SCHOOL REPORT CARD

By law, the state is required to produce an annual School Report Card, so that parents and other citizens can review the progress of their local schools to determine if the schools are providing quality education in a cost effective way. Since these report card scores are only objective facts they cannot be relied upon blindly. For example, if two families move into a small school district and both families have a school aged child with learning disabilities, the school district could incur exorbitant costs to educate those two students, thereby skewing the “per pupil costs.” The end of last week came with the announcement that there would be a sharp rise in per-pupil costs in Monmouth county. Inflation in New Jersey was 1.5 percent between 2002 and 2003, yet school districts costs rose 6 percent over the same time period. Two of the three Abbott schools in my district had percentage changes over 10 percent. A reasonable request to ask is what part of that increase is due to enrollment differences and what part is due to inflation.

Nearly all fourth, eighth, and 11th grade classes in Monmouth county passed the state’s latest round of standardized tests. However, reading and writing scores were poor among fourth and eighth graders. These tests are reflective of exams that will be required of all of New Jersey’s students starting in the 2005-2006 school year. The federal No Child Left Behind laws are supposed to help identify weaknesses in a school’s curricula. These exams are projected to ensure that.

The idea of standardized test is not appealing to all people, particularly the State’s educational community. They believe that the tests don’t do much to help schools better educate their students. But, if the children of New Jersey don’t prove proficient in areas as basic as reading, writing, and math, what are our high property taxes and continual increase in school budgets going toward? It may be salary increases, changes in enrollment, and fixed expenses like water, gas, electric, and garbage collection.

One of the glaring results of the reported scores is that students from the wealthiest communities score the highest, even though the per-pupil costs are at or below average. All parents, regardless of their income, want their children to succeed. Research suggests that there is a direct correlation between student achievement and family income.

Administrator’s salaries are another issue. One of the three Abbott schools in my district increased administrative costs by over 15 percent, while another has two superintendents and one consultant. To reasonably evaluate the administrative needs of a school district, one must realize that the school district might easily be the largest employer in a community and the superintendent has the same relation ship to those employees as a CEO of a corporation. I urge the citizens in my district to get involved in the school budgeting process. An informed decision is the best strategy when voting on local school budgets.