ELC News - An Education Action Agenda for the New Governor

Governor-elect Jon Corzine has pledged to tackle property taxes and government ethics when he takes office.

But what about New Jersey’s children? The Corzine administration will face pressing issues on several fronts, including child welfare, health, and making low-income neighborhoods safe and economically vibrant.

And education. Here’s an action agenda for the new administration’s first year:

School Construction: Legislative reforms are needed to ensure the State is accountable for building high quality, community centered schools in a cost-effective manner. Funding is needed to complete already approved projects throughout the state. Facilities reform should address the needs of Abbott preschool providers and charter schools.

Middle and High School Reform: The State’s piecemeal secondary school reforms should give way to a comprehensive, statewide effort to promote "best practices" in middle and high schools. A good place to start is to raise the profile and level of support for the new Abbott Secondary Initiative.

Data, Research and Evaluation: The Department of Education still lacks a student level database; has little research capacity; and has yet to evaluate the Abbott reforms. The State needs a strong data collection system, along with a robust research and evaluation agenda, in partnership with higher education.

School Funding: The FY07 State budget should increase school aid for all districts, especially given several years of flat funding of the State aid formula. The budget should also include Abbott aid for urban charter school students and students in the 17 impoverished rural, or "Bacon" districts, and eliminate the authority to annually adopt Abbott rules, without State Board approval.

Preschool: The DOE should move quickly to increase preschool enrollments, and program quality, in the 31 Abbott and 102 so-called "ECPA districts" currently receiving State pre-k aid. A high level commission should also be convened to develop a multi-year expansion of full-day kindergarten and the Abbott preschool program statewide, including recommending a dedicated revenue source for the program.

Public Engagement and Accountability: The Governor should encourage formation of an independent, statewide commission of business and civic leaders to advocate for education reform, and the DOE should provide data and other tools to help stakeholders hold State and local officials accountable for performance.

Service Coordination: Public schools, particularly in high poverty neighborhoods, are disconnected from local, county and State health, social service, and law enforcement agencies. The Departments of Education, Human Services and Health should develop a strategy to integrate schools into these networks to efficiently deliver critical supports to students, staff and families.

Special Education: The DOE must move aggressively, with help from advocates, to address the State’s long-standing failure to include children with disabilities in education programs with their non-disabled peers.

Student Rights: The DOE should step-up efforts to investigate and resolve violations of students’ basic education rights, including the right to fair discipline; to attend school if homeless or in foster care; to be free of bullying and harassment; and to the Abbott programs for "at-risk" students.

The Department of Education: The DOE faces the challenging demands of standards-based education, Abbott, and the federal No Child Left Behind Act. The agency must become mission- and data-driven, capable of leading improvement efforts, and fully accountable to the Legislature and the public. The Governor should assemble a "Working Group" of business and civic leaders to thoroughly review DOE operations, staff and budget, and recommend needed changes.

New Jersey has one of the nation’s best public education systems and, unlike other states, we’re taking-on the hard work of improving education for students in high poverty urban, suburban and rural communities.

But leading the nation is not good enough. We face competition from China, India and other countries. Education remains the key to advancing New Jersey’s high-powered research and technology-based economy globally, and to building healthy and sustainable communities locally.

Maintaining this edge requires giving all children the opportunity for a high quality education. The new Governor needs to articulate a broad vision, and implement a concrete agenda, to meet this historic challenge.