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TRENTON — The state Senate Education Committee approved a bill Monday that would allow the education commissioner to approve public school choice in any school district that wanted to open its doors to children from other districts.

The bill could help shrinking local districts boost enrollment — and, as a result, state aid.

A pilot program that allowed just one public school choice district per county expired in 2005. Despite support from several state education commissioners and a Rutgers University report, the program didn’t take off.

Monday’s vote was “the magical reappearance of the school-choice bill,” said Derrell Bradford of Excellent Education for Everyone, or E3, which has lobbied for the bill as a way to provide more choice for students.

What has changed? Supporters say recent events appear to have influenced school policy.

For one, Republican Gov.-elect Chris Christie ran on a platform strongly supporting more public school choice.

Second, expanding school choice could help the state obtain some of the $4 billion in federal Race to the Top funds.

Just 15 districts in the state accept about 850 students, including Folsom, in Atlantic County; Washington Township, in Burlington County; Lower Township, in Cape May County; Cumberland Regional High School, in Cumberland County; and Stafford Township, in Ocean County.

Robert Garguilo was the superintendent in Folsom during the fall of 2000 when the district implemented school choice; he testified Monday that school choice allowed the K-8 one-school district to offer good academic programs and facilities while maintaining its small, rural flavor. The district had shrunk to just 220 students in 1999, but now has about 400.

The choice students helped the district secure extra state aid — through increased enrollment numbers — and helped lower the municipality’s property tax rate, he said. Voters even approved a bond for upgrades and renovations to the school, said Garguilo, who is currently superintendent of the Long Beach Island school district.

In March, Education Commissioner Lucille Davy proposed new Department of Education regulations that included expanding the option of school choice to more districts; but in April, she withdrew them pending Legislative approval.

Assemblywomen Mila Jasey, D-Essex, and Joan Voss, D-Bergen, first introduced bill A3472 to allow expansion in November 2008. State Sen. Shirley Turner, D-Mercer, sponsored the Senate version, S2982, in June. But neither bill had been heard until Monday by the education committees, even though all three legislators serve on them.

The proposed bill requires the commissioner to evaluate each school district’s application on several criteria, including the financial effect on the district, the quality of its academic program, the effect it would have on student diversity, and the impact on educational quality in both the sending and receiving district.

The bill received support at Monday’s hearing from the New Jersey School Boards Association and the New Jersey Business and Industry Association.

“It’s a win-win,” said Chris Emigholz, director of education policy for the NJBIA. “You are voting on something that is already a success.”

He said the bill provides choice for parents, and could help overcrowded districts save money by allowing students to leave rather than building more classrooms.

The bill received more limited support from the New Jersey Principals and Supervisors Association and the New Jersey Education Association, which had reservations about an amendment to the bill that would increase the number of students allowed to leave a district to 10 percent of students in any grade or 15 percent of students any district.

Ginger Gold Schnitzer of the NJEA said the organization supports choice, but is worried that the higher percentage could hurt the schools in other small districts if they lose a lot of students.

Turner said that, in most cases, the choice districts don’t have enough open seats to accept 15 percent of another district’s students.

Turner denied a request from Gold Schnitzer that the bill be held or the higher percentage eliminated, saying the issue could still be addressed before the full Senate vote.

The Assembly version must also still be heard by the Assembly Education Committee.

Contact Diane D'Amico:

609-272-7241

DDamico@pressofac.com

2 comments:

• THATSINSANE (238) posts 3:27 pm

  OH BOY! The suburban parents of lil' white gals ain't gonna like this sh!t.

• The_Curlew (22) posts 11:38 am

  Add an amendment that if 20% of a school population bails on a school, shut it down, consolidate, and throw out the local board of education after suing them for non-performance.

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