Sounds good to me as long as they don't raise taxes.

Any thoughts on what this would mean for Jersey City taxpayers? Or how would the proposed tax cap affect this. It seems this is on a fast track.

"I think we're on the right track," said Jersey City Superintendent Charles Epps Jr. "Within six to nine months, we'll be at a place where we can talk about local control coming back to Jersey City."

State: Time to end school takeovers?

JOHN MOONEY -- Jersey Journal NEWHOUSE NEWS - Jan 19

Nearly from the moment New Jersey became the first state to seize control of a local school district in 1989, questions were raised about how long the oversight in Jersey City would last.

Subsequent takeovers in Newark and Paterson prompted similar inquiries, but no answers.

Now, state education officials may be taking the first steps in extricating themselves from New Jersey's three largest districts.

In the next week, teams of educators and experts hired by the state will begin poring over documents in the three cities to test whether they are ready to resume control of their own districts.

The teams will visit schools in each district and interview administrators and staff, looking at everything from budgets to personnel to classroom instruction.

The intent is to home in on problem areas where state help might still be needed - and back off in places where it isn't.

State officials warn there are no guarantees any of the three districts will pass the test, at least not all of it. But if all goes as planned, the state Board of Education could vote this summer to ease, at the least, some control.

"I think we're on the right track," said Jersey City Superintendent Charles Epps Jr. "Within six to nine months, we'll be at a place where we can talk about local control coming back to Jersey City."

The process is laid out in the state's new monitoring system for all districts, known as the Quality Single Accountability Continuum or QSAC. Approved by the Legislature last year, it calls for districts to pass a detailed checklist of items in five distinct areas: governance, budget, operations, personnel and instruction.

If a district passes in an area, the state will cede those controls after a transition period. If not, the state could intervene further.

The process starts with a self-evaluation confirmed by state officials. But the deeper the state oversight already, the more stringent the process.

The teams of outside experts - including university faculty, former administrators and educators - will conduct on-site reviews in the three takeover districts, as well as Camden and Asbury Park, where the state has some oversight.

Each team consists of five members, each with expertise in one of five review areas. The teams will visit a sampling of schools with varied demographics and student performance.

"When the districts are ready (for local control), we are definitely ready," said state Education Commissioner Lucille Davy. "But that is what this is all about: is it time, and are they ready?"