Newark, New Jersey, has been under state control for 18 years, and many residents have sought a return of local control. Their demands have grown louder since the district became a playground for reformers after Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg gave the city $100 million for reform and the state appointed Broad-trained superintendent Cami Anderson.
In a surprise move, State Commissioner Chris Cerf gave the district’s powerless elected board “fiscal control” but no one knows what that means. Can they cut the budget proposed by Anderson? Can they change it? Can they raise or lower her salary? No one knows.
The most important responsibility of a school board is to hire and fire the superintendent, and this power they definitely do not have.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I sent you an email before I read this post. I think the article I referenced speaks to this point on the “education without representation” point.
I predict protracted power struggles where the board refuses to authorize spending on mandates from the state.
As a resident of Newark, I would like my vote for school board to mean something. That said, I understand the rationale for State control (not saying I agree with it, just saying I can see the reasoning). Newark Public Schools receives about 80% of its budget from State aid, which in essence comes from the property taxes of the wealthier suburbs that surround us. This has been true since the early 80s when NJ’s Supreme Court ruled that constitutionally the State had to provide an equitable education regardless of community income (a great ruling, and why NJ’s education funding was, until recently, relatively equitable, with the cost per pupil of high-poverty students roughly 40% higher than that of their wealthier peers). Unfortunately, Newark is a city with a long history of corruption and our school district was not immune. From the perspective of the suburban taxpayers they were subsidizing (not crazy about that word… but it happens to be the most accurate one) our school system, which was riddled with bloat and nepotism, and at the same time vastly outspending suburban districts on a per student basis. Historically, I’m not under the impression that the teachers were ever blamed for the state of Newark Public Schools (although they are now, unfairly so); it was seen as an administration issue.
Long story short, the justification for the State takeover was “We’re paying for it, the costs are climbing, the improvement isn’t evident, and there is considerable mismanagement and corruption.” I think that attitude is more accurate than “You’re too stupid to run your own schools” (although that does kind of sound like something our Governor would say). I understand the frustration even if I don’t agree with it. What I don’t understand is how control can be justified 20 years later with no discernible improvements. It seems the accountability infrastructure has been dismantled. At this point we might as well try our luck with the school board, even an incredibly volatile, divisive, and politicized one (which it is/would be). I guess this is all to say that the whole thing is rather nuanced and complicated and there’s a lot of specific NJ political history involved here, as well as long-festering urban/suburban resentment. I’m not sure if the narrative is as “good guys vs. bad guys” as it might appear at first glance.
Lastly, don’t be taken in by the Zuckerberg hype. He chose the amount 100 million and the city of Newark because it was a flashy number in a city small enough to notice. As crazy as it sounds, 100 million isn’t a huge amount of money in the grand scheme of education (about one tenth of Newark Public Schools’ annual operating budget), so it’s not like he’s King of Newark or anything. The real driving force of the “reforms” in Newark isn’t the “investment philanthropists” (hint: the culprit is loud, rude, famous for his weight, and is probably the current GOP front-runner for the 2016 presidential election).
Cerf has 100 million reasons not to give up control of Newark. Cerf’s first move was to hire the consulting company (that he had started but supposedly has no financial interest in anymore) for half a million.
The Broad Foundation said the money was channeled to the Foundation for Newark’s Future, the nonprofit created to raise $100 million to match Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerbeg’s gift to the city. (Cerf is a Broad Grad)
“We were in conversations for months about how we could help leaders in Newark, and we were asked if we could support an audit of the district,” said spokeswoman Erica Lepping. “The purpose is to make sure local leaders have a factual basis for making decisions about reform.”
Christopher Cerf was the chief operating officer of Sangari Global Education. That company’s website lists his brother, Randy Cerf, as chief financial officer.
Operating Global Education Advisors now is Rajeev Bajaj, who is also listed on Sangari’s website as the company’s president.
Nothing like keeping it all in the family!
Is Cami Anderson a Broad alum, or isn’t she? She’s not listed on their website (and they love to take credit for anyone whose name you might recognize) and the only article I’ve seen that said she was a Broad alum published a retraction. I’m not saying she doesn’t share their philosophy, just hoping we’re accurate in our reporting that’s all.
Cami is not a Broad alum. At the time of her appointment there was a Broad candidate that did not get the job. Cami was a Booker campaign assistant, a TFA’er , and worked for Klein.
She part of the family!
Agreed. But then the term “Broad-trained” (from Diane’s post) is a wee bit disingenuous right? Probably best to stick with the truth (which is plenty).
Arne Duncan’s involvement In Urban school privatization efforts has not been covered by the print media. Through this blog we can all gain knowledge.
http://www.substancenews.net/articles.php?page=2176
I’m not that familiar with NJ politics… but something tells me that sees this might appear in a campaign flyer for Booker when he runs for Senate (HE RESTORED CONFIDENCE IN NEWARK’S PUBLIC SCHOOLS!) and that one of his Democrat opponents for the Senate might not be all that crazy about privatization…
Controlling the money controls all. Now the question is what do they mean by this change? Do they really have control of the money or is this more “Orwellian Doublespeak?”
Here is some info on Booker and his education agenda-
Corey Booker: A Clear and Present Threat To Public Education ( 2010)
http://www.blackagendareport.com/content/cory-booker-clear-and-present-threat-public-education
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More info on his involvement with the Hard Right and his run for Mayor.
(All this info surprised me. I can never see him the same way I use to)
Fruit From The Poisoned Tree: The Hard Rights Plan to Capture Newark, Nj (2002)
http://www.blackcommentator.com/poisoned_tree.html