Foundation Field Notes
Your monthly deep-dive with Trenton’s premier charter school network
Dear Friends and “FA”mily,
I’m Tamara Franklin, member of the Friends of Foundation Academies, a private 501(c)3 board supporting the growth and success of Foundation Academy Charter School.
I’ve spent my career in corporate leadership and board governance. Now serving on volunteer boards for public and private nonprofit institutions, I have found that too few organizations give credence to the importance of using business principles in public governance.
In the corporate arena there is a concept that recognizes growth as an enabler of success, and stagnation as the start of the death spiral. When a company is growing, there is room for investment in people and technological innovation. Expenses can be allocated across a much broader base, reducing the burden for any individual line of business. Growth positions us to capitalize on market opportunities which, when executed successfully, reward us with more growth.
The same is true for education. Growth allows us to invest in the development of our educators, to improve the quality of our facilities and to ensure that we improve literacy rates for all of our students – all while reducing the cost per child to execute.
In January 2026, Foundation Academy received the news that its charter had been renewed by the State of New Jersey with an addition of 500 seats for new scholars, which will bring our total student body up to at least 1,820 by the year FY30.
Why did the state approve this expansion? Well, because FA has proven its ability to not only grow its capacity, but to grow its outcomes for children.
Literacy rates have been falling on a national scale for the past ten years — at a rapid pace, may I add. In Philadelphia, 58% of the adult population is now considered “functionally illiterate”, meaning that they lack the basic literacy skills needed to follow rudimentary medical instructions, help a young child with homework or even apply for a job. There has been wide speculation, although unproven, that institutions of mass incarceration – public and private - use third grade literacy rates to predict future facility buildout needs. True or not, there is an undeniable correlation between incarceration and low literacy.
Of late, our state, and indeed our entire nation has been deeply focused on growing and developing our current and future workforce. I would pose the question: “How are we having conversations about growing our workforce if we haven’t invested in growing the school institutions positioned to improve literacy rates?” Is an illiterate workforce really a workforce?
In the last three years, Foundation Academy outperformed every major low income charter school network in New Jersey for math growth. We serve a particularly high percentage of English Language Learners but are still graduating Hispanic and Latinx students with English & Language Arts proficiency rates on par with the statewide average for any demographic. We have the highest graduation rate amongst all major charter schools in our comparison set and we are consistently ranking in the top 15% for overall school performance in the State of NJ.
The most salient data point: Foundation Academy ranks in the Top 1% statewide for academic growth.
In 2024, Foundation Academy raised a $60 million public bond to transform a long-abandoned doll factory into a new high school. Since breaking ground on the property redevelopment, dilapidated homes have been refurbished, new traffic and safety controls have been established, and local parks are under review for revitalization. At Foundation Academy, our children are growing. But so is our understanding for how strong educational outcomes contribute to community development, how community development contributes to economic growth and how all of this strengthens our workforce by keeping literate homegrown talent local. Education is infrastructure.
Across every aspect of our network, Foundation Academy is growing. We’re doing it through visionary leadership, intentionally leveraged financial positioning and strong public-private partnerships. From the perspective of a career businesswoman, Foundation Academy is a strong investment, not only because of its own institutional growth but because it contributes so meaningfully to the growth of our future economy.
Thank you for your partnerships, your vision and your belief in FA.
Tammy Franklin
Friends of Foundation Academies
Stories from our Scholars
Foundation Academy 12th grader, Anthony, has just earned the highest SAT score in the school’s 20 year history. Click below to hear about his motivations and dreams.
Assembled: FA’s Transformational Leaders
From across the nation, the best-in-class school leaders and instructional coaches have congregated at Foundation Academy to transform strong growth outcomes into total grade-level proficiency across our three schools. This summer, our diverse team assembled for the first time to narrow in on our school culture and academic strategy. Click below to meet our school leadership team!
FA Scholars Cut the Ribbon
September 23, 2026
“So many people have worked so hard to turn this abandoned lot into a beautiful high school building. But for me and my classmates, it means more than a redeveloped property. To us, it’s a message. It’s a message that we matter, that our education and the choices we make for the future of our town, our state and our country, are worth the investment. It means that people believe we should have a seat at the table.
Your investment in me, a scholar at Foundation Academy, encourages me to make further investments in myself. Next year, I hope to attend NYU for a degree in Business Administration. This building is a tool to help me get there.” — Katie D., 12th Grade
See more photographs of our Ribbon Cutting Ceremony at the link here!
