NJ Education Report

Paul Mulshine bemoans the cost per pupil of education in N.J.. From today’s Star-Ledger:

I discussed this the other day with Jeffrey Reed of the American Legislative Exchange Council, a Washington think tank that produces its own annual school report card. According to the council’s figures, New Jersey is No. 1 not just in per-pupil costs, but in education inflation. Our costs are up an astounding 327 percent in real dollars over the past 25 years, according to the council’s calculations.

Today’s Asbury Park Press slams school districts and administrators for allowing those fat-cat superintendents to rob taxpayers blind, and applauds the new bill that would create a boilerplate contract:

The Legislature needs to put this bill on the fast track. Though it wouldn’t undo any of the abuses of the past, it would finally put an end to the outrageous superintendent contracts and severance agreements that have had school administrators laughing in taxpayers’ faces all the way to the bank.

Derrell Bradford, Deputy Director of E3 (Excellent Education for Everyone) in Newark, a nonprofit group that advocates school choice, has a piece in the Asbury Park Press today and speaks truth to power as he accuses Corzine of blatantly misrepresenting the state of N.J.’s public schools. While Corzine has “heaped both money and praise” on our troubled system,

The governor, and those who serve him in the state Department of Education, maintain two education systems in this state. One you attend if you are white and live in the suburbs — which still was not good enough for his children — and another you attend if you are poor, minority and live in a city. You may succeed if you attend school in the former, but you will almost certainly fail if you attend school in the latter.

My Central Jersey reports that a proposal to consolidate Bedminster (600 students, K-8)) and Somerset Hills (2,133 students, K-12)) was met with strong resistance by about 140 residents and the school board members themselves:

But school board members, including Alice Rose, a member on both the Bedminster and Somerset Hills boards, said a 2003 feasibility study rejected the idea of regionalizing both districts.

Why would Board members want to support a plan that would result in their deposal? It’s going to take a bit more political muscle and willpower on the part of Corzine and the DOE if we even begin to trim the edges of New Jersey’s inefficiencies. The current charade of flaccid mandates, inevitable tax hikes, and popularity contests will not get the job done.

Speaking of limp strategizing, the Asbury Park Press reports that Howell Township, facing a $5.3 million budget deficit, is floating the idea of closing one of its 13 schools and the balloon has led to a united front of opposition. A new group calling itself Howell Truth, Townspeople Rooting out Unnecessary Tax Hikes spoke at a recent Board of Ed meeting and came up with its own list of budget cuts:

Their plan included cutting vice principals, capping professional development, reducing the use of substitute teachers and child study teams, eliminating courtesy busing and media specialists at the middle school level, changing an HMO plan to a point-of-service plan, cutting travel expenses and reducing certified school nurses.

We don’t envy those board members on the hot seat there. While the grassroots group’s cuts don’t seem to approach the level needed to close such a large deficit, it’s going to be hard to argue with. We will do just anything, it seems, to keep our neighborhood schools.