After tumultuous week, education experts and elected officials say planned upgrades and reforms are in jeopardy
Gov. Chris Christie lifts a copy of the 1,000 page "Race to the Top" application onto the podium at a Wednesday press conference.TRENTON — Almost lost in the blame game over the state’s bungled chance to get up to $400 million in federal education dollars is what the money might have bought to help New Jersey’s children.
More frequent testing to gauge student progress. Computer databases for tracking academic performance. Support for turning the worst schools into charter schools.
After a week consumed by political turmoil and administration in-fighting, education experts and elected officials said those goals are in jeopardy.
The week started with controversy over a botched answer in the state’s 1,000-page application for Race to the Top funding. It ended with Gov. Chris Christie’s messy firing of Education Commissioner Bret Schundler.
Now the governor will try to get his agenda back on track without the money he needs and the man who was leading the effort.
"I’ve never seen anything like this before," said New Jersey School Boards Association spokesman Frank Belluscio. "It’s been a very unusual week."
A spokesman for the governor said the administration’s reform efforts will continue despite the setbacks.
"The governor’s education reform policies are bigger and more important than any one person," Michael Drewniak said. "In our Race to the Top application, we laid out bold reforms that were praised by the reviewers and received high marks. We are more determined than ever to press on with reforms that will benefit our state’s children."
Christie appointed an acting education commissioner, and two sources close to the administration said the governor hopes to install Andrew Smarick, a former federal education official and think-tank analyst, as Schundler’s permanent replacement. He started his job as deputy education commissioner this month. Considered an expert on Race to the Top, he advised the state on its application but may be leading a school system without any money from the federal program.
Democrats and education officials questioned how the administration will pick up the pieces of an ambitious and politically charged agenda.
"We are in a mess right now," Assembly Education Committee Chairman Patrick Diegnan Jr. (D-Middlesex) said. "Education has been put in a crisis mode."
The state laid out an aggressive list of goals in its Race to the Top application, including changing the way teachers are evaluated and turning around New Jersey’s most struggling schools.
"That whole process was a little bit tumultuous as it unfolded day to day. But the application itself and some of the proposals were truly something that would be very progressive," Senate Education Committee Chairwoman Teresa Ruiz (D-Essex) said. "It certainly had a blueprint for improving public education."
But that blueprint costs money the state didn’t win.
"How much of that start-up spending can you do when you don’t have $400 million?" Schundler said. "A lot less than you can do when you do have $400 million."
Of the total amount requested in its application, New Jersey wanted $47.7 million to complete development of a computer program to track student academic progress and another $63.5 million for merit pay for teachers. But unless the state finds a new source of funding for these initiatives, it’s unlikely the governor will be able to enact them, education policy experts said.
"Without the money on the table, it’s going to take something pretty extraordinary to get those pieces in place," said Michael Petrilli, president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based education think tank.
Other Race to the Top proposals, like tenure reform, don’t require large pots of money. But Petrilli said it still takes political willpower, which has dwindled after a week of turmoil.
"Does the governor still have enough political capital to get something like tenure reform through without any new resources on the table?" he said.
Some officials and experts who did not necessarily agree with the Race to the Top proposals see a silver lining in an otherwise cloudy week.
"They weren’t necessarily thoughtful reforms to begin with and there was little buy-in," said Bruce Baker, an associate professor at the Rutgers Graduate School of Education. "Better to regroup and rethink."
Education Law Center Executive Director David Sciarra said state officials have a second chance to foster support for reforms among educators.
"What’s needed now is a less polarized and more collaborative approach to developing and advancing a reform agenda," he said.
FIRESTORM ERUPTS
The Race to the Top controversy began on Tuesday, when the state learned it did not win federal funding. It became clear the state had bungled a question in its 1,000-page application by providing budget information from the wrong year. The mistake cost the state 4.8 points on a 500-point application. The state missed out on the grant by 3 points, placing 11th behind Ohio.
Former education chief Bret Schundler at his home in Jersey City Friday, Aug. 27, 2010 .On Wednesday, Christie blamed unreasonable Washington bureaucrats, saying they didn’t allow state officials to fix the simple error. But video released Thursday contradicted that claim and showed state officials failing to provide budget information from the correct year during an interview with federal reviewers this month.
Christie said his statements on Wednesday were based on misleading information from Schundler, and he fired him the next day.
Schundler disputed that in an interview at his home Friday afternoon, saying he tried to warn Christie before the news conference.
"I said, ‘Stop,’ " he said. " ‘Where you say I gave the numbers is not accurate. I did not give the numbers.’ "
But Drewniak said Schundler was trying to cover up his own mistakes.
"We regret that Mr. Schundler continues to sully his own image by engaging in revisionist history," he said.
The failure to win Race to the Top money is just the latest in a series of financial setbacks for New Jersey schools. This year’s budget already cut $820 million in state education funding, leading to changes such as fewer teachers, larger class sizes and paying to play sports.
The New Jersey School Boards Association released a survey this month saying said 81 percent of districts are planning to slash teaching jobs.
"We have school districts ready to open up, and parents are going to see the impact of those cuts," said Richard Bozza, executive director of the New Jersey Association of School Administrators.
GOING FORWARD
With Schundler’s abrupt departure, it’s unclear who will lead New Jersey schools through this period of financial and political turmoil. Bozza said New Jersey’s education commissioner holds great influence, setting policies on testing, school monitoring and curricula.
"It’s a critically important position," he said. "It establishes the direction in which we will head."
Rochelle Hendricks, a longtime state education official, will serve as acting commissioner while the governor’s office conducts a national search for a permanent replacement.
"I am glad to step into this new role at the department to ensure that Gov. Christie’s bold reform agenda moves forward without interruption," Hendricks said in a statement.
Smarick, the new deputy commissioner, is in the running to be Schundler’s permanent replacement. But two sources familiar with the decision-making said a technicality halted his ascension: The state Board of Education has not yet formally approved him as deputy commissioner, meaning he could not serve as acting commissioner.
Smarick previously worked at the U.S. Department of Education, the National Alliance of Public Charter Schools and the Thomas B. Fordham Institute. He declined to comment Friday.
When announcing his decision to take a job in the Christie administration, he wrote in a blog entry: "It seems to me that there’s never been a better time to work on these issues at the state level. As a rule, the most important education policies are made in state capitals, and that’s doubly true right now."
But some question Smarick’s credentials. The deputy commissioner is not from New Jersey, has not worked in schools as a teacher or administrator, and does not have robust experience in government, said Baker, the Rutgers professor.
"I’m not necessarily one who believes that the commissioner has to be a life-long public school employee, or education system bureaucrat, or even has to be tightly connected to the public schooling system," Baker said. "But Smarick in particular is completely unqualified."
Kevin Carey, policy director at Education Sector, another Washington, D.C. think tank, disagreed, saying Smarick’s level of experience is not a negative.
"Some people have a lot of experience running education departments and they have nothing to show for it," Carey said. "Andy is not a bomb-thrower, not an ideologue, not someone who wants to tear down public education. He’s hard-working and sincerely focused on improving education for New Jersey’s children."
For whoever leads the state Department of Education, there will be big decisions on the horizon.
The state’s school funding formula, a hot-button political issue, is being examined by the Christie administration, and a review is due Wednesday.
In addition, the Education Law Center has asked the state Supreme Court to force Christie to reverse cuts in state aid to schools, saying they have undermined the court-approved funding formula.
LEADER'S FUTURE
Three of New Jersey’s poorest school districts remain under at least partial state control, including Newark, where state officials will need to decide by Wednesday whether to renew Superintendent Clifford Janey’s contract, according to Newark School Board President Shavar Jeffries.
While Janey has made some progress in fixing the ailing school system, many in Newark, including Mayor Cory Booker, have expressed concerns that he has not executed reforms quickly enough.
Janey was hired with a three-year contract, but after two years the state has the option to cancel or renew.
Ruiz, the Senate Education Committee chairwoman, said the state needs to move past last week’s controversy and refocus on reform.
"A mistake was made. Accept responsibility, set out an agenda and come up with a plan with how we’re going to move forward," she said. "The agenda of moving public education forward cannot stop."
By Chris Megerian/Statehouse Bureau Staff and Jessica Calefati/The Star-Ledger
Staff writers Lisa Fleisher and David Giambusso contributed to this report