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Office of the Governor: Education Commissioner Bret Schundler Asks U.S. Department Of Education To Release Remaining RTTT Funds To New Jersey
njspotlight.com 'Behind the Race to the Top Furor, Five Nameless Judges' Reports from panel of reviewers shows where NJ gained and lost -- and maybe tripped up...
The Record (column) ‘Stile: Christie trying to have it both ways on education grant mistake’
Star Ledger ‘Bob Braun: If N.J. had stronger Race to the Top application, clerical error wouldn't have mattered’
Philadelphia Inquirer – South Jersey News ‘Christie admits clerical error on application for education funds, blames Obama administration’
njspotlight.com 'Behind the Race to the Top Furor, Five Nameless Judges' Reports from panel of reviewers shows where NJ gained and lost -- and maybe tripped up By John Mooney, August 26 in Education For all the drama and argument over what narrowly lost New Jersey’s bid for federal Race to the Top money, the decision came down to five mostly anonymous judges, or peer reviewers. Related Links Each one scored the state’s voluminous application, both its written and oral presentation, and the five scores were averaged into one final tally. For New Jersey, the final score was 437.8 out of 500, a mere three points short of the Top 10 and its $399 million prize. And with the different scores ranging from a high of 463 (Reviewer 3) to a low of 399 (Reviewer 5), it could have been just one outlier who made all the difference. Who are these people? They are mostly anonymous in that the specific five who reviewed New Jersey’s application are not publicly named. The 70-Person Pool But the “mostly” part is in that they come from a list of 70 people picked for the jobs by the U.S Department of Education, from a retired New York and Washington State education bureaucrat to a former Baltimore high school principal who grew up in Elizabeth. In between are college professors, including one from Rutgers, and an education entrepreneur who developed an online tool for college applications. A Catholic school administrator from the Boston archdiocese was also among the reviewers. Cloaked in their anonymity, the specific five who decided New Jersey’s fate are now the focus of much speculation and some scorn in Trenton to every point they awarded. Their individual reports give a more complicated picture of both the judges and the process that went into their decisions. Reviewer 1 (NJ Score -- 445): This reviewer was one of New Jersey’s bigger fans in the group, giving the second-highest score. He or she called the state’s reform agenda “clear and comprehensive,” and said the state was “ahead of other states in the use of charters, alternate routes and even state takeovers.” This reviewer also credited the state for the support for its proposal, barely mentioning the lack of buy-in from teacher unions. “The breadth of support for raising school achievement and using data to sustain reform is very impressive and deserves full credit,” the reviewer wrote. But while the reviewer credited the state as a pioneer in state takeovers, he or she had misgivings about its plans for turning around low-performing schools, one of the key sections of the competition. The reviewer appeared to back charter schools as a model for turnarounds, even naming two successful charters in Newark as models to follow, but said the state didn’t speak enough to those ideas in its proposal. “The Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) charter schools and the Uncommon Schools have been helpful in Newark,” the reviewer wrote. “Several very effective schools have expanded, but it is not clear that even more charter school expansions will be considered.” Still, Reviewer 1’s grade was among the state’s highest: “This is an aggressive and ambitious reform proposal, and measurable gains in college and career preparation are clearly achievable through implementation of this plan.” Reviewer 2 (NJ score -- 439): New Jersey benefited more by meeting Reviewer 2 in person than any of the other reviewers. After the written application, this reviewer gave the state just 398 out of 500 points. After the 90-minute interview two weeks ago, the score rose 41 points to 439. Over and over, the reviewer credits the interview with the state’s team, led by state Education Commissioner Bret Schundler, as providing needed details. “The presentation provided clarifying information that positively affected the number of points awarded for this criterion,” the reviewer wrote at one point. Still, this reviewer voiced continued concerns about the lack of union support for the proposal, a big point of contention in Trenton as Gov. Chris Christie threw out at the last minute a compromise agreement with the state’s dominant union and filed the application without it. “The biggest question for this proposal is whether the reforms will truly make a statewide impact in light of the non-support of local and state (unions),” the reviewer wrote. “Most implementation depends heavily on local bargaining processes and outcomes. This could potentially curtail or water down a potentially very strong plan.” Reviewer 3 (NJ score -- 463): Nobody liked New Jersey’s application more than Reviewer 3, both in its written form and then after the interview. And at 18 pages, the reviewer was the most verbose in that praise as well. He or she cited the state’s “historic commitment” to supporting public education, spending more per pupil than any other state, and a history of “bold reforms” and “a strong belief that education can overcome disadvantage and help achieve social justice.” The reviewer raises the same concern about the buy-in of not just local unions but also the local school districts, of which just 60 percent gave full support. And the reviewer knocked off a few points for the state’s lack of good data on graduation rates. “Its record on improving graduation rates is not clear given that it was inflating its rates by not keeping accurate data,” the reviewer wrote. As the group’s most prolific writer, the reviewer also said the most about what may be the application’s most controversial section. New Jersey apparently failed to include information on the state’s school funding for 2008 and 2009, costing it five points that could have made the difference between losing and winning. The reviewer said that the state did include 2011 data that showed the “education funding certainly seems adequate. “ “But how this percentage compares with that of previous years was not included,” the reviewer wrote. “”Because the evidence was not presented, no points were awarded.” Reviewer 4 (NJ score -- 413): This is where New Jersey’s application began to fade from contention, with Reviewer 4 often citing the lack of specificity or details as to how plans would be implemented. There wasn’t one area in particular, but a general sense that more detail was needed. For instance, in a section about standards and assessments, the reviewer wrote: “More attention should have been devoted to the design and delivery of teacher professional development to support implementation of the new standards and assessments.” At another point about the use of state data, he or she wrote: “While [the plans] were thoughtfully developed and sound concepts, specific operational details were missing.” Still, it wasn’t all bad. The reviewer called the state’s teacher evaluation plan “ambitious but achievable” and cited its plan for supporting teachers and principals “high quality.” Reviewer 5 (NJ score -- 399): Reviewer 5 may have been New Jersey’s downfall, giving the lowest scores by far of the group. If he or she even rose to the next lowest total, that could have conceivably been enough to lift the average to earn New Jersey the grant. The reviewer’s concerns were many, but even more than Reviewer 2, there were repeated worries about the lack of district and union support. Praise was strong for the state’s plans for evaluating teachers and principals using a wide array of data. However, “of continued concern is the large number of [union] school districts that will not participate will limit the effectiveness and impact of this effort,” the reviewer wrote. Same with tenure reforms, which the reviewer otherwise called “controversial and bold steps to change the status quo.” The sentiment may have been best summed up in his or her concluding comments, maybe sealing the state application’s fate. “While much of the New Jersey proposal is strong, one important fact makes it unlikely to succeed,” the reviewer wrote. “Forty point nine of the state’s [local districts] will not participate in this proposal. That is a significant number.”
The Record (editorial): Race to blame
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Office of the Governor
EDUCATION COMMISSIONER BRET SCHUNDLER ASKSU.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION TO RELEASEREMAINING RTTT FUNDS TO NEW JERSEY
Commissioner Notes that Federal Reviewers Heaped Praise on Proposed NJ Reforms
TRENTON, NJ -- New Jersey Education Commissioner Bret Schundler this evening sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan seeking the award of $75 million in unallocated Race to The Top funds to New Jersey.
Commissioner Schundler noted in his letter that had New Jersey been allowed to correct a clerical error brought to the attention of reviewers of its application, the state would have placed 9th and received full funding of its application rather than no funding. Also included in the Commissioner's letter was some of the comments offered by reviewers who otherwise found the state's education reform plans comprehensive and strong.
"I ask you to provide New Jersey with the requested $75 million in remaining funds not only for the sake of our children, but so we can more effectively model for all of America's school systems how significantly our Race to The Top reforms can increase student learning," Commissioner Schundler wrote.
The Commissioner's letter is below:
Honorable Arne Duncan
U.S. Secretary of Education
Lyndon Baines Johnson (LBJ)
Department of Education Building
400 Maryland Avenue, SW
Washington, DC 20202
Dear Secretary Duncan:
On behalf of the State of New Jersey and its Department of Education, I am writing to request that you consider awarding New Jersey the $75 million in "statewide reform" Race to The Top (RTTT) funding which remains unallocated.
Among states which have not received RTTT grants, New Jersey's application score was the highest, and our state's reform agenda and nearly 1.4 million children would measurably benefit from New Jersey having these funds to support reform rollout.
As you are aware, the Race to The Top program as established by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 was appropriated $4 billion in funding. Grants announced to date to the twelve winning states of Round 1 and Round 2 of the competition total a maximum of $3.925 billion. Therefore, $75 million remains unallocated.
New Jersey would be an ideal and deserving recipient of these funds. New Jersey's Round 2 application score of 437.8 is the highest among states which did not receive funding, and our score trails that of Ohio by just 3 points. Comments from our reviewers include:
* "The application put forth a very straightforward and powerful reform agenda that clearly focuses on students and their educational welfare."
* "The NJ education reform agenda is clear and comprehensive."
* "State leadership for the initiative is strong, and the plans demonstrate a deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities offered by the reform effort."
* "New Jersey has articulated a strong, comprehensive reform agenda."
* NJ is and has been among the most outspoken state leaders in supporting dramatic reforms over the past decade."
Further, it was due to a clerical error on our part, not due to a matter of substance, that New Jersey lost 4.8 points and thus did not score above two of the states that won. Our application did not include documentation in Section (F)(1)(i) establishing that New Jersey increased its spending on education as a percentage of total state revenues from 36.9% in 2008 to 39.6% in 2009 (a fact that was demonstrated in New Jersey's Round 1 application). In addition, it was confirmed verbally during our August 11 presentation that New Jersey satisfied this criteria. Had New Jersey been able to correct the clerical error, those points would have been earned, and New Jersey's application would have earned 9th place and full funding rather than 11th place and no funding.
While New Jersey's education reform agenda would certainly benefit from full funding of its $399 million RTTT request, a $75 million grant would still accelerate our efforts to build a web-based statewide longitudinal data system, develop critical new curricular and assessment resources, and train school and teacher leaders in how to train their colleagues on the use of these powerful new tools. These are all one-time costs. Covered once, they will make a permanent difference.
I ask you to provide New Jersey with the requested $75 million in remaining funds and not only for the sake of our children, but so we can more effectively model for all of America's school systems how significantly our Race to The Top reforms can increase student learning.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Bret Schundler
c: Governor Chris Christie
The Record (column) Stile: Christie trying to
have it both ways on
education grant mistake
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Last updated: Thursday August 26, 2010, 7:55 AM
Don't be shocked if Governor Christie is
spotted commiserating with rising golf star
Dustin Johnson at the practice range at The
Barclays tournament in Paramus later this
week.
They have a lot to talk about. Both have been
singed by a common experience — a high-
profile technical gaffe that cost them both
millions of dollars. Johnson squandered his
chances at winning last week's PGA
Championship by momentarily resting his
club on a tiny patch of sand on the 18th hole
of the final round.
Christie's Education Department failed to
properly fill out one page in a 1,000-page
application for the second round of the
Obama administration's Race to the Top
competition, which doles out generous
prizes to states that prove they are serious
about reforming public education. That
mistake kept New Jersey from winning $400
million in school aid.
Both had victory thwarted by the inflexible,
letter-of-the-law bureaucrats. Both learned
the hard way that in high-stakes golf or
government competition, no one gets a
mulligan.
In golf, you take your medicine and move on
to the next hole, which is the way the
gracious Johnson handled his error. Christie
also took responsibility – but then proceeded
Wednesday to parse out blame and throw a
roster of critics under his blunder bus. And
there was nothing humble or gracious about
it.
Yes, Christie said the buck stops with him
and he'll take it on the chin, and he nobly
refused to throw some hapless Department
of Education bureaucrat scapegoat to the
pack of braying Trenton jackals – in this case
his Democratic enemies and the New Jersey
Education Association.
But then Christie pinned blame on the Obama
administration. His bureaucrats should have d
one something about it. The "clerical error,"
as Christie called it, could have easily been
corrected with a polite phone call or a quick
Internet search. But they didn't and now,
New Jersey is a "victim" of an Attack of the
Nerds, not a victim of his own
administration's sloppiness.
"That's the stuff that drives people nuts
about government," Christie said at a Trenton
press conference. "And that's the stuff the
Obama administration should answer for.
Are you guys just down there checking
boxes like mindless drones, or are you
thinking? When the president comes back to
New Jersey, he's going to have to explain to
the people of the state of NewJersey why he's
depriving them of $400 million that this
application earned."
Despite a masterful job of counter-blaming
his way out of a corner, the truth is Christie
has the explaining to do. His staff screwed
this one up, and now the state is out $400
million. And the only victims are New Jersey
public schools, already strained by Christie's
steep cuts to public school aid. The money
could have allowed a few districts to rehire a
teacher or two or keep an after-school band
operating for another year. But the money is
going to another state whose bureaucrats
double-checked their application before
sending it to Washington.
New Jersey's application failed to properly
answer a fairly innocuous request for some
basic information about the state's school
funding levels between fiscal years 2008 and
2009.
But the administration gave a general
forecast for fiscal year 2011, which began in
July. It was the wrong answer. And the
application reviewers — those hideous
bureaucrats – dinged the state five points.
In the grand scheme of things, five points out
of a possible maximum score of 500 should
not have been a game-changer. But it may
have been. The state's application garnered
437 points, just three points shy of 10th-
place finisher Ohio. And it was enough to
keep New Jersey out of the money.
"We'll take the responsibility we need to take
for putting one wrong piece of paper in a
thousand-page application," said Christie,
who thumped two large Race to the Top
binders on his lectern for dramatic effect. "If
you want to take shots, take shots at me."
Democrats took up Christie's offer,
scheduling hearings on the gaffe, believing
this blunder offers the first real crack in
Christie's Teflon and eager to exploit it.
And of course, the NJEA also pounced with
relish, even though the union dodged a major
public relations fiasco. Without the clerical
error, the administration could have claimed
victory without the union's endorsement
(NJEA's lack of support cost the state nine
points). In fact, the losing score didn't stop
him from making that very point – the result
confirmed how "irrelevant" the union had
become.
And, he also pointed out, the score validated
his decision in May to ditch a compromise
that Education Commissioner Bret Schundler
had struck with the NJEA in exchange for its
blessing. That compromise included a
watered-down version of tenure reform and
merit pay.
He called the NJEA's comments "asinine." He
was angry, and he struggled to constrain it.
It's hard to declare victory over your enemies
when you're holding a losing scorecard in
your hands.
Golfer Dustin Johnson handled his moment
of disgrace with humility.
"Obviously, it's going to be [painful],"
Johnson said earlier this week. "I'm going to
think twice about it every time I get in a b
unker. But I mean, it's just a lesson learned,
I guess. And I will definitely [think twice] —
any time I'm on any type of sand, I'm going to
be quite careful."
Christie isn't a golfer. He's skilled in the
blood sport of New Jersey politics, where
combatants wear Teflon gear and refuse to
gracefully admit they made a mistake – even
when a clerical error proves otherwise.
E-mail: stile@northjersey.com
Star Ledger ‘Bob Braun: If N.J. had stronger Race to the Top application, clerical error wouldn't have mattered’
Bob Braun/Star-Ledger Columnist Thursday, August 26, 2010, 8:22 AM
TRENTON — Now that the Race to the Top is over and New Jersey lost $400 million in badly needed cash, the state’s people are left pondering not whether we deserved to win or lose, but, rather this question: Who has dumber bureaucrats, the feds or the state?
That is the way the governor is framing the question — he says the feds are dumber — and the Legislature is joining the fray by calling for an investigation into how the state Education Department confused 2011 with 2009 and submitted figures for the wrong year in New Jersey’s grant application.
There is, it turns out, a videotape of a meeting between the feds and the New Jersey education team (doesn’t anyone trust anyone anymore?) at which the two sides may or may not have discussed the state’s mistake — and might or might not have tried to correct it. We may learn who was dumber but it probably won’t make a difference, according to the feds.
"It’s silly," says William Behre, dean of education at The College of New Jersey, who had rather hoped New Jersey would have received the money so he could build his teacher education programs for urban schools. "The feds shouldn’t have disqualified us for that and the state should have got its figures right."
He’s right, and the truth is, if New Jersey had had a stronger application, the fewer than five points deducted from the application because of the mistake would not have made a difference.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE:
• Full transcript of the governor's remarks
• Draft of 'Race to the Top' application agreed upon by NJEA, Schundler had correct budget information
• N.J. Assembly speaker orders hearing on 'Race to the Top' application error
• Gov. Christie blames Washington bureaucracy for state's failed 'Race to the Top' application
• Read text of mistake from the documents
• N.J. Assembly speaker orders hearing on 'Race to the Top' application error
• Gov. Chris Christie's summary of Race to the Top application, submitted June 1
• An appendix to the application, which is more than 1,000 pages (88MB)
But who wants to go there? Isn’t it more fun to hear Gov. Chris Christie say things like, "Does anybody in Washington, D.C., have a lick of common sense? Pick up the phone and ask us for the number."
Or the New Jersey Education Association say things like, "New Jersey’s failure to win Race to the Top funding is a direct result of Gov. Christie’s misguided decision to hijack the grant application process for his own political purposes."
All that will help us improve schools, won’t it?
"I don’t think there’s any question that the conflict between the governor and the teachers hurt our application," says Chris Campasino, director of the teacher education program at Princeton University.
The federal response to the state’s application for educational stimulus funds showed New Jersey’s educational strengths and weaknesses — but all the debate now will be about, well, stupid stuff.
For example, the state got a lot of praise (and points on its application) from the feds for its teacher certification program and for its willingness, in the past, to take over failing school districts. It also won high marks for improvement in its urban districts, something state officials have publicly scoffed at.
"Outstanding, historical leadership in its reform efforts," said one reviewer.
"That’s no surprise,’’ says David Sciarra, executive director of the Education Law Center. "We were making great progress — until the funding was cut."
But the state didn’t get such high grades on its ability to persuade educators to sign on to its plan — a reflection on the contentious Christie-NJEA feud that climaxed with the governor’s last-minute rejection of a plan that his own education commissioner, Bret Schundler, negotiated with the union.
"This lack of greater involvement will challenge N.J.’s efforts to meet its goals," another reviewer concluded.
The reviewers also raised questions about the development of a statewide database to track pupil success and failure — something Schundler had earlier praised as an early accomplishment of his tenure.
"A detailed plan with specific goals, activities, timelines, and responsibilities was not included, so only medium points are awarded," a reviewer noted.
The points deducted for issues like a database or the failure to bring educators to accept the plan cost New Jersey far more than the points deducted for including the wrong year.
"This has got to end," says Joseph DePierro, dean of the College of Education and Human Services at Seton Hall University. He says the rush to get in an application after the rejection of the Schundler plan could have led to sloppy mistakes.
"The feds can be rigid about mistakes — it’s a competition, after all," he says.
"We’ve reaped what we’ve sown. You can’t have contention and expect to be rewarded for it. Both the governor and the NJEA need to accept responsibility for the outcome."
Philadelphia Inquirer – South Jersey News ‘Christie admits clerical error on application for education funds, blames Obama administration’
By Matt Katz
Inquirer Staff Writer
A state worker's misreading of a question on a funding application was blamed Wednesday for New Jersey's loss of $400 million in federal education money, setting off a political scuffle that ensnared the White House and the Statehouse.
In a single paragraph of a 1,299-page application, New Jersey answered a basic question about its budget with information from fiscal year 2011, as opposed to fiscal 2008 and 2009. As a result, the answer was given just 0.2 points out of a possible five.
If the state had scored just three more points on that answer - and a previous application with the correct answer indicated it could have - New Jersey would have become one of 10 states to win a piece of $4.35 billion.
Instead, New Jersey came in 11th, with 10th place Ohio receiving $400 million. Pennsylvania finished 18th.
At a news conference Wednesday on an unrelated matter, Gov. Christie spent nearly a half-hour taking responsibility for the "clerical error" while forcefully deflecting the criticism and ridiculing President Obama's administration.
This is the kind of bureaucratic decision, the governor said, that "drives people crazy about government, and crazy about Washington."
"Are you guys just down there checking boxes like mindless drones, or are you thinking?" Christie asked. "That's the stuff the Obama administration should answer for."
And with that, the Democrats smelled blood - an opportunity to pounce on the popular Republican governor.
"The governor's shifting the blame to President Obama for his own mistake is a stretch of reality that even a second grader would find amazing," Senate Majority Leader Barbara Buono said in a statement.
"As a mother, this reminds me of a similar refrain I would occasionally hear from my own children that it 'wasn't my fault,' 'not me,' or 'it's not fair.' "
Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver announced a hearing into the matter, vowing to get to the bottom of "such an egregious blunder." And Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D., Gloucester) called for a Senate hearing.
"No one wants to hear that it's someone else's fault or that some reviewer in Washington should have called or maybe the president doesn't like us," Sweeney said in a statement.
Christie declined to name the mid-level state Department of Education employee who was responsible for the mistake, saying the person did not deserve to be scapegoated.
"I'm not going to fire somebody over this. This was a simple clerical error," Christie said.
But from now on, he said, two employees will review checklists of major grant applications.
"For Democrats to jump on this just shows you how void of ideas" they are, he said. "If this is their big day, then that's why I won the election last year."
He also blamed the state's largest teachers' union, the New Jersey Education Association, saying that if it had accepted changes, the application would have been stronger and the mistake would have been irrelevant.
In the first round of Race to the Top funding, in which Delaware finished with the highest score, New Jersey failed to reach the finals. For the second round, Christie overruled an initial application that included compromises with the NJEA. The revised application offered changes such as merit pay for teachers and using student test results in teacher evaluations. That's why, Christie said, it scored higher than the first.
If the NJEA had been supportive of the changes, Christie said, the application would have scored better, as union support counts for points.
NJEA president Barbara Keshishian said the governor weakened New Jersey's score with his "misguided decision to hijack the grant application process for his own political purposes."
"Maybe this costly lesson will convince Gov. Christie to realize that collaboration is preferable to confrontation when it comes to building consensus around sound public policy," Keshishian said in a statement.
Christie called the NJEA's comments "asinine" and said that while there is no formal appeal process, New Jersey would request about $75 million in other Race to the Top funds that have not yet been distributed.
State Education Commissioner Bret Schundler sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan Wednesday night seeking the award.
Christie said that the mistake was brought to Schundler's attention weeks ago, and that Schundler provided federal officials with the correct information at that time.
The correct information was also available on the Department of Treasury website.
But the application failed anyway because, Christie said, the Obama administration chose "form over substance."
"If you're a normal, thinking, reasoned human being, you pick up the phone and you say, 'Hey, you sent this one wrong piece of paper,' " he said.
Holding the two-binder application, Christie steadily grew angrier about Washington: "Does anybody think down there? Does anybody have common sense about what we're doing? Is anyone allowed to make a clerical mistake anymore?"
Spokespeople from the federal Department of Education did not respond to a request for a reaction to Christie's criticism.
New Jersey scored 437.8 out of a possible 500 points. Pennsylvania scored 417.6.
Contact staff writer Matt Katz at 856-779-3919 or mkatz@phillynews.com.
Inquirer staff writer Adrienne Lu contributed to this article.
The Record (editorial) : Race to blame
Thursday, August 26, 2010
The Record
EW JERSEY won't get federal grant money through the "Race to the Top" school-reform program. Among 19 finalists, its application ranked 11th. Only the top 10 states got windfalls, so a potential $400 million in aid has vanished.
It's too bad, not the least because the state is broke and education aid has been cut by more than $1 billion in recent months. And many of the ideas in the application are good ones, such as merit pay for teachers and increasing the number of charter schools.
Governor Christie and Education Commissioner Bret Schundler gambled and lost — big. They have next-to-no money to offer as incentive to schools to implement these ideas. And they have next-to-no goodwill among the educators successful reform requires — especially after Christie replaced a union-approved application with his own, losing version.
So where do we go from here? Though many New Jersey public schools are excellent, far too many, especially in poor cities, are failing their students. Reform must take hold in these communities. It is time to have a serious conversation about how.
But instead, what we get is recrimination and posturing. Lawmakers have been waiting for a stumble from this governor, and the "Race" flub is a big one. Wednesday's news was dominated by a supposedly smoking gun: a clerical error on the application. Christie blamed the Obama administration for not calling Trenton when they found the error. Lawmakers blamed Christie for not blaming himself. Democratic lawmakers angrily called for hearings about the "inexcusable" mistake.
What a waste of time. We heard far less outrage from the Legislature about abuses at Xanadu and EnCap, not to mention misspending at the multibillion-dollar Schools Construction Corp. and state-funded preschool programs. Why aren't these high-minded public servants holding a hearing on tenure absurdities or the shamefully low graduation rates at urban high schools?
Meanwhile, Christie and Schundler have said little about the road ahead. There's plenty to be done. If they want to encourage merit pay, lawmakers must be sold on the idea. If they want to encourage charter schools, lawmakers must consider allowing charters to bond, have access to low-interest state loans or be given start-up grants. And if they want any change to be successful, Schundler needs to hit the road and sell his department and ideas to teachers, one school at a time. They are feeling battered and distrustful. The real work of education reform might not have a catchy name or make for splashy politics. It is setting rules, shifting strategy, retraining teachers and getting educators on board. The educational "Race" continues, grants or no grants.
EW JERSEY won't get federal grant money through the "Race to the Top" school-reform program. Among 19 finalists, its application ranked 11th. Only the top 10 states got windfalls, so a potential $400 million in aid has vanished.
It's too bad, not the least because the state is broke and education aid has been cut by more than $1 billion in recent months. And many of the ideas in the application are good ones, such as merit pay for teachers and increasing the number of charter schools.
Governor Christie and Education Commissioner Bret Schundler gambled and lost — big. They have next-to-no money to offer as incentive to schools to implement these ideas. And they have next-to-no goodwill among the educators successful reform requires — especially after Christie replaced a union-approved application with his own, losing version.
So where do we go from here? Though many New Jersey public schools are excellent, far too many, especially in poor cities, are failing their students. Reform must take hold in these communities. It is time to have a serious conversation about how.
But instead, what we get is recrimination and posturing. Lawmakers have been waiting for a stumble from this governor, and the "Race" flub is a big one. Wednesday's news was dominated by a supposedly smoking gun: a clerical error on the application. Christie blamed the Obama administration for not calling Trenton when they found the error. Lawmakers blamed Christie for not blaming himself. Democratic lawmakers angrily called for hearings about the "inexcusable" mistake.
What a waste of time. We heard far less outrage from the Legislature about abuses at Xanadu and EnCap, not to mention misspending at the multibillion-dollar Schools Construction Corp. and state-funded preschool programs. Why aren't these high-minded public servants holding a hearing on tenure absurdities or the shamefully low graduation rates at urban high schools?
Meanwhile, Christie and Schundler have said little about the road ahead. There's plenty to be done. If they want to encourage merit pay, lawmakers must be sold on the idea. If they want to encourage charter schools, lawmakers must consider allowing charters to bond, have access to low-interest state loans or be given start-up grants. And if they want any change to be successful, Schundler needs to hit the road and sell his department and ideas to teachers, one school at a time. They are feeling battered and distrustful. The real work of education reform might not have a catchy name or make for splashy politics. It is setting rules, shifting strategy, retraining teachers and getting educators on board. The educational "Race" continues, grants or no grants.
Press of Atlantic City 'New Jersey admits error on federal school funding application, asks for leftover aid'
-
New Jersey Education Commissioner Bret Schundler said Wednesday he has asked the U.S. secretary of education to give the state the remaining $75 million in unallocated Race to the Top funds.
But Democratic legislators want to know how the state Department of Education made a mistake on its grant application, costing New Jersey $400 million in federal education funds.
Assembly Speaker Sheila Y. Oliver, D-Essex, Passaic, said Wednesday that Assembly Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nellie Pou, D-Bergen, Passaic, will hold a hearing to explore what she called a glaring misstep in the application.
Senate President Stephen M. Sweeney, D-Salem, Gloucester, Cumberland, and Majority Leader Barbara Buono, D-Middlesex, said the Senate Legislative Oversight Committee also will schedule a hearing with the goal of changing the state’s method of handling similar applications in the future.
Gov. Chris Christie admitted Wednesday that the state submitted data for the wrong year in response to one item in the 1,000-page application packet, which cost the state five points on the rating system. But he also went on the offensive, criticizing the U.S. Department of Education’s review process for eliminating an otherwise eligible application for funding because of a clerical error.
“You’re not going to grant the award to New Jersey because of a mistake, a clerical mistake, or one piece of paper?” he asked. “That’s the stuff that drives people nuts about government, and that’s the stuff the Obama administration should answer for.”
He said the error was noted by reviewers and the state submitted the correct information two weeks before the final decision on which states would get funding. He said he would take responsibility for the error, and would not fire the person who compiled the report for making the one mistake.
A U.S. Department of Education spokesperson could not be reached for comment Wednesday afternoon.
On Tuesday, the department announced that nine states and the District of Columbia were chosen from 19 finalists to receive funding. New Jersey was one of the finalists, but its final score of 437.8 ranked it 11th and just out of the money. Ohio, which was 10th, scored 440.8 out of a possible 500. The top-ranked state, Massachusetts, scored 471.
In a news release Duncan said many of the applicants’ point totals were very close, but the deciding factor on the number of winners hinged both on the quality of the applications and the funds available. He said he hoped there could be a third round of funds.
“We had many more competitive applications than money to fund them in this round,” Duncan said.
Schundler on Wednesday sent a letter to U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, asking him to consider giving New Jersey the $75 million that remains unallocated from the $4 billion fund. He wrote that the state had the next highest score among the finalists and could use the money to achieve some of its goals, including building its data collection system, training teachers and developing curriculum and testing.
Christie said Wednesday that the total application still scored 51 points higher than the one submitted for the first round of funding, when Jon S. Corzine was governor. Only two states, Delaware and Tennessee, got funding in that round.
New Jersey’s score also jumped from 403.4 when the finalists were first announced, to 437.8 during the second tier of review. A review of the final scoring shows the state lost the most points in areas that relate to its contentious relationship with the state’s largest teachers union, the New Jersey Education Association.
The state got only 34 points out of a possible 45 points for securing commitments from other educational groups to support the application. The NJEA pulled its support after Christie rejected compromises Schundler had made with the union on the application’s treatment of teachers. The state also got just 51 points out of a possible 65 for articulating the state’s reform agenda and how other educational groups (school districts and unions) would participate in that agenda.
NJEA President Barbara Keshishian on Tuesday placed the blame for the state’s loss squarely on Christie, saying he had hijacked the application process for his own political purposes.
The state also lost points for its lack of a fully implemented statewide system to track student performance, earning just 14 points out of a possible 24.
The state scored very high in other areas, getting 69 points out of a possible 70 for its plans for standards and assessments. The application also got 49 points out of a possible 50 points for its plans to turn around the lowest-achieving schools, and earned the full 15 points for integrating so-called STEM, or science, technology, engineering and math, into its plans.
Other states that received funds Tuesday were Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland, New York, North Carolina, Ohio and Rhode Island.
Contact Diane D’Amico:
609-272-7241
