Despite a report citing Camden's school failings, N.J. has declined to act

Despite Gov. Christie's frequent calls for no delay in repairing New Jersey's failing schools, the state for over a year has had the information and means to step in and provide increased help and oversight to improve Camden's schools, but has not.

A report made through the state's Quality Single Accountability Continuum (QSAC) process last June found Camden failing in three of five performance areas - personnel, instruction and program, and governance. In the other two areas, operations and fiscal management, the scores were low enough to warrant correction.

Under QSAC, the state could have sought to appoint "highly skilled professionals" to oversee the district's problem areas as part of a "partial intervention." It also could have placed up to three new members on Camden's school board who would become voting members.

"No corrective action taken at this point," state Education Department spokesman Alan Guenther said in an e-mail.

Guenther called last year's report "interim" and said a new QSAC evaluation would be completed as soon as the end of the month. It is being performed by Executive County Superintendent Peggy Nicolosi, the state overseer for Camden and Burlington Counties schools.

The state has "a legal and moral obligation" to intervene in Camden, said David Sciarra, director of the Education Law Center, which advocates for poor districts, including Camden.

"There's no justification whatsoever to not have used the tools that are available to move into that district . . . and make the changes that need to be made immediately," he said. "The children have effectively lost a year."

Camden Deputy Superintendent Reuben Mills said the district recently did a self-evaluation using the QSAC process and continues to work with a state assistance team, but "highly skilled professionals" have not been provided.

Based on the self-evaluation, "we believe progress is being made," he said.

In speeches since taking office, Christie has said children cannot afford to wait while failing districts try to improve themselves.

A spokesman for the governor defended the course the administration has taken.

"Gov. Christie is aggressively pursuing a comprehensive education reform agenda that will improve education and increase choice for every New Jersey child, particularly those students stuck in chronically failing districts," spokesman Kevin Roberts said.

He noted Christie recently stood with Camden Mayor Dana L. Redd to propose legislation for a pilot "transformation" program that would have for-profit and nonprofit school management organizations running failing schools. Christie also supports charter schools and voucherlike scholarships.

Sciarra called the governor's recent idea for a transformation school pilot an "unproven proposal."

Roberts also said the state had the option to intervene in Camden, but action was not mandated.

"Furthermore," he said, "the idea that the intervention of a single 'highly skilled professional,' as permitted under a partial intervention, would be the magic answer to turning around the district is simplistic, untrue, and dishonest for critics to suggest."

Sciarra said, "I strongly disagree with the assertion they don't have an affirmative duty to step in given the results of their own evaluation. They should have done it a year ago."

Camden is among the state's lowest QSAC scorers, he said.

Under QSAC, the state could have appointed multiple skilled professionals who could have been working on change in Camden for the last year, he said.

QSAC calls for districts to be evaluated every three years in the five categories.

If a district fails to reach at least 50 percent in one to four of the five measures, the state can seek partial intervention.

With that status, the state can appoint highly skilled professionals to directly oversee the district. It also can appoint up to three additional members to the district's board. They would be nonvoting at first but could become voting members. During a partial intervention, the state Board of Education can appoint a superintendent if the position becomes vacant.

According to state documents, last year Camden scored 13 percent for instruction and program, 11 percent in governance, and 36 percent on personnel. The district eked by with 53 percent in operations and scored 73 percent in fiscal management.

A score of less than 80 percent in any category requires the district to devise an improvement plan, according to QSAC regulations.

The state does have involvement in Camden, including a fiscal monitor and other review processes. Nicolosi said Camden had made strides in improving its financial management and had reduced administrative spending.

If anything, last year's evaluation was an improvement. In 2007, its first review, Camden got failing grades in all five areas. The district scored 5 percent for personnel, 6 percent in instruction and program, 11 percent in governance, 31 percent for fiscal management, and 39 percent for operations.

With scores of less 50 percent in all five areas, the state was entitled to seek a full intervention, which could have included appointing a superintendent and skilled professionals to provide direct oversight.

The Corzine administration, however, did not intervene either.

Michael Azzara, the Camden district's state fiscal monitor, said the state could have taken over the district, but "at the time there was no political will on the state's part to run districts any longer. It was viewed as a losing situation." Although QSAC allowed for intervention, the process, he said, "was viewed more as an exit strategy from state operation." Before QSAC was enacted, the state had taken over the Newark, Paterson, and Jersey City districts.

In addition, Azzara noted, Camden's city government was under state control then, and the governor had veto power over the school board and appointed three board members.

A state fiscal monitor has been in place since 2006.

The Camden district did not submit a corrective action plan based on the 2007 QSAC to the state until 2009, Guenther said.

In a self-evaluation that Camden submitted to the state in March, the district scored itself 61 percent in instruction and program, 78 percent for fiscal management, 98 percent in operations, 100 percent for personnel, and 67 percent in governance, he said.

Camden's Mills said those scores "demonstrate a district striving to make improvement."

Sciarra said the Corzine administration had begun to take some intervening actions in other school districts, but the Christie administration has backed away. A Christie-appointed task force has called for streamlining and cutting back on the QSAC process.