We are living in historic times for education reform. Accompanied by governors and state education commissioners from around the country, President Obama and Secretary Arne Duncan unveiled draft application guidelines last Friday for the Race to the Top fund (RTTT), the largest ever discretionary grant program focused on driving education reform to be administered by the federal government. States will compete for some $4.35 billion in funds, with final recipients being those that are committed to radically improving the lowest performing public schools. In their remarks, the president and secretary described a federal program unprecedented in its scope and ambitious in its focus, referring to it as our country's modern day "race to the moon." By any measure, this is an exciting time to be working in the field of public education!

 

As DOE Commissioner Davy was representing New Jersey at the news conference in Washington, her senior staff and the governor's office were already meeting with NJCPSA to discuss our Agenda for Growing Innovative Charter Public Schools in New Jersey and, specifically, our proposed RTTT plan. (The proposed application guidelines were just released for public comment).

 

The governor's education policy staff affirmed its view of NJCPSA as a key player among the group of stakeholders in these discussions. NJCPSA will provide more detailed recommendations and whatever resources the administration requests to help develop a winning application for New Jersey. Governor Corzine will be meeting with NJCPSA within the next few weeks to further discuss the NJCPSA proposed RTTT plan and his vision for education reform.

We understand that between six and twenty states with the most ambitious applications will win grants under RTTT. States that apply will be required to make assurances around four key areas:

• Using data driven instruction and tracking individual student achievement year to year
• Raising standards
• Improving teacher and principal quality
• Turning around historically low performing schools

A key component of the RTTT program is promoting the growth of high quality charter public schools. Secretary Duncan has called for establishing not just more charter schools but schools that have autonomy combined with high performance standards. In this regard, New Jersey is strongly positioned given a combination of factors, including the DOE's record on expanding quality schools, and the fundamentals of a funding formula where the funding follows the child (albeit with remedies needed).

 

With the governor's race in full swing and the Legislature out of session until after Election Day, we have outlined a legislative action plan for the lame duck session which occurs between Election Day and beyond when office holders are sworn in around mid-January 2010. We are working closely with our strongest allies in the Legislature, including Senators Lesniak and Ruiz, Assemblywoman Jasey and Assemblyman Cryan, to develop the reform agenda. Given all eyes on potential Race to the Top funding for education reform, we have identified the most important areas of focus. To encourage the expansion of charter schools (an important element for receiving RTTT funding), we have proposed the following ideas to Governor Corzine and to our legislative allies:

• Authorize a state debt service match for charter schools similar to what all other public school districts receive
• Allow charter schools to occupy excess space in district schools, giving district superintendents strong incentives for embracing this
• Remedy the charter school funding situation under the new school funding formula to enable charter schools to receive equitable funding, especially in those districts that disproportionately "fell through the cracks" in the new formula (i.e. Jersey City, Asbury Park.)
• Improve upon the charter school authorization processes to enable the formation of new and highly accountable schools
• Hold charters accountable: implement minimum performance standards based on a growth model; help increase quality and performance of under-performing charter schools; promote the conversion of high-quality parochial/private schools to public charter schools to prevent them from closing and having to move large numbers of students into low performing district schools (private schools converted to charter schools could no longer offer religious instruction and charter school statutes and regulations would have to apply).

Each item on this list is critical to growing and strengthening charter schools in New Jersey. We have identified facilities funding as a top priority among priorities given the tremendous need and the impetus being provided by RTTT.

 

We have created an ambitious grassroots advocacy plan to support our legislative agenda which heavily relies on mobilizing charter school parents, the parents of 11,000+ wait-listed children and many of the stakeholders noted above. The success of this mobilization will depend on the participation of all charter school leaders in working with NJCPSA to engage their parents and stress the importance of massive and visible grassroots advocacy. Specific tactics will include rallies, letter writing and phone calling campaigns, and strategic public relations efforts among other things.

 

Our agenda is an ambitious one but we have no doubt we can achieve the kind of steady growth and success envisioned by President Obama if we all get on board and work together toward a common goal. We may not always all agree on strategies and tactics, but in the end, we owe our very best to the thousands of children who are depending on us to act in their interests. We're "racing to the moon" and as a united front, step by step, we will get there!

 

Over the last six months, the Association has had an impressive amount of print, radio and television coverage. We have been issuing one to two news releases per month and have had strong coverage related to the budget process, our annual conference, charter high school graduation rates and assessment scores.

NJCPSA will continue to actively promote our legislative advocacy agenda through a steady stream of media coverage and also encourage our schools to continue keeping us apprised of newsworthy events for potential placement.

 

Over the last several months, NJCPSA has met with key stakeholders, opinion leaders and lawmakers to solidify a strong coalition in support of strengthening the charter school landscape in New Jersey. We have met with top leaders from the following organizations:

• Governor's Office
• NJDOE
• Key legislators on the State Assembly and Senate Education and Budget Committees
• NJ congressional delegation
• Education policy team of Chris Christie for Governor
• Black Ministers Council of NJ
• Latino Leadership Alliance of NJ
• Charter school leaders from around the state
• Democrats for Education Reform
• New Jersey Principals and Supervisors Association
• New Jersey Chamber of Commerce
• New Jersey Business and Industry Association
• Garden State Coalition of Schools
• NJ State League of Municipalities' Education Foundation
• National Alliance for Public Charter Schools

 

Last year, we were pleased to tap a grant provided by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools to engage in a comprehensive strategic planning process. The National Alliance is the national voice of the charter school movement and supports state associations with a rigorous research platform, advocacy and communications support, and leadership training.

 

NJCPSA Board of Trustees and association staff spent over nine months on the strategic planning process, much of it in working groups, with key inputs including:

• More than 25 stakeholder interviews (e.g., board members, funders, NJDOE)
• Surveys of member schools and business leaders
• Interviews with and secondary research on 10 high-performing state charter school associations across the country
• Expert guidance from the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools and the New York Charter School Association
• Facilitation from FSG Social Impact Advisors, a nonprofit consulting firm specializing in strategic planning

To best support, improve, and expand the New Jersey charter school movement, NJCPSA identified four key areas of focus:

• School Quality and Growth
• Core Membership Services
• Advocacy
• NJCPSA Organizational Capacity/Sustainability

The plan is ambitious in scope and relies on an influential governing board that provides access to resources/expertise in philanthropy, political sphere, corporate sector and community leadership. We are pleased to have the following new board members join our family: Mashea Ashton from the Newark Charter School Fund and National Alliance's Board of Directors, Chanda Gibson from Goldman Sachs, and others to be confirmed shortly. In addition, we anticipate receiving significant grant funding shortly from one or more key national funders to grow our organizational capacity and provide needed professional development services for schools.

 

The Association recently launched a Members Council to ensure that the voices of all our schools are heard and highly influential in carrying out the strategic focus of the association. In May and June, we convened meetings at the Robert Treat Academy (Newark) and at LEAP Academy Charter School (Camden) for school leaders and representatives to discuss this launch and to engage schools in the early stages of the Council's formation. More than 30 individuals attended from charter schools, pre-ops, and applicant schools and expressed a range of ideas regarding schools' needs such as regional networking opportunities, back office support services, professional development workshops and grant writing services.

 

As the Association's Board of Trustees actively transitions from its original composition of primarily school based representation to include a balance of schools, philanthropists, political, corporate and community leadership, the Members Council will serve as the voice of the schools. An ad-hoc committee met last week to draft a mission statement and operational guidelines for the Members Council. A group of 12 schools participated in the day-long work session and committed to reviewing the draft and offering comments. The ad-hoc committee will present a final document to the NJCPSA Board of Trustees for approval by the end of August/mid-September. We look forward to welcoming all NJ charter schools, new and old, current members and future members to the voice of the Members Council! Please contact Debra Wachspress, Director of Public Affairs, if you'd like to be involved in this.