April Saul
In Camden, New Jersey, public schools have been closed and government funding shifted to charter schools chosen by the state.
In what seems like an annual event of budget-driven school reconfigurations, the Camden City School District in early April announced two school closures, the relocation of 900 students, and a round of layoffs of up to 200 positions. The moves, according to superintendent Katrina McCombs, are to reconcile a $27 million budget deficit facing the district.
In making the announcement, McCombs followed a playbook in use since at least 2014. Prior to that year, if you had suggested that dissolving the Camden City School District and replacing it with Charter Management Organization schools was a goal of state policy makers, most people would not have taken you seriously. Now, it might be a different story.
Since 2013, Camden City School District has lost 448 educators; 62 percent of which were African-American or Latinx.
In 2014, the state passed the Urban Hope Act, taking control of city schools. The year before, then Governor Chris Christie announced a state takeover of the district, and appointed Paymon Rouhanifard as the district’s superintendent. Now Rouhanifard’s legacy includes laying off employees and closing schools.
In 2014, Rouhanifard made 241 layoffs to close a $47 million gap. He also approved the transferral of five district schools to two charters—Uncommon Schools and Mastery Charter Schools—while closing public schools. In 2015, Rouhanifard announced only two dozen job cuts, but early retirements were credited for the low number. In 2016, Mr. Rouhanifard announced layoffs of over 150 district employees to close a $39 million budget gap. Then in 2017, Rouhanifard cut over 100 employees of the district due to declining enrollment.
In the meantime, privatization flourished.
As part of the Urban Hope Act, Camden rolled out what are called “renaissance schools”—district schools whose management and operations have been turned over to Charter Management Organizations.
Prior to the Urban Hope Act, which went into effect with the 2014-2015 school year, student enrollment in charter schools – which accept students from surrounding school districts as well as from Camden City School District—represented only 23 percent of all city students. As of the 2017-2018 school year, charter students (including those in renaissance schools as well as traditional charters) represented 52 percent of all city students. Renaissance school students made up 44 percent of all charter students.
Clearly, public policy facilitated this exodus of students and their families out of the district.
Reform advocates have argued that renaissance schools are what families wanted. But a 2018 report from the New Jersey office of the state auditor found problems. The schools have failed to conduct proper background checks, employed non-certified individuals for certified positions (including teachers and principals), and failed to post board of trustee meeting dates and minutes. One operator held meetings during the work day when many parents are at work.
Renaissance advocates responded that the report was unfair, that similar things happen in traditional public schools, and that many of the issues raised were remedied. However, renaissance schools were sold to families as better than what parents had in the traditional school district.
In light of the need for more educators of color, renaissance schools were presented with the unique opportunity to shape their schools as reflective of their student populations. They have not done that. Roughly 97 percent of all renaissance school students are both African-American and Latinx (it’s 98 percent in the district). However only 31 percent of renaissance certified staff are either African-American or Latinx, compared to 58 percent for the district.
Since 2013, Camden City School District has lost 448 educators; 62 percent of which were African-American or Latinx. As their numbers have grown, renaissance schools have gained educators, but African-American and Latinx have never been more than 35 percent of those new positions.
The state department of education statistics show, students at renaissance schools perform better on state tests and are in higher growth percentiles compared to district students. However, renaissance schools employ a policy of “no excuses.” This approach includes strict discipline, extra time in school, drilling in math and English, and assessments of teachers and principals based on testing.
The no-excuses approach is relegated almost exclusively to low-income students of color. Said Columbia University professor Christopher Emdin: “There is a false attachment between being complicit and docile to being academically rigorous.” Camden’s renaissance schools underperform when compared with the New Jersey state average, and the no excuses philosophy does not prepare students for real world circumstances, as a renaissance charter leader recently admitted. Research backs this up..
And Camden City School District continues to face budget deficits. Recently, Camden Education Association President Keith E. Benson made a 40-mile trek by foot (#Miles4Equity) from Camden to the state capitol in Trenton ending with a rally outside the state department of education to advocate on behalf of those affected by closures and layoffs.
“It is apparent,” Benson said in a statement to the Department of Education, “that our public schools are being sacrificed to benefit state-imposed, corporate-operated charter schools called renaissance schools…What we are witnessing here is the execution of a plan designed to steal the right to a true public education from the people and children of Camden.”
Benson delivered his statement to a nearly empty chamber at the capitol.
Education reformers argue that competition is good for education like it is for business. But in Camden, there is no healthy competition, only a phasing out of a long-struggling school district to be replaced by schools run by private organizations that may graduate more kids with college acceptance letters but are mostly preparing students to be compliant. Camden parents aren’t voting with their feet. They are being made to follow the only path available.