National School ChoiceWeek and Choice Media

Kicked off School Choice Week In Newark, NJ

 

On January 22 at 8:30 AM at the Newark Club, National School Choice Week (NSCW) launched its 2014 Whistle-Stop Train and Bus Tour, followed by Choice Media’s New Jersey School Choice Summit.  The day dawned bright and clear, but freezing cold, with wind chills below zero.  The people who braved the cold were treated to interesting speakers and lively panels and felt that the programs were well worth the trip.  The Newark Club is on the 22^nd floor, One Newark Center, which provided spectacular panoramic views of Newark, the surrounding area and the New York City skyline.  The National School Choice Week whistle-stop train and bus tour was launched by Andrew Campanella, the President of NSCW and has scheduled stops in Washington D.C., Charlotte, Columbia SC, Augusta GA, Birmingham AL, Jackson MS, Houston, San Antonio, Austin, Tucson, Los Angeles and San Francisco.  The NJ School Choice Summit was hosted by Bob Bowden, founder of Choice Media.

 

This article will focus on the Legislative panel, since various speakers, other panels and other aspects of the Summit have been covered in other articles including L. Tierney, “NJ: School Choice offers ‘Freedom’ and ‘Liberty,’ Teen Says,” www.watchdogwire.com/new-jersey; Leslie Brody, “Manchester Regional student speaks about benefits of school choice program,” NorthJersey.com; and Peggy McGlone, “N.J. lawmakers discuss school choice bills during education summit,” The Star-Ledger, www.nj.com/education/2014/01.

The Legislative Panel was particularly interesting with Senators Tom Kean, the Minority Leader (R-Morris, Somerset and Union), Raymond Lesniak (D-Elizabeth and Union) and Steven Oroho (R-Sussex, Warren and Morris) and moderated by Derrell Bradford, Executive Director of Excellent Education for Everyone (E3).  Senator Oroho mentioned that school choice was about the quest for excellence and that he would like every parent to have a choice.  He wants to bring competition into education, and he has supported school choice every step of the way.  [For a description of those steps along the way see related article, “A HISTORY OF SCHOOL CHOICE IN NEW JERSEY.”]
 

Senator Kean said improving schools used to be just about the money.  Now it is about the outcomes and what is being achieved by the students.  He mentioned that a prior Commissioner of the NJ DOE thought it would likely take 12 years to see improvement in the schools, but Kean said that was too long.  It would mean three full sets of high school students would have gone through high school before the schools improved and that was not acceptable.  School choice allows students to move from failed schools to accredited, performing schools now.

Senator Lesniak said he was going to focus on making the public schools better, but he did not specify how he would do it.  However, he did say that he believes that school districts are wasting money and implied that he would reinstate after-school programs.  He stated that Elizabeth High School was one of the best performing high schools in the State but that others were not performing well, and he indicated that improving those lower performing public schools was where he wanted to put the emphasis.  He also described how he had applied for a charter school for students with substance abuse.  He said that studies showed that such programs greatly reduced recidivism.  However, his application was rejected, because it was opposed by the superintendent of schools.  Lesniak proposes to amend the charter school law [The New Jersey School Charter Program Act of 1995, signed into law by Governor Christine Todd Whitman], so that the charter school does not have to be just for adjacent districts, because he would like to have his charter school for recovering substance abuse students just for Elizabeth and Roselle.

Senator Oroho emphasized that the demand for school choice demonstrated that it was working.  The charter schools had waiting lists and only about 20% of the students who wanted to attend were able to do so.  He mentioned that Massachusetts was ‘best in class,’ as far as money spent and outcomes in education.  New Jersey spent $30 billion or 30% more than Massachusetts with lower outcomes.  He emphatically stated that the money is there, it is just a question of allocating it properly.  Senator Oroho said that the role of parents is critical and that school choice met the special needs of students and their families.  He also felt that charter schools should be in all geographic areas in the State, not just concentrated in Newark.  Students in all of the school districts have special needs.  However, Derrell Bradford pointed out that Stanford University’s CREDO study found that Newark had the highest performance improvement in the country.  [See, Joy Resmovits, “New Jersey Charter School Study Shows Gains In Newark Schools,” www.huffingtonpost.com, 2012/11/27.]

Senator Kean mentioned that he was one of the two original sponsors of The Interdistrict Public School Choice Program Act of 2010, signed by Governor Chris Christie.  He said the bill had been held up at first, but suddenly took off and was signed into law.  The IPSCP allows school districts with space for additional students to apply to the Commissioner of Education to be approved as a Choice District.  In the program’s first year, only 1,000 students and 15 schools participated in NJ School Choice Program.  The cost to the state in tuition aid to the receiving school was $9.8 million.  However, by 2013 4,700 students and 110 schools participated in the program with a cost to the state of $49 million.  Currently, there are 136 Choice Districts approved for the 2014-15 school year.  Due to budget constraints, despite the popularity of the program, the state limited the number of seats a Choice District could offer in the 2014-2015 school year to 5% more than the number offered in the 2013-2014 school year.   This limit has drawn a substantial amount of criticism.  Senator Oroho stated that the demand for the IPSCP shows that the program is working.

On the proposed Opportunity Scholarship Act, things started to heat up.  The current bill was modeled on the Pennsylvania law and provides for tax credits for corporations that make contributions to a scholarship fund.  The scholarships would be granted to low-income students in failed schools so that they could attend participating private or parochial schools.  Senator Kean pointed out that the bill provided for a clear definition of a failed school – one in which 40% of the students failed both the English and Math tests or 60% failed one of the tests.  Kean said it was an immediate solution for a child caught in a failed school.  He also said he believed that it could pass, if it got to the floor of the NJ Senate.  Senator Lesniak was a co-sponsor of the OSA and had crusaded for the bill, but said "It's toast. Stick a fork in it. Move on."  [Leslie Brody, Manchester Regional student speaks about benefits of school choice program, NorthJersey.com.]  This comment was in sharp contrast with his passionate speech before the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee, which then approved the bill out of Committee by a vote of 8-5.  Before the Committee Senator Lesniak said:

“The intent of the Opportunity Scholarship Act is to give children from low-income families, who are forced to attend a chronically-failing school simply because of their zip code, an opportunity to get a quality education.  But the Opportunity Scholarship Act will also save tax dollars—a huge amount of tax dollars. If it were in place ten years ago, the Opportunity Scholarship Act would have prevented most of the private school closings that now cost our taxpayers $600-800 million a year.
“Recently, the Diocese of Trenton announced that its 44 Catholic schools will open their doors for the 2011-12 school year, but their fate beyond that is uncertain. I would add, without the Opportunity Scholarship Act, their fate is just about certain. Most will soon close, like Paterson Catholic and St. Mary & St. Peter Academy in New Brunswick did last year, and like St Anthony's in Elizabeth did a few years ago. I fear for the future of St Pat's and Benedictine Academy in Elizabeth as well. Trenton City itself closed one parochial school a year for 15 years until its last school closed. And with every closing, as those students return to traditional district schools, comes a greater burden on our taxpayers. 


“But there's an even greater burden on the children attending New Jersey's chronically-failing schools. They have no choice. They are stuck, and most of them will be educationally deprived, through no fault of their own.

 “The Opportunity Scholarship Act is not the savior for all the children forced to attend New Jersey's chronically-failing schools, but it is the savior for some. And we should not fail to act to save some, because we can't save all***Thousands of children have suffered in substandard schools since the Opportunity Scholarship concept was introduced. They should not wait another moment.  I urge you to support the Opportunity Scholarship Act.”  Press Release, by Jason Butkowski, “Lesniak Opportunity Scholarship Act Advances,” PolitikerNJ, www.politiker.com/44293/lesniak-opportunity-scholarship-act-advances,  1/20/11.

Senators Kean and Oroho support the OSA.  Senator Kean stated in a telephone conference call, that he believed that “IF” the OSA got to the NJ Senate floor for a vote, then Kean could get 21 votes to pass it.  Kean said he felt that Senator Lesniak would be one of those votes, despite Senator Lesniak’s comment at the NJ School Choice Summit.  Possibly, Kean remembers Lesniak’s passionate speech before the Committee.  However, the question remains: Can the OSA be brought to the Senate floor? At least back in March of 2011, Senate President Stephen Sweeney said that although he opposed the Opportunity Scholarship bill that would allow New Jersey students to transfer out of failing public schools, he left open the possibility that he would post it for a vote.  Maya Rao and Rita Giordano, “Sweeney says he may allow a vote on the school bill,” Philly.com, www.articles.philly.com/2011-03-17/news/29139147_1_opportunity-scholarship-act-offer-scholarships-public-schools.