Senate Education Testimony
Regarding A5874/S4233
Provided by David Aderhold, Ed.D.

West Windsor – Plainsboro Regional School District

Superintendent of Schools

A-5874/S-4233
Good Afternoon/Morning. Assemblywoman Lampitt, Senator Gopal, and
members of the Senate and Assembly Education Committees, my name is
Dr. David Aderhold and I have had the great honor of serving the West
Windsor – Plainsboro Regional School District for the past 15 years with
the past 11 years serving as the Superintendent of Schools.
This past legislative session, during the lame duck period, bills
S4322/A5874 were introduced with the full weight and support from the
NJEA. It is important to keep in mind that these bills were not driven by
what is best for students but what is best for an association masked under
the guise of what is best for students. Let’s be clear, A5874/S4233 were
nothing more than a job protection bill that if passed would serve to
eliminate instructional opportunities for students. Further, if Generative
AI could pay union dues were may not even be in this hearing.
Now, let us all agree that every classroom should have an in person NJ
certified and highly trained educator instructing our students, whenever
possible, as this provides the best learning outcomes and educational
experience for students. Let us also agree that we are in the most
devastating staffing shortages in recent history and any law or regulation

that limits the utilization of virtual contracted services and educational
providers will limit student’s curricular programs and instructional
experience.
At the heart of the concern is that there are a growing number of online
providers and platforms that provide coursework, that when administered
can meet the NJ Student Learning Standards. I do not disagree with the
NJEA that such programs must be utilized sparingly and must be strongly
vetted and used under specific circumstances. However, we do not need
another legislative process to govern the reality of educational shortages.
It’s important to remember that these shortages are in part a byproduct of
previous legislative changes to contractual benefits, educational
evaluations, budgetary formulas, changes to teacher preparation programs,
and an overall devaluation of educators under a prior Governor.
While I appreciate the attempt to add additional modifications and floor
amendments by the Assembly on 12/21/23, the bill will have devastating
impacts to districts, and more importantly devastating impacts to students,
if passed. For many districts, if alternative pathways to administer
instructional and programmatic opportunities for students is restricted,
student opportunities will be removed.
As an example, in some districts they are filling vacant positions or
covering coursework with online programs. As an example, areas such as
Italian, Physics, Japanese, Latin, Advanced Computer Programing, and
STEM courses. For other districts, the inability to find a certified teacher
is real, the shortages are real, and districts are struggling to find teacher
candidates. There are districts where programs such as world languages
are being taught with an online experience. If the prior bill was to be
passed, a district would have to apply to the Commissioner and if denied,

would have to stop providing the virtual program. The impact to students
would be that they would end up sitting with a substitute pending….
There are numerous ways in which districts are using online platforms to
meet student instructional needs, whether it is a shortage in a hard to fill
vacancy, a mid-year opening(maternity, medical, suspension, contractual
leave, etc.), home instruction, alternative programming, extension
opportunities, or remediation districts are using virtual programming as a
tool to address student needs.
Simply, there are not enough certified staff members graduating in areas
needed to fulfill the vacancies. Limiting a district’s ability to address the
teacher shortage through virtual instructional means, as this bill proposes
to do, will limit every school district’s ability to provide specific programs
and courses. This bill may force districts to make decisions to reduce or
eliminate specific instructional opportunities offered to students.
The fact that we are sitting here contemplating putting these restrictions in
at this period in history is so very telling to the absolute disconnect there
is to the staffing crisis school districts are facing. We are focused on all
the wrong issues. As a member of the Governor’s Task Force on Public
School Staff Shortages in New Jersey and the co-chair of the New Jersey
Association of School Administrator (NJASA) Educator Recruitment and
Retention Committee, it is my fervent opinion that we must do more to
combat the pressing crisis related to the educator shortage that we
currently face. Now more than ever, districts need flexibility in how to
address the state requirements for instruction, our students’ interests in a
variety of subjects, and our local instructional program policies. 
We must keep our eyes on the ball and maintain direct focus on several
pressing education topics.

1. EDUCATOR SHORTAGES - Educator shortages will not be solved
quickly or easily. There needs to be a dedicated focus and vigilance
by K-12 educators, higher education institutions, and elected
officials. Governor Murphy’s Task Force developed
recommendations to address the shortages, but this work must be
ongoing and persistent. These shortages represent a decade of failed
policy and legislative decisions and will take a decade to fix.
2. PRAXIS CORE - Recommendations to enhance entrance for
teaching candidates must continue. Recent changes for teaching
candidates’ need to take the PRAXIS Core (a basic skills test) did
not go far enough and only impacted nontraditional teaching
candidates. This test must be eliminated for all other education
candidates. Simply, the test is one of the greatest barriers to a diverse
educator workforce.
3. CERTIFICATION – Our college and university partners have
addressed the lack of undergraduate candidates in specific
educational certificated fields (such as STEM, Health/PE, World
Languages, Family and Consumer Sciences, etc.) by shutting down
many certification programs throughout the state. The lack of
teaching candidates, coupled with the reduction in programs, and an
overly complicated certification process simply compound the issues
of teacher shortages. Every possible option to address the teacher
shortage must be considered, from expanding the use of retirees, to
opening licensure for out-of-state and international partnerships, to
financial enhancements for student teachers and alternate-route
candidates, to increasing the pipeline for paraprofessionals and
instructional aides.
4. FUNDING - School funding is a multi-decade challenge and issue
for all NJ school districts. The education funding formula, as it is
currently implemented, is in its last year and districts impacted by S2

legislation are facing financial crisis. All districts are experiencing
inflationary costs and the current budgetary rules and restrictions
mean that all school districts are cutting services each year to
financially operate with a balanced budget. All school communities
deserve to understand how we will be funded moving forward, as the
continuity of our programs for students and staffing is at great risk.
5. STUDENT MENTAL HEALTH – Student mental health must be
prioritized with training and personnel. Simply, there are not enough
services for students' needs with a statewide lack of clinicians and
therapeutic placements. The recent initiatives by the NJ Department
of Children and Family, entitled NJ4S, has done little to address the
needs of access to therapeutic support and services. Furthermore,
there are statewide shortages for therapeutic placements for school
aged children in need for a therapeutic placement.
6. SCHOOL SAFETY AND SECURITY – Dedicated funds must be
considered to allow districts the ability to staff, train, enhance
facilities, update technology infrastructure, etc. While the NJDOE
has done an outstanding job providing training, support, guidance,
and onsite support with school safety and security many districts find
themselves with challenges to dedicate personnel and resources
without dedicated funding and a mechanism to raise such funds.
7. SPECIAL EDUCATION - Special Education costs far exceed the
budgetary 2% tax allowance. Additional funding mechanisms must
be considered and extraordinary costs must be addressed. Students
needs must be met and the extraordinary costs of student placements,
services, and transportation far exceed the 2% allowance.
8. TRANSPORTATION - Bus contract renewals are based upon a
formula that is tied to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) which is a
statutory calculation that requires a look back period over an 18

month in a 24 month window. School districts can expect renewals
of approximately 8% based upon prior inflation, while costs have
decreased. We need a budgetary mechanism to address the funding
deficit. Further, as a result of several implemented changes vendors
have moved their fleets out of NJ which has further led to an
increase in contracted routes.
9. CURRICULAR CHANGES – The recent adoption of the Language
Arts and Mathematic standards have been readopted and require a
full rewrite of standards with implementation in September 2024.
These curricular changes and the implementation timeline represents
a fundamental misunderstanding of the process to unpack and align
standards, write curriculum documents, provide professional
development, and roll out the changes. Nearly an impossible task
that will cost each district tremendous costs.
10. FACILITY NEEDS - Facility needs for school districts exist
throughout the state with insufficient local funds to meet the needs of
facility upgrades.
11. TECHNOLOGY – Artificial Intelligence and cyber security are
just two of the complicated areas that nearly 600 districts are
navigating in isolation with limited guidance or support. As many
states bring forward statewide guidance around this area, the
legislature and NJDOE must work to support the education
community with guidance and expertise.
12. LOSS OF FEDERAL FUNDS FOR COVID - School Districts
have been utilizing federal funds to stay afloat and to provide
supplementary targeted programs for learning loss as a result of the
impacts of COVID. We must be mindful that these funds expire in
2024 and many of the services that have been implemented and
financed during the last three school years may be impacted.

13. NJDOE CHANGES – Leadership transitions at the NJDOE
have continued to plague local districts. Over the past six years
transitions and inconsistency with the leadership of the NJDOE have
become expected. Further, the shortages impacting local districts is
also prevalent at the department as the NJDOE has over 150
vacancies. The lack of history in educational policy at the NJDOE
creates continued concerns regarding ongoing changes, coupled
numerous implementation timelines.

The issues confronting public education are too grave to be pushed aside.
The concerns of the education community cannot be minimized. What is
at risk with this bill is access and opportunities for our students.