opportunities for the poor and less informed, especially minority families residing in low-income, urban districts.13
In this Article I study the extent to which at least one state-New Jersey-may be jeopardizing the long-standing goal of equal opportunity in its eagerness to establish a statewide charter...