tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025948832913694345.post2262694585587409386..comments2024-03-22T02:15:56.280-07:00Comments on Jersey Jazzman: NJDOE, Hespe Turn Blind Eye to Segregating Charter SchoolsDukehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16535645107179796099noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025948832913694345.post-62249800408604032142015-03-23T09:21:29.290-07:002015-03-23T09:21:29.290-07:00"I'll even concede there is an argument t..."I'll even concede there is an argument to be made that the charters deserve some -- some -- of the Adjustment Aid that is denied to them through the charter school funding process. Of course, these schools make up for this loss in private fundraising; are the charter school cheerleaders willing to share this pot of money with the district if they get more aid?"<br /><br />This is a HORRIBLE idea.<br /><br />1. <b>This would be irrelevant to most NJ charters.</b><br /><br />First, the large majority of NJ charter schools are in districts that get $0 or very little in Adjustment Aid anyway. Of the Abbott districts that are home to most of NJ's charters, only one third get any Adjustment Aid, with Paterson, Elizabeth, Plainfield, New Brunswick getting $0. Some of those Adjustment Aid-receiving Abbotts, like Newark, get very little Adjustment Aid. Newark's Adjustment Aid is only $13 million out of $715 for pre-K aid.<br /><br />Adjustment Aid=gentrification aid.<br /><br />Adjustment Aid goes to districts that have seen increases in wealth and decreases in student poverty and also population, almost always rural districts, gentrified cities, and a few districts at the Shore. Jersey City alone receives one-fifth of all Adjustment Aid. <br /><br />Off the top of my head, the NJ districts with large numbers of charters for whom Adjustment Aid is a large portion of their total aid are Jersey City (27% of aid is Adjustment Aid), Hoboken (50% of aid is Adjustment Aid), Asbury Park (44% Adjustment Aid), and Camden (16% of total aid). Since these districts also fund their schools to some degree with local tax dollars too, Adjustment Aid's portion of the total budget is even smaller. For Hoboken, Adjustment Aid is about 10% of the total opex budget. <br /><br />2. <b>Adjustment Aid should not exist in the first place. </b><br /><br />If a district gets Adjustment Aid it means that the district is getting more than 100% of what SFRA recommends. It means that the district is an aid hoarder and is hurting other districts whose need is far more acute. <br /><br />I have written you about this multiple times, but do you realize that there are 150 districts in NJ that get less than half of what SFRA recommends (uncapped)? How is it fair to let some districts get more than 100% of what they are supposed to get while other districts are suffering with less than a quarter on the dollar of what they should get?<br /><br />The solution isn't to let charters get Adjustment Aid, the solution is to eliminate Adjustment Aid, rechannel that money to Equalization Aid, and then let charters get a share of the fairer, updated aid distribution. StateAidGuyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00346914457455404884noreply@blogger.com