Table County Pilot Plan—NJSBA

NJSBA is urging the state’s legislative leadership to table bills that would create a single pilot county administrative school district, noting that the legislation would do nothing to reduce property taxes and could wipe out savings already achieved by local school districts.

The legislation would lead to creation of a single county administrative school district that would be piloted for five years. Boards of freeholders in 11 counties would be eligible to apply for participation. The latest proposal does not provide for input from voters or local boards of education. Instead, freeholders from the selected county would appoint a county board of education. Existing local boards of education would become advisory bodies.

“We urge the Senate leadership to hold off action on this legislation. It is raising serious concerns in communities and has lead to conflicting interpretations by lawmakers,” said Edwina M. Lee, NJSBA executive director.

As of yet, the proposal has not been posted on the Senate’s Jan. 22 meeting agenda. It could, however, be posted for a vote Jan. 25. 

Sen. Stephen Sweeney, D-Gloucester and Cumberland, has indicated he will seek amendments to the bill that would:

• Give voters authority over the decision to apply for the county pilot program.
  
  
• Provide local boards of education input into the decision
  
  
• Retain governance and policy-making responsibilities at the local school district level.

Amendments On Tuesday, a community forum at Washington Township High School in Gloucester County drew more than 3,000 area residents concerned about the proposal.  John Bulina, NJSBA vice president for finance, participated in a panel discussion at the meeting, which was sponsored by the township’s school board.

In the proposal’s current form, “[n]either voters nor local school boards would have a voice in the matter,” Bulina told the Philadelphia Inquirer.  “If the experiment fails, how would local school districts reassume administrative functions?”

Responding to community concern, several legislators who attended the forum said that they plan to amend the bill to provide voter input into the application process, to allow school boards to retain some policy-making authority, and to guarantee that neither students nor staff would be transferred as the result a county pilot district being created.

Gloucester County legislators at the forum included state Sens. Stephen Sweeney and Fred Madden and Assemblymen John Burzichelli, Douglas Fisher, Paul Moriarty, and David Mayer. Sen. Robert Smith (D-Middlesex), a primary sponsor of the bill, has indicated that the amendments are in the works, according to the Gloucester County Times.

Administrative Cost in N.J. Backers of the bill have cited the need to control administrative costs as a reason for piloting a county administrative district. However, comparative data from the U.S. Department of Education show that New Jersey’s public schools rank 37th among the states in the percentage of school spending directed to administration. New Jersey’s level of administrative spending (9.9 percent) is lower than that of Pennsylvania or Delaware and below the national average (11 percent), according to the National Center for Education Statistics.