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Star Ledger ‘N.J. is among 19 finalists for federal Race to the Top education funding’
Njspotlight.com ‘Newark and Glen Ridge: Different Routes, Same Road’
Star Ledger ‘N.J. ranks high in Kids Count survey for children's health, education’
Separated by just several miles, disparate districts differ on terms of charter debate but share concerns over future of their schools
, July 28 in Education |Post a Comment
It was an illustrative pairing in the charter school debate in New Jersey: two local forums held two days and just five miles apart -- but in settings that couldn’t be more different.
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The first took place in Newark on a sweltering Saturday morning, inside a community center in a city at odds with itself over whether charter schools -- with all their innovation and intimacy -- are the answer to its embattled public schools.
The other was Monday night in Glen Ridge, a leafy suburb at the breaking point in paying for public education it boasts as among the best in the state. Its leaders now wonder whether its schools would be better off as charters, freed from costly controls -- including maybe their own.
Neither came to firm conclusions, but the juxtaposition reflected the ever-growing luster -- and controversy -- of charter schools as a potential player in urban and suburban districts alike.
It's a discussion that Gov. Chris Christie and his education commissioner, Bret Schundler, would surely say they encourage as strong supporters of charter schools, having made big pushes in the opening months of their tenures.
Others said it may speak to deeper concerns. When asked for common traits with Newark, Glen Ridge board president Elisabeth Ginsburg came up with one word: "Desperation?"
Glen Ridge Examines All Options
"Maybe we have the commonality in that we’re both looking behind all the doors for the right one to enter," she said. "It may not be the same one for all us, but the state needs to know we will leave no stone unturned, and if they’re not going to help us, we’ll have to help ourselves."
The discussion was a provocative one in Glen Ridge, where the board decided to concentrate its mid-summer retreat on weighing any and all options for surviving the financial squeeze affecting many suburban districts.
Long one of the state’s inauspicious leaders in property taxes, the district lost literally all of its state aid for next year in the budget approved by Christie and the legislature. On top of new statewide 2 percent caps on property taxes, that left the board looking at charter conversion as one possible solution.
The board invited staff from the state Department of Education to explain the plusses and minuses of converting to charter schools, a process never done in New Jersey for a single school, let alone a district of four schools and 2,000 students.
And it quickly became apparent that the process could have some unintended consequences for Glen Ridge, as the board heard details on how state mandates and regulations on charter schools are largely no different than those on public schools.
The one exception is that they would not be beholden to the local district, control that the local board seemed unready to give up.
"The local levy would be transferred to schools where basically there would be no local control," Ginsburg said.
State officials said it came up once before in another community weighing charter conversion of one if its schools. "But they never pursued it because they didn’t want to lose control of the school," said Jacqueline Gamba, a program specialist with the state department.
For much of the meeting, an unspoken topic in the room was whether a charter school would operate without collective bargaining, no small point in a district now negotiating its next teachers contract under the new caps. It was also no coincidence that the vast majority of the small audience comprised Glen Ridge teachers, as well as representatives from the statewide New Jersey Education Association.
But when the topic was eventually raised, the state officials said that while charter schools start without unions, a handful have seen their teachers organize. And they pointed out any conversion under law would also require approval of 51 percent of the faculty.
In Newark, Conversion or Tradition?
It was a far cry from the meeting two days earlier in Newark, where a new advocacy group in the state, Democrats for Education Reform, hosted a panel of local leaders to talk about the state’s application for federal Race to the Top funding.
The application is full of technicalities and arcane details on how teachers are paid and evaluated, how students are tested, and which models will be used to turn around which low-performing schools.
But spurring the most emotion was its emphasis on charter school expansion, something that Newark knows well, with more than a dozen charter schools in place, serving 6,000 students.
Some of the leaders of those schools were in attendance, praising the opportunities afforded by charters, a few of which are the top performing schools in the city.
But also in the audience were some community leaders who see funds flowing into charter schools and the headlines accorded them, while the local neighborhood schools continue to struggle and now face layoffs in the hundreds.
"If they truly want to educate the children in the neighborhoods, why not go into the neighborhood schools?" said Wilhemina Holder, a long-time parent activist.
She said she was struck by a specific benefit of charter schools: autonomy from some of the local rules, such as length of school day and greater power for principals.
"Why can’t we do that in the traditional schools?" she said.
And that was maybe where a common note was struck with Glen Ridge, where by the end of the retreat the focus had shifted from charter conversion and a whole new series of questions were being asked.
"In the end, we’re hoping the state starts listening to us," said John Mucciolo, Glen Ridge’s superintendent. "That’s the conversation we hope we’re starting with this."
Star Ledger ‘N.J. is among 19 finalists for federal Race to the Top education funding’
Published: Tuesday, July 27, 2010, 5:23 PM Updated: Wednesday, July 28, 2010, 5:39 AM
TRENTON — New Jersey learned today it is in the running for up to $400 million in federal Race to the Top funds for education reform, after an 11th hour change to the state’s application and a political scuffle between Gov. Chris Christie and his own education commissioner last month.
New Jersey is one of 18 states, plus the District of Columbia, named finalists in the competition created by the Obama administration to spur bold school improvement plans. Some 36 states applied for more than $3 billion in education funding.
Altogether, states are seeking $6.2 billion, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said, adding he expects 10 to 15 states to be awarded grants.
Winners will be announced in September, after finalists make their case to reviewers next month.
Each finalist scored over 400 points, said Duncan, who declined to reveal preliminary scores.
"This isn’t just about the money. It’s about folks working together and putting the needs of children ahead of everything else," Duncan said in a conference call. "The entire process has moved the nation ahead."
New Jersey’s application became controversial when Christie publicly accused Education Commissioner Bret Schundler of making too many concessions to the New Jersey Education Association, the state’s powerful teachers union, on teacher tenure and merit pay. Christie submitted a new application without the agreement the NJEA and Schundler had made, and without union buy-in.
The announcement "affirms our decision to stick with real reform and not capitulate to the watered-down, failed status quo approach advocated by the NJEA," Christie said in a statement today.
A spokesman for the NJEA objected to the governor’s "attacks."
"We’re sorry he’s using this as a means of continuing his vendetta against the NJEA," spokesman Steve Wollmer said. "It looks like New Jersey’s chances of getting some money are better. Certainly the money is needed because this governor has cut a billion and a half dollars out of education."
In its application, New Jersey said it plans to link student achievement to teacher evaluation and pay; implement merit pay systems for effective educators in high-needs districts; use a statewide data system to measure student progress and improve instruction; and encourage more charter schools. It also plans to encourage legislation to require teacher layoffs to be based on performance, not tenure.
Duncan said the competition itself has created momentum for improving schools.
Not everyone agrees. Jeanne Allen, president of the Center for Education Reform in Washington, D.C., called the designation of the finalists "disheartening."
"The fact that status quo strongholds are sharing the same stage as truly groundbreaking education reform leaders such as Florida, New York and the District of Columbia ... shows that Race to the Top is inherently broken in both its scoring and priorities," she said.
In phase one, this spring, $600 million was awarded to Tennessee and Delaware. Duncan said hopes are to have a third phase next year, and said President Obama has requested $1.35 billion for it.
Jeanette Rundquist and Kristen Alloway/ The Star-Ledger
Star Ledger ‘N.J. ranks high in Kids Count survey for children's health, education’
Published: Tuesday, July 27, 2010, 6:00 AM Updated: Tuesday, July 27, 2010, 7:39 AM
Susan K. Livio/Statehouse Bureau
TRENTON — New Jersey is an expensive place to live, but with its competitive public school system and access to health programs for working poor families, it’s also a good place to raise and educate children, according to the latest Kids Count nationwide survey of child health, wealth and well-being.
According to the annual survey, scheduled for release today, New Jersey ranks seventh overall in terms of child health, an improvement from the last year’s study when the state placed ninth.
New Hampshire ranked first in the latest study while Mississippi was last.
Part of the reason for New Jersey’s improved ranking, according to the report, is the fact fewer babies are dying before their first birthday and fewer teenage girls gave birth in 2007. In addition, New Jersey had the fourth lowest high school dropout rate in the country in 2008, according to the report, which included data from 2007 and 2008.
"New Jersey’s investment in children pays off," said Cecilia Zalkind, executive director of the Association for Children of New Jersey, an advocacy group that jointly released the study with the Annie E. Casey Foundation. "In these tough fiscal times, we need to remember that investments in successful programs help give New Jersey children the chance to grow up safe, healthy and educated."
But despite the higher ranking, pockets of inequity remain.
While the state’s poverty rate is 10th lowest in the nation, "keep in mind these are state averages and figures can vary a great deal by community," Zalkind said. "Child well-being is not as positive everywhere as this report would suggest."
Another example Zalkind cited is the high school dropout rate. While the overall rate statewide is low, it remains high in many urban areas, such as Newark, whose rate is near 50 percent.
Stan Karp of the Education Law Center, which has sued the state to force more spending in poorer, urban school districts where there are "pockets of inequality,’’ said he is concerned that cuts in state education aid will make matters worse.
"New Jersey is a relatively wealthy state that has seen the importance of investing in public education," Karp said. But, "when you add drastic cuts in school programs and have a tendency to use the test-and-punish approach to school reform, you are going to push some kids out of school."
Zalkind said recent budget cuts to the popular FamilyCare low-cost health insurance program and school meals programs raise questions about how well the state will do as the recession lingers.
"We have had a strong investment and a good strategy around health care and other programs but are we going to be able to sustain that is a question for the future?" she said.
Previous coverage:
• Complete coverage of the 2010 New Jersey State Budget
• Study finds economy directly influences N.J. children's well-being
• Newark Kids Count survey shows improvements for city children
• Survey finds subprime foreclosures hurt Newark children
• KIDS Count report to be released
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