NJ Education Report

Wireless Generation, which NJ paid $500,000 to consult on our failed Race To The Top application, has been sold to News Corporation, coincidentally outgoing NYC Chancellor Joel Klein’s new gig. According to the New York Times, Newscorp will get 90% of Wireless’s stock for $360 million in cash.

James Ahearn of The Record says that Chris Christie’s cap on superintendent salaries and comparisons with other salaries is unfair because Christie’s wife makes a lot of money.

Twenty-four out of seventy-eight Bergen County superintendents (who tend to command higher salaries than their southern counterparts) are retiring this year, according to The Record. This list includes the highest-paid superintendent, John Richardson, who gets $262K for his 2,000+ district.

The Asbury Park Press’ series on special education in NJ found that there is no record of how much money is actually spent on programs for kids with disabilities, which serves about 200,000 students in New Jersey, and that the DOE hasn’t studied the issue in ten years. In response, Assemblyman David P. Rible has announced that he will propose legislation to examine the issue.

Jersey City Public Schools passed two parts of their Quality Single Accountability Continuum evaluation – Fiscal and Operations Management – but failed the other three parts, Personnel, Governance, Instruction and Programs.

The Rutgers Transitional Educational Management program will set up a program in Daylight/Twilight High in Trenton to, according to Mayor Tony Mack, “ reconnect Trenton youth who are on probation or parole, truant or have dropped out of school.’’

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that the Toms River Township Council has “urged the Board of Education to sue former Schools Superintendent Michael Ritacco, charged in a multimillion-dollar bribery-kickback scheme in the Ocean County district.” Ritacco is charged with taking as much as $2 million in bribes from the district’s insurance broker.

The Acting Superintendent of Willingboro, David Hespe, has had enough and announced that he is going back to his former gig as Assistant Superintendent. Also, the Board President resigned after a vote of no-confidence. Three other members have resigned since June.

Jersey schools are increasing class size to save money and relying more on local educational foundations.

In spite of protest from the community, the Montville Board of Education voted to outsource custodians, which will save the schools over $600K a year.

The Christie Administration wants Mark Zuckerberg’s $100 million donation to Newark to count as part of state funding.

NJ’s Civil Rights Division found probable cause that the Emerson School Board failed to stop bullying of a student.

Whitney Tilson has a new blog, “A Right Denied: the Critical Need for Genuine School Reform.” The first post is devoted to rebutting Diane Ravitch’s attacks on school reform.