Nonprofit organizations can apply to develop and run public schools in three New Jersey cities under a 10-year pilot program approved by this week, Bloomberg Businessweek and The Times of Trenton.

Gov. Chris Christie, who championed the Urban Hope Act, signed the bill on Thursday, three days after state legislators passed the measure. The act allows nonprofit groups to apply to the state to operate “renaissance” schools in Camden, Newark, and Trenton.

Applicants must show experience working in a high-risk, low-income urban areas, and the program will be limited in the initial phase to four schools in each city. The bill was amended from an earlier version that would have also allowed commercial entities to operate schools.

Backers said the measure would expand educational choice for families in low-performing districts and invigorate stalled school construction, but critics feared it would open the door to privatization of public education. New Jersey’s teachers’ union, which has opposed Gov. Christie on other education proposals, backed the bill, saying it provides workers at renaissance schools the same rights as all public-school employees.