If approved, the school would open in August and educate about 350 students in the first year.

After a second public hearing before the Neshaminy school board Thursday, all officials and supporters of a proposed charter school hoping to open in the district can do now is wait.

The board will decide whether to approve the application for a K-12 facility called School Lane Charter School-Neshaminy at Tuesday's regularly scheduled meeting.

School Lane Charter has operated a K-8 school that serves some 585 students in Bensalem since 1998.

The proposed school in Neshaminy would open in August and educate about 350 students in the first year and potentially upward of 850 students after four years of operation, officials said.

Principal of SLCS-Bensalem Karen Schade told the board Thursday that the reason for submitting the application was due to the waiting list of students hoping to enroll in the existing facility has grown over the years.

She added that the school would apply for certification in the International Baccalaureate program which offers students a style of education that differs from the normal curriculum. But according to Schade, this does not put the charter school above traditional public education.

"School Lane is not looking to hold anyone to higher standards," she said. "We would have the same standards, but we just use a different model. We don't claim to be better; just different."

Schade said that any Neshaminy residents hoping to send their children to the proposed school would get first priority.

While state law prohibits a school board from turning down a charter school application based on financial impact to the district, board president Ritchie Webb said he couldn't help having concerns.

"We have limited (financial) resources," Webb said Thursday. "We have an $11 million budget deficit for the upcoming year and it would rise to $13 or $14 million if this is approved."

While most residents who spoke at the hearing said they supported the idea of school choice and urged the board to approve the plan, resident Charles Alfonso said he was worried about how the students who do not enroll at the charter school will be affected.

"I am always in favor of improving the education of our children but not if we can only improve the education of 400 students while the rest are left out to hang," he said.

Two Neshaminy residents who currently work as teachers at SLCS-Bensalem addressed issues that have drawn criticism from some residents since the contract dispute between the school board and the teachers union began in 2008.

"We don't have a teachers union," said Jennifer Wallover, who added that this was one of the main reasons she took the job at SLCS.

Wallover said that the labor impasse has "sullied the reputation of teachers all around" and although School Lane Charter educators do not receive tenure and are paid less than Neshaminy teachers, she would never think of leaving her job.

Bethany Gaspari, another School Lane teacher, said that her colleagues choose to further their education at their own expense because they "want to improve themselves as teachers."

She added that SLCS employees "do not use Masters Equivalencies."

Neshaminy teachers - as permitted by the state and their previous contract - are able to achieve salary bonuses for earning credits toward their Masters Degree or by way of Masters Equivalency programs. The accelerated pace of certain equivalency courses has drawn criticism from some residents and board members.

School Lane officials had to shift their efforts in finding a proper location for the proposed school after the district's recent sale of the vacant Neshaminy Middle School building to St. Mary Medical Center.

Schade said that a building currently in use by the University of Phoenix on New Rodgers Road is their new target.

She added that negotiations are occurring but nothing can be finalized until the board makes a decision on the application.

Christian Menno can be reached at 215-269-5081 or cmenno@phillyBurbs.com. Follow Christian on Twitter at Twitter.com/cmenno_courier.