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Re: equitable funding for Jersey City Charter Schools
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JPhurst wrote:
We are going well off topic, but maybe that's a good thing given the prior topic of discussion....

1) Charter schools are supposed to, by law, receive 90% of the per student funding that the district is spending. However, this does not take numerous adjustments into account. The result is that in wealthy non-Abbot districts the 90% is close to or exactly at 90%, where as in Jersey City the amount per school varies greatly.

Some of the "adjustments" follow the student: such as reduced or free school lunch, special ed, etc. So a charter school that has those students will receive additional funding and will be closer to the 90%.

2) The money that goes to the charters comes from the districts.

3) One could say, as I have seen here, that the district should be happy for every student that enrolls in a charter school because it takes the student off their rolls but they don't lose all the money. That makes sense to an extent, but you can't fire 1/10th of a teacher, or 1/8th of an administrator, or 1/7th of a cleaner. Some of the district's costs remain fixed, and others will not be reduced unless the number of charters is so high that you will be actually laying off large amounts of teachers, closing schools, etc.

No you can't fire 1/10th of a teacher, but you can fire 1 out of 10 teachers. The fact that you can't, or if you do you must keep the most senior rather than the most effective, is a large part of our school problem.
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4) And finally, not every charter school student is removed from the public school. Some students are students that would otherwise be in private school or perhaps move. The Christie administration supports proposals to allow existing private schools to convert to charters.

Complaining that private school students who get nothing for their taxes are a drain if they attend public school is mind boggling. We need to bring the middle class back into our system. I can't imagine a private school's incentive for converting to a charter, they'll lose selectivity and get less money per student.
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In one sense, of course, this is a great thing. If the charter schools renew faith in public, or quasi-public, education and encourage families to keep their kids in the schools, and in the city, then that strikes me as a desirable outcome.

But it does mean that those students are now taking up portions of the budget that would otherwise remain in the district schools.

And it can be subject to abuse. There have been several attempts to create Hebrew immersion charter schools. Many of these groups are people who want to send their kid to a Jewish day school but can't afford the high tuition. These families would usually not be sending their kids to public schools. There is also the question as to how "public" these schools are and whether this is a back door attempt to provide a religious education with taxpayer dollars.


I agree that some of the "special interest" charters in non-failing districts are suspect. There's got to be a way to regulate this rather than attack all charters, including the ones pioneering how to make inner city schools effective. LCCS has open lottery enrollment, and half it's 8th graders got into Mcnair, and half of those also got into Hitech. It's hard to argue with that sort of success, it should be modeled INSIDE THE SYSTEM, rather than attacked.

Posted on: 2011/8/8 19:32
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Re: equitable funding for Jersey City Charter Schools
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and the speaker of the "anecdote" you referenced - went around last spring telling people and groups that if your child doesn't get in via lottery to a specific charter school, your only option is private school or moving .....

we likely agree on the need for parents to be comfortable with their child's schooling, however, needlessly (and recklessly) scaring young families away from the district schools is not what we need.

in a district the size of Jersey City, one would think there would be room for small schools (charter and district) experimenting with different methods and approaches (ie. Bank St., Montessori), but until we cut through all of the hearsay, politicking, reforms du jour and so on, we will never get to the constructive dialogue to improve management, push decision making down to the schools and teachers, and improve diversity by bringing the middle class back into our district schools in larger numbers.

instead we get more of this from Trenton -

Gov. Christie touts success of charter schools while only offering selective facts - http://blog.nj.com/njv_bob_braun/2011 ... truth_about_nj_chart.html



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brewster wrote:
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Jay_Res wrote:
I am referring to the favoring of children from families who "may know someone."


It is JC after all. I heard an anecdote about a City Hall insider who was startled when he was informed that the LCCS application wasn't "pro forma" for him, and that he had the same lottery chance as anyone else. That he had an expectation otherwise leads one to believe what you suspect is often the case with the goodies the city has to give out.

Posted on: 2011/2/1 23:18
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Re: equitable funding for Jersey City Charter Schools
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Board members' kids have ended up on the waitlists and teachers' kids too. There is no "in" unless you have a sibling already at the school -- period.

Posted on: 2011/1/26 23:39
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Re: equitable funding for Jersey City Charter Schools
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brewster wrote:
I heard an anecdote about a City Hall insider who was startled when he was informed that the LCCS application wasn't "pro forma" for him, and that he had the same lottery chance as anyone else.


WOW! It's good to hear that ethical things are actually going on in the city. Hopefully it stays that way and everyone gets an equal opportunity for everything.

Posted on: 2011/1/26 20:23
Jay Res
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Re: equitable funding for Jersey City Charter Schools
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Jay_Res wrote:
I am referring to the favoring of children from families who "may know someone."


It is JC after all. I heard an anecdote about a City Hall insider who was startled when he was informed that the LCCS application wasn't "pro forma" for him, and that he had the same lottery chance as anyone else. That he had an expectation otherwise leads one to believe what you suspect is often the case with the goodies the city has to give out.

Posted on: 2011/1/26 20:17
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Re: equitable funding for Jersey City Charter Schools
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brewster wrote:
All fascinating pieces of the puzzle. Might the fact that the "best" district 5th graders are better prepared but half the 8th grade class of LCCS gets into McNair mean LCCS's success is broader? Any idea how many Cordero or PS16 kids get into McNair? I don't know, but this is the kind of stuff I think the DISTRICT should be studying, rather than simply attacking the charters, starving them of funds, and then pointing to their failures rather than successes. I do know about the quotas at McNair, but that would make the data even more fascinating, no?


It is difficult to find out where the McNair students graduated from because I have not seen any information available to the public. There is no transparency in the system that will allow us to find the answers to all of these questions. Also, we can't account for any type of favoritism that may be given to one student over another. I am not directly talking about being more favorable to a child who went to charter school; but I am referring to the favoring of children from families who "may know someone." There are so many variables and no way to solve them without going on a goose chase.

Posted on: 2011/1/26 18:59
Jay Res
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Re: equitable funding for Jersey City Charter Schools
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JPhurst wrote:

I have a friend who has taught at Academy I. He told me that he found the kids coming from the district schools to be more academically advanced than those coming in from LCCS. The LCCS kids were very nice and well behaved but they generally did not have the scholastic background the other kids had.

I know families who's kids are at Cordero and they are generally satisfied. Will they get into McNair? I don't know.

With respect to McNair's demographics, remember that it is operating under an affirmative action consent decree, so demographics are set by percentages.


All fascinating pieces of the puzzle. Might the fact that the "best" district 5th graders are better prepared but half the 8th grade class of LCCS gets into McNair mean LCCS's success is broader? Any idea how many Cordero or PS16 kids get into McNair? I don't know, but this is the kind of stuff I think the DISTRICT should be studying, rather than simply attacking the charters, starving them of funds, and then pointing to their failures rather than successes. I do know about the quotas at McNair, but that would make the data even more fascinating, no?

Posted on: 2011/1/26 18:53
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Re: equitable funding for Jersey City Charter Schools
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brewster wrote:



As I've heard it, LCCS was the largest single group in this years freshmen, and likely next's. But I don't have the numbers for Academy I. It's ironic as we know some kids have left LCCS for Academy I because of their McNair numbers.


I have a friend who has taught at Academy I. He told me that he found the kids coming from the district schools to be more academically advanced than those coming in from LCCS. The LCCS kids were very nice and well behaved but they generally did not have the scholastic background the other kids had.

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JPhurst: I think that's a stretch. Perhaps my kids would be getting a decent education at Cordero, a school which has a rep for functioning well if strictly(though I doubt it would be on par with LCCS's) but for kids of educated "involved" parents in other wards, it stretches the liberal imagination too far to believe that they would be as prepared to apply for elite HS and college as their LCCS peers. Access to the demographics and alma maters of McNair's students would certainly be enlightening.


I know families who's kids are at Cordero and they are generally satisfied. Will they get into McNair? I don't know.

With respect to McNair's demographics, remember that it is operating under an affirmative action consent decree, so demographics are set by percentages.

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I guess I just don't accept the argument that all that matters is the kid and not the school. There's plenty of motivated parents in JC, witness the 300 applicants for 30 kindergarten slots at LCCS. But the facts that McNair's SAT scores are not in the range of "real" elite schools, and we don't get a fraction of the National Merit scholars that any midwestern HS does shows to me that our schools are failing the kids from educated motivated families as well as the ones from less advantaged backgrounds.


I don't disagree.


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The article you linked uses a number of assumptions in it's conclusions. As for his contention that charters push out under performing kids to raise their scores, I know for a fact that the charters in Hoboken have a problem of dropping scores in the upper grades because of losing high performing kids to the private schools. One size simply doesn't fit all, and no one claims it does. As K-Lo says "Anyone who thinks ALL this is better than ALL that is an idealogue, not a practitioner".


I agree. But I don't think Baker assumes that this is happening. He is looking at the test scores and then making adjustments based on the attrition data in Newark schools.

These formulas are somewhat subjective. I'm not sure how you weight a factor like free school lunches, or percent minority, etc. I think they can be considered a factor but what number you place on it can be guesswork.

Posted on: 2011/1/26 17:37
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Re: equitable funding for Jersey City Charter Schools
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Brewster wrote:
Access to the demographics and alma maters of McNair's students would certainly be enlightening.


Great point!

As far as the "one size fits all" debate, I think that sadly all of the media hype about charter school reform is really confusing citizens. For those who do not take the time to educate themselves they may be sucked into believing that the entire school system has to be changed. Then we end up making drastic changes but not resolving the true problems affecting the students, as my Liberty Academy example shows. The funding debate is a legitimate one but we cannot sit down and assume that an all charter school system will fix the problems affecting the public school system; and on the flip side, people should not act as if charter schools should be eliminated because they are essential resources in the community and, if run properly, bring a fair balance to our educational system.

Posted on: 2011/1/26 17:17
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Re: equitable funding for Jersey City Charter Schools
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K-Lo wrote:
Anyone who thinks ALL this is better than ALL that is an idealogue, not a practitioner. There certainly are district schools in Jersey City that outperform some charter schools in the state tests.


Wonderful statement! This whole issue is drowning in ideology.
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For the 2nd year in a row nearly half the 8th graders [from LCCS] have been admitted into JC's premier High school, McNair, by far the largest group from one school.


K-Lo wrote:
Is that really true? Are you speaking of percentage or raw number? If the latter, I think Academy I may have that honor.


As I've heard it, LCCS was the largest single group in this years freshmen, and likely next's. But I don't have the numbers for Academy I. It's ironic as we know some kids have left LCCS for Academy I because of their McNair numbers.

JPhurst: I think that's a stretch. Perhaps my kids would be getting a decent education at Cordero, a school which has a rep for functioning well if strictly(though I doubt it would be on par with LCCS's) but for kids of educated "involved" parents in other wards, it stretches the liberal imagination too far to believe that they would be as prepared to apply for elite HS and college as their LCCS peers. Access to the demographics and alma maters of McNair's students would certainly be enlightening.

I guess I just don't accept the argument that all that matters is the kid and not the school. There's plenty of motivated parents in JC, witness the 300 applicants for 30 kindergarten slots at LCCS. But the facts that McNair's SAT scores are not in the range of "real" elite schools, and we don't get a fraction of the National Merit scholars that any midwestern HS does shows to me that our schools are failing the kids from educated motivated families as well as the ones from less advantaged backgrounds.

The article you linked uses a number of assumptions in it's conclusions. As for his contention that charters push out under performing kids to raise their scores, I know for a fact that the charters in Hoboken have a problem of dropping scores in the upper grades because of losing high performing kids to the private schools. One size simply doesn't fit all, and no one claims it does. As K-Lo says "Anyone who thinks ALL this is better than ALL that is an idealogue, not a practitioner".

Posted on: 2011/1/26 16:49
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Re: equitable funding for Jersey City Charter Schools
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brewster wrote:

I don't know what JPhurst is talking about when he says LCCS's performance is just average. For the 2nd year in a row nearly half the 8th graders have been admitted into JC's premier High school, McNair, by far the largest group from one school. Given that McNair receives applicants not only from JC's elite "test in" middle school, but from private schools as well, I don't see how their performance can be dinged.


LCCS does indeed perform well. Although I would note that the data used by Christie and analyzed by Baker deals with test scores, not placement in McNair. I suspect there is still a correlation, however.

The point is that, once the data is adjusted for socioeconomic factors such as poverty (measured through those qualifying for free school lunch) and other matters, LCCS comes out right in the middle. In other words, LCCS students do very well, but they come from backgrounds where students tend to do well anyway even when they are in a district school.

Posted on: 2011/1/26 14:58
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Re: equitable funding for Jersey City Charter Schools
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K-Lo wrote:
Anyone who thinks ALL this is better than ALL that is an idealogue, not a practitioner. There certainly are district schools in Jersey City that outperform some charter schools in the state tests.


Perfectly said! Does Liberty Academy Charter School ring a bell to any JC residents? Reminder: Jersey Journal Article. A poor administration, in charter or public school, will lead to a poor performing school. If you look at Liberty Academy's report card, very poor to say the least, you will see that they are not as successful as some of the public schools in the city.

Posted on: 2011/1/26 14:44
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Re: equitable funding for Jersey City Charter Schools
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But much of the charter school movement does not like him because he criticizes the claims that charter schools uniformly outperform district schools.


Anyone who thinks ALL this is better than ALL that is an idealogue, not a practitioner. There certainly are district schools in Jersey City that outperform some charter schools in the state tests.

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For the 2nd year in a row nearly half the 8th graders [from LCCS] have been admitted into JC's premier High school, McNair, by far the largest group from one school.


Is that really true? Are you speaking of percentage or raw number? If the latter, I think Academy I may have that honor.

Posted on: 2011/1/26 14:37
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Re: equitable funding for Jersey City Charter Schools
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jphurst wrote:
Another good response to the study, this time from Bruce Baker, a professor of Education at Rutgers... http://schoolfinance101.wordpress.com ... w-jersey-charter-schools/ Baker, for what it's worth, is a supporter of more charter schools. But much of the charter school movement does not like him because he criticizes the claims that charter schools uniformly outperform district schools. He also has been very skeptical of the other "reform" efforts such as abolishing teacher tenure, merit pay, etc.


Thanks for that article! Very informative and it's good to show people the truth behind the numbers! The government and corporations love throwing numbers and percentages at us to make things look great but we are never able to see the truth behind the numbers. Great job by Baker for actually giving out the information that I was looking for. We can't just sit back, see a number, and think that this "reform" is a magic elixir that will repair the entire situation. If you look at all of the reform information like Michelle Rhee and her new initiative, she never mentions getting to the root of the problem and solving it. The schools will never improve unless administrators/government officials realize that the schools and surrounding community need to work together to solve problems affecting the children inside AND outside of the school.

Posted on: 2011/1/26 14:17
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Re: equitable funding for Jersey City Charter Schools
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8 out of 18 from downtown, 0 from Greenville, in my daughter's first grade class.

But the point I am making is that, wherever they live, even a simple act of registering for an alternative school choice does select in favour of parents who at least have that basic wherewithal to get out there and find what is available and submit an application.

Which therefore does then discriminate against some of the most in need students.

Robin.

Posted on: 2011/1/26 5:30
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Re: equitable funding for Jersey City Charter Schools
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tern wrote:
Anyone can apply brewster, but anyone doesn't.

Those that do are the involved parents, mostly from Downtown.

Robin.


Robin, is your child's class mostly Downtowners? Neither of my children's are. I just counted my son's middle school class:9 out of 37 live Downtown. Not much above proportional representation of the Ward by pop. I can't imagine the younger classes being heavier on Downtowners now that the school has moved to Lincoln Park.

Involved? Involved with what? Your kid? Isn't the only filter is being sentient enough to want a better education for your kid and being willing to get your kid to the school if you're lucky enough to get in? The article made it seem like low performing students can be turned away from charters, which is simply not true.

Posted on: 2011/1/26 4:36
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Re: equitable funding for Jersey City Charter Schools
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Still trying to wrap my head around spending being managed at a local level, but performance being measured at state and fed level. Guess that way, state and fed can tell locals when they're pissing their ed funds down the toilet.

Posted on: 2011/1/26 4:06
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Re: equitable funding for Jersey City Charter Schools
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Anyone can apply brewster, but anyone doesn't.

Those that do are the involved parents, mostly from Downtown.

Robin.

Posted on: 2011/1/26 3:33
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Re: equitable funding for Jersey City Charter Schools
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That Bob Braun column is a pile of crap, at least as far as JC is concerned. There's no cherry picking or grooming of the students by any academic, social, racial or economic factors. ANYONE can apply and have an equal chance in the lottery.

A special ed population difference of 3% (13.8 percent of all students, 10.7 percent in charters) between district and charter is hardly worth making a big deal about. In fact this is the biggest red herring of the whole argument. Most "special ed" students are getting minor speech therapy, motor therapy or something similar, not the hugely expensive full time attendants and such. From attempting to study that budget doc, it shows that special ed comes nowhere close to the fraction that would be required to justify shorting the charters by nearly 50% of their allotted funding.

I don't know what JPhurst is talking about when he says LCCS's performance is just average. For the 2nd year in a row nearly half the 8th graders have been admitted into JC's premier High school, McNair, by far the largest group from one school. Given that McNair receives applicants not only from JC's elite "test in" middle school, but from private schools as well, I don't see how their performance can be dinged.

I also don't understand the purpose of the document the city council produced to send to the state. The Record article makes clear that the state gives the full funding per student under Abbott to the district. It's the district that has failed to pass on the Abbott funding to the charters, leaving them grossly underfunded. Having any statewide discussion of the success vs failures of charters is ridiculous when they're being starved. It's like junking a car for being slow when you've chronically failed to gas the tank!

Posted on: 2011/1/26 2:37
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Re: equitable funding for Jersey City Charter Schools
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The Baker study, interestingly, finds that, when adjusted for the other variables (largely socioeconomic factors), LCCS is just average on the Math, and slightly below average (probably statistically insignificantly) on the Language Arts tests.

Posted on: 2011/1/26 0:47
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Re: equitable funding for Jersey City Charter Schools
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Another good response to the study, this time from Bruce Baker, a professor of Education at Rutgers...

http://schoolfinance101.wordpress.com ... w-jersey-charter-schools/

Baker, for what it's worth, is a supporter of more charter schools. But much of the charter school movement does not like him because he criticizes the claims that charter schools uniformly outperform district schools. He also has been very skeptical of the other "reform" efforts such as abolishing teacher tenure, merit pay, etc.

Posted on: 2011/1/26 0:43
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Re: equitable funding for Jersey City Charter Schools
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This Bob Braun column appeared Sunday in the Star Ledger- It raises some points that have been touched on above and raises a few troubling concerns about poverty, class and disparity in educational access.

Hope I am not violating copyright
http://blog.nj.com/njv_bob_braun/2011 ... tics_compare_charter.html

Bob Braun: Calculating the difference in charter schools
Published: Sunday, January 23, 2011, 7:08 PM Updated: Sunday, January 23, 2011, 7:09 PM
By Bob Braun/Star-Ledger Columnist


TRENTON ? It?s New Jersey School Choice Week. Gov. Chris Christie signed a proclamation encouraging all citizens to ?join the movement for educational reform.?

Or, at least, his brand of reform, one that includes cutting $1 billion from traditional public schools while spending taxpayer money on independent schools that have somehow failed to enroll New Jersey?s neediest children, those with handicaps, language problems, and very low income.

In the last few days, the governor issued a study that purported to show charters ?outperforming? traditional schools, approved 23 more charters, proposed laws making it easier to create the independent but publicly funded schools, and hired an organization run by Geoffrey Canada, the champion of New York charter schools, to try his magic in Paterson.

Some critics argue state studies comparing scores of charter schools with their home districts were not scientific and unbiased and, if they showed anything, proved test score averages can be improved by not enrolling children who don?t do well on standardized tests.

?If the children are compared honestly, there is no significant statistical difference between the performance of students in charter schools and those in traditional public schools,? says Bruce Baker, a Rutgers researcher and, incidentally, a charter school advocate.

Charter schools enroll far fewer children with handicaps than conventional schools, far fewer non-English-speaking, and far fewer who are so poor they qualify for free lunches.


The latest available state records show: In Asbury Park, 21.9 percent of students have special needs; charter school enrollment is only 9.8 percent special education. In Camden, special education enrollment is 21.8 percent; its charter schools have an average 6 percent special enrollment. Hoboken, 16.2 percent for public schools, 14.5 percent for charters. Jersey City, 13.8 percent of all students, 10.7 percent in charters. Newark, 19.7 in public schools, 5.5 percent in charters. Paterson, 15.4 percent versus 4.2. Trenton, 19.7 percent versus 15 percent.

Records on non-English-speaking are spotty but, where they exist, disparities are wider.

The state report comparing charters to their home districts did not exclude classified or limited-English-speaking pupils. It did not factor in the very poor. A second report, requested by this newspaper, corrected some problems but did not consider income levels.

Traditional schools did better in the second report. More public schools outscored charters than in the first and the differences between them narrowed. Alan Guenther, spokesman for the state education department, says the reports were ?virtually the same.?

But neither he nor anyone at the governor?s office would answer the question why the charters enroll so few special needs students and what, if anything, the state intends to do about the disparities. Acting Commissioner Christopher Cerf declined to be interviewed.

Charters have very little impact on most people in New Jersey. The state has 591 school districts, but charters exist in only 22 ? all but four in cities. The state has 4,385 traditional schools and 68 charters. Public schools enroll 1.38 million children; charters, 22,000.

In cities, however, the impact of charters ? as presently run ? could be segregation based on intellectual ability, language skill and income. Test scores are less important than what it will do to traditional public schools in the cities.

?There?s obviously something wrong with the process,? says Peter Carter, the outgoing Hoboken superintendent and former Essex County schools chief. ?The charters should reflect the communities they serve but they don?t.?

Julia Sass Rubin of Princeton, a charter school parent and spokeswoman for SOS-NJ, a public school advocacy group, says charters are ?creaming the population and leaving the most expensive and difficult to educate students in traditional schools.?

This increases the cost of public education, she says, and weakens traditional schools.


?Special needs parents don?t apply because they accurately don?t think they can get the needed services,? she says. Rubin also says poor and non-English speaking parents ?are too busy surviving and may not even know about charters ? and the schools don?t go after them.?

Bruno Tedeschi, a spokesman for the New Jersey Charter School Association, doesn?t deny disparities exist but insists charters do not deliberately exclude the poorest students.

?If critics have evidence that charter schools are violating the law regarding enrollment, they should report it to the proper authorities,? he says.

Deliberate or not, the effect is the same. Diane Ravitch, an educational historian at NYU who has studied charters throughout the country, says conservative politicians like Christie ?are telling parents they should go charters to get away from the losers? ? the children who don?t learn easily and must stay in public schools because charters don?t want them.
?Charter schools feel they are in a competitive marketplace and will do what they can to enroll the best students and keep out the least-performing,? Ravitch says.

Posted on: 2011/1/25 23:54
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Re: equitable funding for Jersey City Charter Schools
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GrovePath wrote:
Hudson County public schools are being outperformed by their charter school counterparts on standardized tests


The Jersey City Independent did a good job breaking down the data as it pertained to Jersey City's charter schools as compared to the district.

http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/ ... ls-on-standardized-tests/

They also have the entire data set.

I would note that the JCI headline is a lot more accurate as well.

The overall average on the NJASK tests is +3.1% on Math for the charter schools and +3.9% on Language Arts for the Charter Schools. Much of this is, as the JJ article says, due to very strong scores in two charter schools, LCCS and Soaring Heights, although even in those cases, there were some grade levels where the charter schools scored lower than the district schools (LCCS scored slightly lower on 5th Grade Math, Soaring Heights scored slightly lower on 6th Grade Language Arts).

The other charter schools' performance varies from grade to grade against to district or, in some cases, regularly underperform the district.

With respect to high schools, the charter school's average was less than that of the district. However, there are only 2 charter high schools, C.R.E.A.T.E. and University Academy, and C.R.E.A.T.E. was just closed. So there is not much sample size.

Posted on: 2011/1/25 23:23
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Re: equitable funding for Jersey City Charter Schools
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I know that I am late to the game. But is there a petition that I can sign?

Posted on: 2011/1/25 21:46
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Re: equitable funding for Jersey City Charter Schools
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Red-Deutsch wrote:
To be honest, it's people like me who are the problem. Those of us who are just starting to pay attention now, in a time of crisis. Had more people (including myself) been paying attention all along, maybe we wouldn't be in the dire straits we find ourselves in now.

Better late than never, but it does feel like trying to close the barn door after the cows already left (whatever that saying is).


Don't worry you are not the only one. I've just recently woken up from my ignorance and have started to get more involved and paying attention to the issues arising in the city that I was born and raised in. One of the areas that are of particular interest to me is the BOE/JC Schools since I now have children who will one day enter the school system. Thanks for all of the information and links that you have posted because it gives me the opportunity to be more informed and learn more about these topics!

Posted on: 2011/1/21 15:09
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Re: equitable funding for Jersey City Charter Schools
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And what are the "child study teams" they spent $13m on?


Red-Deutsch was right but, if I am not mistaken, they are also in charge of creating the Individualized Education Plan (IEP) for each Special Education student.

Posted on: 2011/1/21 15:04
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Re: equitable funding for Jersey City Charter Schools
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Hudson County public schools are being outperformed by their charter school counterparts on standardized tests

Thursday, January 20, 2011
By BRETT WILSHE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Students in Hudson County charter schools mostly outperformed their counterparts in regular public schools on last year's standardized tests, according to data released by the state Department of Education this week.

In some cases, the difference was dramatic.

On the third-grade standardized math test for example, 100 percent of the students at Hoboken Charter School passed the exam and 93.7 percent of the students at Elysian Charter School in Hoboken passed. The Hoboken school district average was 67.8 percent and the state average was 78.1 percent, according to the DOE.

Performance of Hoboken charters dips in the higher grades. At Hoboken Charter School, only 39.1 percent of 8th-graders passed the math test, well below the district average of 51.8 percent and 68.5 percent statewide.

Learning Community and Soaring Heights Charter Schools in Jersey City consistently outperformed district averages. Soaring Heights students passed several of the tests at a rate that was 10 percentage points higher than students statewide. But four charters located in Jersey City - Jersey City Community, Jersey City Golden Door, Liberty Academy and Schomburg Charter School - often performed below state averages. For example, only 10.5 percent of fifth-graders at Schomburg passed the math test last year. The state average was 78.8 percent.

C.R.E.A.T.E. Charter and University Academy of Jersey City also consistently scored lower than state and district averages on the math and language arts exams.

C.R.E.A.T.E, which operated a middle school and high school, has since been closed.

Ten charter schools were included in the report. Two charter schools that opened in September were not included. This week the state approved two more charter schools for Jersey City.

Posted on: 2011/1/20 13:37
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Re: equitable funding for Jersey City Charter Schools
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Red-Deutsch wrote:
>> "But one thing's for sure: 12.75% of the students in JC that are in charters are getting educated on 5% of the education budget, and that can't continue."

Fair point.

(sorry i don't know how to use the quote feature properly.)


After you hit reply, you hit the QUOTE button to the left of the PREVIEW SUBMIT CANCEL buttons below the text box, and it will quote the entirety of the post you are replying to. You can then edit out irrelevant parts for clarity, though at the risk of being criticized if someone thinks you're removing context. Or you can type [quote*] paste in the text and finish with [/quote*], without the * I put in to defeat it actually quote boxing my instruction.

You can also edit posts for some minutes after posting so you don't have to have multiple posts in the space of a few minutes.

Posted on: 2011/1/17 21:16
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Re: equitable funding for Jersey City Charter Schools
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>> "But one thing's for sure: 12.75% of the students in JC that are in charters are getting educated on 5% of the education budget, and that can't continue."

Fair point.

(sorry i don't know how to use the quote feature properly.)

Posted on: 2011/1/17 19:59
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Re: equitable funding for Jersey City Charter Schools
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Red-Deutsch wrote:
And as far as being lame, I do agree that the PDF linked is somewhat vague because there are no specific breakdowns nor much in the way of explanations, but that's why the very first line of that post says it's at least a starting point. I didn't write it, so if your comment was an attempt to tweak me, you missed the bullseye. I'm just the one putting it out there.


No, my scorn is for the system that creates these impenetrable documents and then claims that all the info is public. It would not take a NASA or Google team to create a modern hypertext document that is more clear about totals & subtotals, and links to definitions of terms. But they don't want people to understand or delve into it like you are.

I made a valiant effort to google "SSB" in any context to schools and only came up with "School-Based Budgeting". Surely obscure acronyms are not appropriate for 45% of the school budget. I'm pretty sure it's not a subtotal from another section, but the report is so primitive, I could be wrong. Given that another source says 63% of the budget is salaries & benefits, it must be part of that, but how? And it's called the "user friendly report"!!

Check out this one if you want to see real nonsense that someone got paid for. It's mostly insipid PowerPoint till you get some pie charts on pp 24-26 that don't relate well to each other. There's also an oddity that we're paying for 129 students in Hoboken's charter schools. Is that people who moved here after getting into the school?

http://www2.jcboe.org/files/March200820Revised.pdf

And see this page that fails 4th grade addition in the "male students" section: http://www.jcboe.org/news/vital-facts.aspx

MALE STUDENTS
Elementary - 10789
Secondary - 14563
Total No. of Male Students: 37,674

But one thing's for sure: 12.75% of the students in JC that are in charters are getting educated on 5% of the education budget, and that can't continue.

Posted on: 2011/1/17 18:54
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