Last week at WHYY Newsworks I wrote about the Interdistrict Public School Choice Program’s (IPSCP) growing pains, which have been largely inflicted by the NJ Department of Education. Recap: NJ state law sets up a procedure for districts to open seats to students residing in neighboring districts and the State pays much of the tab, about $10,000 per student. Popularity, apparently, breeds contempt: the State just imposed a 5% growth cap.
IPSCP is wildly popular among children and families eager for public school choice. In 2010, when IPSCP was still in pilot form and strictly circumscribed — no more than one district per county, for example –16 districts (out of NJ’s 591) registered as Choice Districts and 900 kids (out of NJ’s 1.4 million schoolchildren) had options other than their home districts. Over the last three years the program has grown so quickly that 136 districts are now Choice and 5,000 students will cross district boundaries.
As NJ Spotlight reiterates today, the State can’t afford the tab so it’s imposed a 5% growth cap. This “cap” is nowhere to be found in either administrative code related to the 2010 Interdistrict Public School Choice Act or in DOE regulations. But never mind: “Without a doubt, it is an immensely popular program, and everyone would love to see it grow as it has been growing,” said Michael Yaple, spokesman for the state education department. “But we can’t write a blank check.”
NJ Spotlight reports that Assemblywoman Mila Jasey, primary sponsor of the 2010 legislation, called the DOE’s response “ill-advised” and “short-sighted.”
“The decision of the DOE to cap the program by imposing a 5 percent growth limit is very troublesome to me, and I am disappointed by the decision. It circumvents the intent of the Legislature to expand the program. Even more troubling, it thwarts the ability of interested families to follow through on their decision as to how to best meet their children’s needs in a public school setting.”
For a real-life example of how this circumvention of legislative law affects kids and families, check out this article from the Hopewell Valley News. Hopewell Valley School District, a great district in Mercer County, was approved as a Choice district this past Fall, the first Mercer County district to offer seats to children from neighboring districts. This means that children consigned to Trenton’s troubled school system could attend one of three programs in Hopewell: an elementary Science Technology Engineering Mathematics (STEM) for fourth graders, a single-gender program for boys entering first grade, and a performing arts academy for ninth graders.
Hopewell is still a Choice district, but with far fewer seats available because of the 5% cap.
Now, Trenton has a $267 million per year operating budget for its 11,000 kids. All but $21 million comes from the State. The graduation rate in Trenton is 59%, one of the worst records in the state, and the DOE Performance Report notes that Trenton Central High School “is meeting 0% of its performance targets in the area of Graduation and Post-Secondary.”
Really? The State can’t afford to drop $10K a kid to send them to Hopewell and give them a shot at college and career readiness? Talk about penny-wise and pound-foolish.
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Republican social engineering has limits, Laura.
Why is it again that we give up on Trenton? What level of state expenditure would it take to 'rescue' the non-transferees? How about just to guarantee safe school buildings?
Does Mila Jasey think the solution to all of our problems is to send everybody to Ridgewood H.S.???
I think your article presents a misunderstanding of the form of the cap. The enrollment cap seeks to limit the INCREASE in choice seats to previously participating districts to 5%. So, a district who previously enrolled 25 students for the 13-14 school year would now be able to enroll 26 for the 14-15 year.
The cap would not affect a newly selected choice district. Each new district has been allowed to advertise their number of seats by grade level and/or by specific program type. This is a decision made at the local level as part of their school choice application.
In the case you present, Hopewell's offerings are not in any way affected by the funding cap.
I agree that Trenton should have safe buildings -- what's going on there is terrible and unforgivable. But even if reconstruction started today it would be years til completion, certainly irrelevant to current students, and I don't think that facilities alone are going to change the academic picture there.
I'm a Democrat, by the way!
Hi, Joe. My information is that Hopewell, in fact, will have significantly fewer seats than initially offered.
Hopewell may have fewer seats, but that is a local decision.
BTW, I enjoy your website. Just want to contribute by clarifying
If the Interdistrict Choice program primarily got kids out of underperforming districts like Trenton it would be more worthy of support, but often the students are transferring between academically middle or high-performing districts. Comprehensive recent information on where Choice students come from isn't available, but in 2011-12, 91 out of 161 Choice students in Hunterdon County came from other Hunterdon County districts, none of which is a failing district.
Most Choice districts are rural or are tiny districts at the Shore and not even in proximity to districts like Trenton.
Also, you have to consider the impact of losing higher-performing students on districts like Trenton. These districts have an uphill struggle as it is, but the struggle is even harder when their better students leave for Interdistrict Choice (and charters). Is this an unambiguous good?
If Choice districts are really doing this for Choice kids and not the profit, they should just accept more Choice students. The average Choice aid per student is $10,500 and is a massive overpayment. The marginal cost of accepting another student is nowhere near that amount. If a Choice district has extra seats (and they all do or else they wouldn't be Choice districts) the Choice district can fill those seats at almost no direct cost at all.
Finally, I think it's absolutely ridiculous that so many school districts in NJ have has large residential student population increases and gotten no additional money (or even lost money), but a Choice district can accept just ten non-resident students and get $105,000.