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9-17-13 Charters, Camden, Poll Results ... School Issues in the News
Star Ledger - Newark charter school contract with K12 Inc. shows influence of for-profit companies in public schools

NJ Spotlight - Explainer: Charting the Development of New Jersey's Charter Schools…Charter schools are nothing if not controversial, but what's beneath the chatter?

NJ Spotlight - Going One on One With New Superintendent of Camden Public Schools…Paymon Rouhanifard talks experience, charters, contracts -- and his '100-day plan'

Courier Post - Christie gets good grade on education…new statewide poll gives the governor a good grade on education issues

Star Ledger - Newark charter school contract with K12 Inc. shows influence of for-profit companies in public schools

By Jessica Calefati/The Star-Ledger The Star-Ledger Follow on Twitter
on September 17, 2013 at 6:00 AM, updated September 17, 2013 at 7:22 AM

 

"Technically, on the books, K12 is just a contractor hired by Newark Prep Charter School, but in reality it is running the school, soup to nuts."

NEWARK— Newark Prep Charter School opened last year with 150 students, a dozen teachers and big ambitions to become among the first schools in the state to offer classes taught online.

It hired K12 Inc., a for-profit online learning giant, to handle the start-up and offer many of the services the high school would provide.

A contract obtained by The Star-Ledger shows the publicly traded company — which operates charter schools for thousands of students in 27 states and made $30 million in the last school year — selected Newark Prep’s principal, drafted its budget and leased it furniture and equipment.

In return, Newark Prep paid the company nearly half a million dollars, or 17 percent of the $2.8 million it received last school year to educate students, according to financial data provided by the school’s board of trustees. This year, as the student body grows, the fees could take up to 40 percent of the school’s revenue, according to the contract.

New Jersey law allows for-profit companies to play a big role in public schools.

One thing they can’t do is run the place.

But charter school experts and one lawmaker said it’s sometime hard to tell if the rules are being followed, and K12’s involvement with Newark Prep is one of those instances.

"Technically, on the books, K12 is just a contractor hired by Newark Prep Charter School, but in reality it is running the school, soup to nuts," said Luis Huerta, a Columbia University Teachers College professor who studies the impact of virtual charter schools across the country.

In addition, Assembly Education Committee Chairman Patrick Deignan (D-Middlesex) called the steep fees and the terms of the contract "deeply troubling."

"The fact that decisions about hiring and contracts have been taken away from the public and are now in the hands of private enterprise concerns me very much," he said.

Members of Newark Prep’s Board of Trustees, however, dispute Deignan’s assertions and said they make all final decisions at the school. They selected K12 as a vendor because of the company’s "superb curriculum" and its past experience launching charter schools in urban areas.

A letter written on behalf of the seven-member board called the $489,848 the school paid K12 last school year a "tremendous bargain" because the company allowed the school to postpone payment of other fees it was scheduled to pay last year.

"The board, principal and school business administrator set all policies and run the school," the letter states. "K12 is a vendor. They make suggestions and provide support, but that’s all."

But when asked to describe a specific responsibility it handles without any guidance or assistance from K12 Inc., the board could not name one.

A TYPICAL DAY

Newark Prep Charter School students gather each morning during the school year at a glass office tower on Broad Street. They spend part of the day in a large, open room seated at work stations with desktop computers where they complete assignments online, sometimes for hours at a time.

The rest of the day is spent in traditional classrooms where students work with teachers and interact with peers just as they would at a regular school.

David C. Fuller, who served as Newark Prep’s principal last year, said he was not familiar with the terms of the agreement between Newark Prep and K12 Inc., but called Newark Prep "an independent school powered by K12."

Fuller said K12 Inc.’s online curriculum is one of a kind because it allows students to zip through lessons they find easy and get one-on-one attention from Newark Prep teachers when they’re stumped by a difficult assignment.

"They can excel at their own pace," said Fuller, who ran virtual academies for K12 Inc. based in Texas and Louisiana before moving to New Jersey.

Newark Prep Principal Sonn Sam said K12 Inc.’s experience starting charter schools in other cities makes it the best vendor to provide services for his school.

"It is great being able to deal with one entity in providing many important services to the school — far better than having to juggle many relationships," said Sam, who previously worked as a principal at a traditional city high school.

UNDER SCRUTINY

K12 Inc.’s practices have been scrutinized in other states in recent months.

A preliminary report by the Florida Education Department’s inspector general found the company asked employees to teach subjects not covered by their certification and inflated its enrollment. An online charter school in Colorado recently severed its relationship with the company after state auditors found K12 Inc. overcharged the state for students whose enrollment could not be verified.

The company also recently settled a class action lawsuit brought by its shareholders for $6.75 million. The complaint alleged K12 Inc. misled investors about the school’s academic success and overcharged states, including Colorado, for students who had dropped out of its virtual schools but were never removed from the rolls. Some claims were dismissed before the settlement was announced.

Newark Prep’s creation comes as charter schools continue to blossom throughout the state. And with their increasing number comes increased attention. Nowhere is the focus more intense than in Newark, which has 20 charters, the most in the state.

Newark Mayor Cory Booker, a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, is a vocal supporter of charter schools, but he declined to comment on Newark Prep’s contract with K12 Inc. Cami Anderson, superintendent of the city’s school district, also declined to comment.

CONTRACT CONFUSION

Seemingly contradictory clauses in the contract cement K12’s authority over important decisions that affect the school’s academic success and the company’s bottom line, said Huerta, of Columbia.

For example, the contract stipulates that Newark Prep’s board must oversee K12 Inc.’s work, but it also requires K12 to implement whatever school policies it deems necessary for the success of its proprietary online curriculum.

The contract, which was drafted by K12., states that Newark Prep Charter School and the company are "independent contractors," pursuant to New Jersey laws and regulations, yet K12 is free to use the school’s name "in press releases, on its website, or in other marketing materials."

The document also states in a section titled "exclusivity" that the school cannot consider hiring another curriculum contractor or breaking its agreement with K12 without giving 18 months’ notice or getting permission from the company.

If the company expects the school’s state aid to decline dramatically, however, it can cancel the contract with 60 days’ notice.

Newark Prep is one of nine charter schools among 87 charter schools across the state that contracts with a management company, but only two other schools — Camden Community Charter School and Central Jersey Arts Charter School — work with for-profit companies.

The fees K12 charges Newark Prep for its services are another measure of the company’s influence at the school, experts and lawmakers say.

To lease computers for students and teachers, the school paid the company $109,425. To access K12’s online courses, Newark Prep paid $207,640. To repay a loan from the company, the school paid $100,000. And for other technology services, Newark Prep paid $72,782. Together, last school year’s fees were $489,847.


But as Newark Prep’s enrollment increases and its annual budgets grow, the school will be required to pay back the $628,029 in additional fees K12 waived last year, according to the contract.

Though some of the fees Newark Prep owes K12 will vary year to year, the administrative service fee and the technology service fee are fixed at 15 percent and 7 percent of the school’s total revenue each year. When the school is at capacity with students in grades 9-12, those fees alone could top $2 million annually, based on enrollment projections.

ONE TEACHER'S VIEW

A Craigslist ad initially drew teacher Robbie Garland, 33, to work at Newark Prep. She said she had never heard of K12 or online schools before she applied.

Garland said the company’s online lessons are a great fit for students who love to read and can sit and focus on work for hours at a time, but that the model has not served all the school’s students well.

"I wouldn’t be keen on steering my kids to an online school," said Garland, a mother who lives in Wood-Ridge.

Garland said Newark Prep students don’t always have access to the one-on-one attention Fuller spoke of. She said she was responsible for assisting more than 60 students at once.

"I only have two eyes," Garland said. "If I’m trying to give individualized tutoring, and another student needs help on something else, and then I need to discipline another student, I’m only able to stay with each one for five or 10 minutes."

In June, Education Commissioner Christopher Cerf halted the opening of the state’s first two fully virtual charter schools, citing legal concerns and insufficient evidence that web-based schooling helps students achieve academic success. Both schools had planned to contract with K12.

Cerf declined to comment on Newark Prep’s affiliation with K12.

A spokesman for the state Education Department said charter schools and traditional public schools contract with private companies for a range of services, including textbooks, technology and special education. K12 is one among many contractors and should not be singled out, said Mike Yaple, a spokesman for the state Education Department.

Earlier this year, the New Jersey Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union, filed a lawsuit alleging that Newark Prep and another hybrid charter school serving Newark students, Merit Prep, violate the state’s charter school law.

The case is expected to be heard by a Superior Court judge later this year.

NJ Spotlight - Explainer: Charting the Development of New Jersey's Charter Schools…Charter schools are nothing if not controversial, but what's beneath the chatter?

John Mooney | September 17, 2013

 

First launched in New Jersey in 1997, charter schools have in the past five years become a hot issue in New Jersey -- both for the alternatives they provide students and districts, and the debate they have fueled over the role of public education. Charter schools are public schools operated by private nonprofit groups that are outside the governance of the local district. Instead, they are overseen by the state through a “charter” or specific renewable agreement.

Their significance

The charter movement started with just 13 schools and grew slowly during the first decade. Now numbering close to 90 schools and serving 30,000 students, they have matured into a powerful force in the state, especially in urban districts where they are concentrated. In Newark, for example, close to 20 percent of public school students are in charter schools, including a few that are among the district’s highest-performing schools. They have also sparked some backlash in both urban and suburban communities that have resisted the schools and what they call “draining” of local funds and students, as well as the lack of local say in their expansion, among other reasons. National charter management organizations have also made major inroads in the state, including the nonprofit KIPP Network and Uncommon Schools, and for-profit management firms are also now helping run two new schools in New Jersey.

Charter school funding

Much of the debate on charter schools is how they are paid for, with a local district required to pay 90 percent of the district’s per-pupil costs for each one of its students attending the charter. The formula has some exceptions, and charters contend that the average they receive is closer to 70 percent of actual per-pupil costs. Public funds are also prohibited from being used to build a charter facility, leaving schools to rely often on private fundraising or borrowing. However, public funds may be used for rent or leases, including in empty space in districts.

Charters: better, worse, or about the same as district schools?

Maybe all of the above. Depending on the study or how they are compared, charter schools are very similar to the district schools that they draw from: some are strong, some are weak, and many do about the same when it comes to test scores and other quantitative measures. True, some are exceptional in terms of student performance, far surpassing their local peers, and a recent study by Stanford University researchers -- albeit a contested one -- found that on average they outperform their local districts. But 30 out of more than 115 approved charter schools have been closed or not renewed by the state, many of them cited for financial problems and increasingly for poor performance.

Key debates

For all the discussions about how charters and district schools compare in student performance, much of the recent debate is on how their student enrollments compare. State law requires that charters be open to all those apply, and when demand exceeds available seats, a fair and open lottery must be held. But critics point out that despite this requirement, charters have smaller special-needs and at-risk populations than their district counterparts, bringing a new segregation within a single community. Backers say that the concern is exaggerated, and that the state holds charters to close enrollment requirements. Debates have also cropped up about charters that appear geared to specific populations, such as Hebrew or Chinese language schools, as well as those that have been proposed for special-ed students.

The Charter School Program Act of 1995

Signed by then-Gov. Christie Whitman, New Jersey’s charter school law has not seen much, if any, change in 18 years, and lawmakers have called for new act to meet the state’s changing demands and circumstances. A prime point of contention is whether to require a local vote on any new charter. Others have sought changes in how charters are funded, reviewed, and approved. A hot-button topic is whether the new law should allow for innovations such as online or virtual charters, which are now not explicitly mentioned.

Key players

·         Gov. Chris Christie and state education commissioner Chris Cerf have been big cheerleaders for charter schools, although they have lowered the number of new approvals in the past two years in the face of the local pushback and added rigor to the application process.

·         The New Jersey Charter Schools Association is headed by Carlos Perez.

·         Prominent charter school leaders include Ryan Hill, the New Jersey director of the KIPP Network, and Mashea Ashton, chief executive of the Newark Charter School Fund.

·         More critical voices have come from leaders of the New Jersey Education Association, the Education Law Center in Newark, and the Save Our Schools NJ advocacy group.

·         Rutgers education professor Bruce Baker has conducted considerable research on charter’s performance and enrollment.

·         Legislators leading the discussions about a new charter law include state Sen. Teresa Ruiz, and state Assembly members Patrick Diegnan Jr., Mila Jasey, and Troy Singleton.

 

NJ Spotlight - Going One on One With New Superintendent of Camden Public Schools…Paymon Rouhanifard talks experience, charters, contracts -- and his '100-day plan'

John Mooney | September 17, 2013

 

When Paymon Rouhanifard was appointed by Gov. Chris Christie as superintendent of Camden public schools, questions quickly arose as to not only his plans for what is arguably New Jersey’s most troubled district but also his experience and credentials to lead the state’s fourth district takeover.

Just 32 years old and with only six years of education experience in New York City and Newark, Rouhanifard knew that he would face an uphill climb in both the politics and the policy of turning around a district where less than a third of students pass the state’s proficiency tests.

Almost a month on the job and week into the school year, Rouhanifard sat down with NJ Spotlight for 90 minutes yesterday to talk about his plans and his challenges. The following are some key areas and priorities that he touched on.

The 100-Day Plan

Rouhanifard has spent much of the first week visiting schools and starting to get to know the city he’s lived in for all of a month. His next step is to develop over the next 100 days what he called a comprehensive plan for both the operation of the district and the outreach to the community.

“First and foremost, I’m listening and evaluating right now,” he said.

In terms of what will be in that plan, he’s not saying yet, but he put an emphasis on basic efficiencies and what he called the “infrastructure” of the district, from its data management to its human resources.

“Not everything is working as it should,” he said. “It’s not to say every last effort has failed -- there are talented educators here who I have met -- but across the board and comprehensively speaking, people acknowledge that we need to implement dramatic changes.”

And he spoke often of school safety, some of which is already being addressed in collaboration with Camden police.

“Safety is a huge priority, a basic condition we must have in our schools,” he said. “We have safety plans that haven’t been updated since 2006 . . . There is clearly work to be done. We did a survey and less than half of the students said they feel safe in the hallways and bathrooms [of their schools].”

While he has said that hiring new top management is also a priority, he wouldn’t divulge much as to who was staying or going from the previous administration. About 50 central office staff are already gone, and most of his assistant superintendents were essentially let go during the takeover.

One certainty, he said, was holding onto Margaret “Peggy” Nicolosi, a former county superintendent who led the transition and served as interim superintendent until Rouhanifard’s appointment.

Before he started, Rouhanifard benefited from a massive effort by state and local teams over the summer to get the schools up and running for the fall, including the purchase of new materials and technology -- textbooks were more than $5 million alone -- and getting schedules and personnel in order for at least the start of the year.

Where previously there were more than 70 vacancies at the start of the year, there were none this year, he said.

His Age and Credentials

Rouhanifard is used to the questions by now, and faced them in his previous jobs in Newark and New York City. After all, he had just two years of experience as a teacher, and then four years in investment banking before serving as a top innovation officer in New York City for three years and then a year in Newark under its state-appointed superintendent, Cami Anderson.

The questions came quickly in Camden, too, when the state Board of Education moved to confirm him in an unusually divided vote of 8-4. Dissenters -- including board president Arcelio Aponte -- questioned if he had the necessary experience for the job.

Led by Christie and state education commissioner Chris Cerf, Rouhanifard’s backers countered that he has the smarts and brings the experience in innovation that Camden needs. In the wake of his appointment, Christie’s office put out quotes of support from more than a dozen people, many of them school reform advocates citing his passion and intelligence.

Speaking for himself, Rouhanifard yesterday said that his years in education may be few, but he has gained a lot in that experience, adding that the years in finance gave him important insights into data-driven decision-making.

And he is ready to convince his district and the public that he is up for the job, not to mention ready to bring in the expertise and support that can help in areas that are not his strengths.

“People have been warm and receptive,” he said of his meetings in 17 schools so far, as well as conversations with local stakeholders.

“I certainly respect that people have different opinions [of what one’s experience should be]. My job is to roll up my sleeves and show what kind of work I can do.”

The Role of Charters and 'Renaissance Schools'

Even without the state takeover, Camden was in line for some big transformations, with an influx of charter schools -- especially a new hybrid version of conventional charters known as “renaissance schools.”

The latter will be operated by one of the nation’s largest charter school networks, KIPP Network, which is slated to build a total of five renaissance schools in Camden, serving more than 2,000 students. That adds to nine charter schools already operating in the district, plus three new ones this fall.

“Our goal is to have a system of great schools,” Rouhanifard said yesterday. “That entails every single school is high quality and every parent has access to those schools. It will involve transforming existing schools, and developing new schools. That will mean working with our district schools, our charter schools, and our new renaissance schools.”

Rouhanifard said he doesn’t hide his support for and past work in building what he called a portfolio of options for students. In both New York and Newark, a centerpiece of his role was arranging space-sharing between district and charter schools.

Camden so far has no such co-locations, and Rouhanifard said he wants to ensure that the charters’ enrollments reflect district's, and that they are not serving fewer special needs or at-risk students, a frequent complaint about charters. But he said a universal enrollment system such as one he helped develop in Newark can help.

“It’s a huge frustration, but it’s a solvable one,” he said.

He also discounted the whispers from some critics that he is coming into Camden to disband the district schools and replace them with charters or renaissance schools. “There is no prescriptive plan that I’m bringing,” he said.

But he does not rule out that he envisions a district that will be enormously different in five years time. “I think even a year from now, things should look different,” he said.

Teacher and Principal Contracts

One of his more immediate tasks is to negotiate new contracts with teachers and principals. Both expired in the past year and represent the largest piece of his $389 million budget.

And coming out of Newark, where he was responsible for implementing that district’s historic teachers agreement, the natural question is whether he will try to bring performance bonuses and peer reviews to Camden.

Rouhanifard yesterday wouldn’t say one way or the other -- on one hand praising the Newark contract negotiated by Anderson, on the other saying that Camden has different goals and needs.

“I think that Cami [Anderson] brokered a remarkable contract, I really do,” he said. “It’s one that fits her needs and those of Newark, but what I have to do is meet the needs of Camden.”

He did say that his very first call once taking the job was to the Camden teachers union president, and he plans to start sitting down with her in the coming days and weeks.

It came back to what he said to start the conversation. “I focus on asking good questions,’ he said, “I focus on listening.”

 

Courier Post - Christie gets good grade on education…new statewide poll gives the governor a good grade on education issues

Sep. 16, 2013   Written by Michael Symons  New Jersey Press Media

 

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TRENTON — For many, views of Gov. Chris Christie’s handling of education were cemented in 2010.

That year marked the height of his feud with the New Jersey Education Association, either a badge of honor or sign of disrespect for teachers, depending on one’s point of view.

But for enough people in the middle, the other big education news from three years ago seems to be a more distant memory — reductions in the flow of aid from Trenton to local schools.

The result, says pollster Patrick Murray, is that Christie averages a B- for efforts to improve schools, his third highest among seven grades in the new Monmouth University/Asbury Park Press Poll.

“A pretty good grade considering that is one of the most contentious issues that he has dealt with, basically dealing with the teachers union. And his initial cuts in education funding were met with disapproval by most New Jerseyans. They understand that something needed to be cut, but they weren’t happy it was education,” Murray said. “But he’s really weathered the storm with the teacher’s unions. When push comes to shove, he is on top of that issue.”

While the share of New Jerseyans giving Christie an A grade, 12 percent, is the same now as it was in July 2010, the share slapping him with an F is down from 32 percent in 2010 to 15 percent now. Outside of his handling of superstorm Sandy, it’s the topic for which Democrats are most likely to give him an above-average grade.

On the other side of the spectrum, 27 percent of current or retired public workers flunked Christie on education, compared with 13 percent of other respondents. That gap, 14 points, was larger than for any other subject and comes on the issue for which Christie’s battles with unions have been most famous and forceful.

Education was often a tumultuous issue, particularly early in Christie’s term. He erased a budget deficit he inherited in part by requiring some school districts to tap into surplus funds. His administration imposed caps on how much school superintendents could be paid. Tenure rules for teachers were changed last year. And an error by then-Education Commissioner Bret Schundler, scrambling when Christie kiboshed an agreement with the NJEA, caused the state to miss out on a $400 million federal Race to the Top grant in 2010 that could have helped fund school reform initiatives.

In the most enduring controversy, spending on direct aid to school districts and for their facilities was cut by $503 million in the 2010-11 school year. In part, that was because the state, in the last year of Gov. Jon Corzine’s term, used all $1.056 billion in federal stimulus aid meant to soften the recession’s impact on school spending for the 2009-10 budget. That helped keep things afloat while trimming the state’s out-of-pocket cost for state aid to its lowest total in five years.

With the federal money out, Christie cut K-12 aid in his first budget. Census Bureau data released this year showed the cut amounted to $873 per pupil, most in the nation. Direct aid to schools has risen by $1.1 billion in the three years that followed and is now at its highest level on record, though 80 percent of school districts are still receiving less direct aid than four years ago.

As a candidate in 2009, Christie promised to prioritize the opening of new charter schools, and 46 charter schools have been approved under his watch. A law Christie signed in 2012 creates a new type of charter school, dubbed “renaissance schools,” through which private organizations can build and manage new schools in cities including Camden.

Christie also pledged as a candidate to create a tuition tax credit program in which funds would be available for low-income students in failing schools to attend public and non-public schools willing to accept such applicants. The initiative — called a scholarship program by supporters, a voucher program by opponents — has not gotten off the ground. Lawmakers haven’t approved it and compelled Christie to drop a $2 million pilot program he pitched in the current year’s budget.

The NJEA has invested millions of dollars over the years resisting Christie’s proposals in Trenton and through television ads. It is running two ads currently, one about aid cuts and the other a criticism of the emphasize on state standardized tests, that aren’t direct calls of support for Buono but are unmistakably enly intended to steer the election-year discourse.

Murray said the NJEA’s efforts haven’t succeeded in part because schools coped with the cuts in aid and jobs from 2010.

The Monmouth University/Asbury Park Press Poll was conducted by telephone with 783 New Jersey adults from Sept. 6 to 10. This sample has a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.

The Asbury Park Press is a sister publication of the Courier-Post.