The NJASA Southern Region Leadership Summit

A Convocation of Educational Leaders

School leaders working in southern New Jersey gathered in Tabernacle, Burlington County, at Seneca High School on April 27th to address challenges they face in working to improve outcomes for students. The Southern Region Leadership Summit, an outgrowth of the first statewide NJASA Superintendent Summit held last October, initiated with a welcome from host superintendent, Emily Capella. NJASA President-Elect Doug Groff next greeted the attendees and spoke to the importance of their participation in developing solutions designed to overcome obstacles to student and school success.

The Summit program provided participants with a forum to hear presentations on topics of interest, which included:

· Legislative Advocacy;

· Consolidation/Shared Services/Regionalization;

· Secondary School Redesign;

· Professional Learning Communities; and

· Data Driven Decision-Making and Closing the Achievement Gap.

The presenters for each session then engaged their peers in discussion of the challenges to effective leadership, which they face, and also explored strategies and promising practices to meet those challenges.

I was pleased to see the enthusiasm and active involvement of the Summit participants during each of the ten sessions. Attendees spoke candidly with one another and with NJASA staff members about the focal issues and their impact on improvement efforts in their own school districts. The educators present for the summit demonstrated a genuine commitment to their profession and validated the importance of the leadership role, which they play in directing New Jersey’s school districts toward excellence. The participants’ feedback reinforces the NJASA responsibility to provide opportunities for purposeful discussion on topics of importance to New Jersey educators.

I am pleased to see that our goal to provide a forum for communication among school leaders was so well received. We shall continue our work together to address the NJASA mission to ensure a superior statewide system of education by influencing and effecting educational policy, regulations, and legislation; and by maximizing the capacity and effectiveness of school leaders through professional development programs and support services.

I invite NJASA school leaders from the central and northern counties of our state to be present for a second regional Leadership Summit to be held at Kean University, Union, on May 13 and to enjoy the benefits of professional dialogue with your colleagues.

For More Information: www.njasa.net

Shared Services, Consolidation and Administrative Costs - Separating Fact from Fiction

NJASA has recently sponsored several public forums on the topics of school consolidation and shared services. Many of the proponents of small schools and small school districts who attend the meetings seem to have stumbled upon the fact that many state officials refuse to acknowledge: Bigger is not always better! The advocates for local control of smaller, both in population and geography, rather than larger school systems, often cite the quality of the educational outcomes that they see for their children, the value received for their tax dollars, and the competitive cost for educating each student when compared to other districts.

Let’s examine data in one area that is often assumed to yield great savings – Administrative Costs.

1. The percentage of the budget dedicated to administrative costs for New Jersey school systems ranks near the bottom of the 50 states – 8^th lowest in the nation – lower than many states which have larger school systems (see National Center for Educational Statistics data for fiscal year 2007).

Public School Administration Current Expenditures
Percentage distribution
National Average	10.8%
New Jersey (tied for 8th lowest)	9.5%

2. The average administrative cost per pupil for New Jersey’s K-6 and K-8 districts is below the statewide average and comparable to the K-12 average (see NJ DOE Comparative Spending Guide March 2009).

Total Administration
District Type	Average Cost Per Pupil
Statewide Average	$1,430
K-6	$1,389
K-8	$1,411
K-12	$1,379
7-12/9-12	$1,520
County Special Services Districts	$5,098
Vocational Districts	$2,167
Charter Schools	$2,163

3. Examining the available data for student enrollments and staffing for the period between the 1989/1990 and the 2005/2006 years reveals large increases in students, teachers and support staff while the number of administrators increased slightly (see NJ DOE Vital Statistics).

1989/90 – 2005/06
Full-Time Certificated Staff	Increase
Students	317,777	29.5%
Classroom Teachers	35,659	47.2%
Educational Support Services Personnel	5,614	50.2%
Administrators & Supervisors	227	2.6%

NJASA endorses the state’s effort to examine operational efficiencies through expanded shared services and possible consolidation of school systems. The examination must be a thoughtful and thorough one, however, and the quality of education must be carefully considered as a primary factor in each potential consolidation. The residents of communities that would be affected by these decisions deserve data that can assist their decisions, not assumptions born out of wishful thinking that bigger is better.

NJASA Representative Assembly Offered All the Right Ingredients

The cold, damp, wet snow of Friday morning, March 20th, quickly dissipated with the warm welcome remarks of NJASA President Ken King at the Association’s Annual Representative Assembly, at the McKinley Community Elementary School, in New Brunswick.

In his opening remarks, NJASA President King commended the chief education officers on their accomplishments for moving education forward through their instructional leadership and the Association’s leadership for designing a Representative Assembly agenda with all the right ingredients.

These ingredients included: a 60-minute open dialogue with Education Commissioner Lucille Davy; an informative discussion of retirement-related issues with NJASA Pension Consultant Mort Reinhart; and an insightful exchange of ideas with Assembly Education Committee Chairman and NJ State Democratic Committee Chairman Joseph Cryan, (D-20, Union).

The dynamics of the Commissioner’s and Assemblyman’s presentation on school consolidation evoked various responses from the audience. Essentially, their remarks focused on the relationship of finances to school consolidation and did not address the academic concerns of maintaining and improving a quality public education for all New Jersey students.

Both Commissioner Davy and Assemblyman Cryan also acknowledged NJASA for its cooperation and willingness to work side-by-side with State legislators and Department of Education personnel by attending meetings, serving on committees, and providing valuable and well-researched testimony on a number of issues, such as the high school redesign initiative.

There are, however, occasions when NJASA positions differ with those of the New Jersey Department of Education and the State’s-elected leadership. In these instances, it is the responsibility of the chief education officer to lead the conversation with constituents to ensure that they are well-informed of opposing viewpoints.

Interaction at the local level is the foundation upon which the fate of statewide issues and initiatives can be cast. A significant example is that of Washington Twp., Gloucester County, where the chief education officer was able to address and forestall a legislative initiative for a pilot countywide school district. The voices of the more than 3,500 individuals were heard by their respective State-elected representatives.

There will be a number of significant topics identified as the Department of Education and its consultants move forward in the investigation of school consolidation. It is imperative that chief education officers working with their respective communities ask the hard questions about the Department’s recommendations to ensure that the members of their communities will be able to make informed and well-educated decisions as New Jersey education moves forward.