Blueprint for a County Super-Superintendent
Terrific ideas can get lost if the details don't reflect the needs of all effected. As always, "the devil is in the details". The question is, what has to be done to get the goals accomplished. What will make an idea with great potential a saleable product?
Speaker Roberts and the Joint Legislative Committee on Government Consolidation and Shared Services have recognized a model that has proven successful. Expanding the role of a County Superintendent with the objective of reducing costs and facilitating the delivery of education services throughout the county is a goal worth the work to make it saleable. A great idea that can't be sold is no longer a great idea.
Dollar$ and Sense, in our pursuit for constructive solutions, has advocated for the increased investment in a county based infrastructure. As a group, we have extensive experience in New Jersey's K-12 public educational world. This is the result of many years of hard work and on the job experience. A visit to Pennsylvania’s Chester County Intermediate Unit provided us with insights that can be applied in New Jersey. We have also expended great efforts around the State and in Trenton. We have seen working models that can and should be expanded. Our suggestions and observations are educated and worthy.
Efficient spending is a goal we all share. However, we must acknowledge that efficient spending is not the same as efficient education, and it is education goals that we must be committed to. Global demands have made it clear that we must do much more than simply maintain our current standards. By using existing models we have the opportunity to enhance education services and to affect significant economies. There is no need to recreate what is currently working in many locations. This will provide a saleable product.
It must be recognized as wasteful to recreate a County system with strictly administrative functions. Monitoring districts at the local level with guidance from the County level makes use of existing resources and allows the County the opportunity to create shareable programs that will save dollars and promote enhanced education services.
Below we will list observations and factors that are critical for this effort to be successful:
1) Whatever powers are given to the County Super Superintendent, our schools are still bound by State and Federal mandates. The complexities of NCLB and IDEA challenge the best of educational minds. The person appointed must be an educator, with certification as an education administrator. Screening by a peer review committee will aide local acceptance. The issues of education are so complex and so varied, administrative abilities alone will not get the job done.
2) Political appointments, subject to the whim of the party in power, are not compatible with the continuity required for efficient education.
3) Partisan politics and educational decisions are not always going to align. What becomes the basis for decisions?
4) Undeniably correct is the decision to maintain a local Superintendent. (This has been substantiated in the Dollar$ and Sense report called "The Key Roles of the Superintendent". This is attached to this report.) This person must be allowed to make decisions regarding local issues. The District Superintendent's value as a leader within the schools and the community is substantially responsible for the success of our schools. It also encourages the community's willingness to invest through their tax dollars.
5) For the public to accept that there are great potential cost savings, appropriate regard must be given to local input.
6) Efficiency is lost by trying to please too many people with too few solutions. The application of any correction must be localized. Regional needs and demands vary too greatly for a single applied solution. As example, student support services are critical to accomplishing the goal of a high graduation rate. A uniform solution doesn't acknowledge that required support is as varied as the student. A successful program in Warren County may fail miserably in Essex County.
7) The systems that have proven successful in Somerset, Middlesex, and Bergen County will not necessarily work for all other counties. However, there are likely many parts of each of these existing successes that would prove effective elsewhere. Local adaptations of existing models allows for maximum utility of all dollars and maximizing of all talents.
8) Cost is the amount of dollars required to accomplish a specific goal. Since children learn in different ways, and schools have different needs, only bottom line costs can be predetermined. A county based market basket can provide the most accurate estimate of required expenditures.
9) A regionally appropriate system allows for the use of local people and programs with known abilities and proven success.
10) Customized systems cost the most in set up, but cost the least in operating costs. Monitoring can be specific and detailed. One size cannot fit all when providing or evaluating. Eliminating waste that comes from applying blanket solutions is the cost savings we seek.
Specific suggestions for specific County tasks are listed below:
1) Establish the number of county level superintendents required to efficiently distribute the responsibilities. Staff these offices with enough people to provide needed services. Under staffing and over staffing are equally inefficient.
2) Establish at county level the authority to recognize problems before they grow and become costly. Include financial and special education expertise and the ability/authority to waive unnecessary mandates.
3) Establish a county position that proactively seeks opportunities for sharing and consolidation, and interlocal agreements. Utilize and promote existing models for shared services between municipality and school district.
4) Advance the "Highly Skilled Professional" program to address targeted interventions and to remediate district needs. These people should have expertise to address financial and educational concerns.
5) Promote regional special education services to effectuate economies and establish fixed costs for service providers, i.e. OT, PT, speech services. Promote efforts to share transportation services and instructional programs. Establish programs to minimize out of district placements.
6) Promote mediation services as the preferred method of conflict resolution.
7) Examine systems utilized within Pennsylvania’s Intermediate Units, and New York’s B.O.C.E.S. Reach out to counties within New Jersey and evaluate existing best practices. With local need in mind, determine if existing models are applicable. This must include special education, traditional education, professional development, vocational education, and community services.
Monitoring and governance are necessary functions, but they cannot be primary functions. If we address only those who take unreasonable advantage, when required levels of decorum and integrity are achieved, we will have invested in a band-aid with minimal future value. Future value and integrity can be accomplished with the right investments now. We need to know that penny wise and pound foolish serves no one well.
Speaker Roberts and the Joint Legislative Committee on Government Consolidation and Shared Services have recognized a model that has proven successful. Expanding the role of a County Superintendent with the objective of reducing costs and facilitating the delivery of education services throughout the county is a goal worth the work to make it saleable. A great idea that can't be sold is no longer a great idea.
Dollar$ and Sense, in our pursuit for constructive solutions, has advocated for the increased investment in a county based infrastructure. As a group, we have extensive experience in New Jersey's K-12 public educational world. This is the result of many years of hard work and on the job experience. A visit to Pennsylvania’s Chester County Intermediate Unit provided us with insights that can be applied in New Jersey. We have also expended great efforts around the State and in Trenton. We have seen working models that can and should be expanded. Our suggestions and observations are educated and worthy.
Efficient spending is a goal we all share. However, we must acknowledge that efficient spending is not the same as efficient education, and it is education goals that we must be committed to. Global demands have made it clear that we must do much more than simply maintain our current standards. By using existing models we have the opportunity to enhance education services and to affect significant economies. There is no need to recreate what is currently working in many locations. This will provide a saleable product.
It must be recognized as wasteful to recreate a County system with strictly administrative functions. Monitoring districts at the local level with guidance from the County level makes use of existing resources and allows the County the opportunity to create shareable programs that will save dollars and promote enhanced education services.
Below we will list observations and factors that are critical for this effort to be successful:
1) Whatever powers are given to the County Super Superintendent, our schools are still bound by State and Federal mandates. The complexities of NCLB and IDEA challenge the best of educational minds. The person appointed must be an educator, with certification as an education administrator. Screening by a peer review committee will aide local acceptance. The issues of education are so complex and so varied, administrative abilities alone will not get the job done.
2) Political appointments, subject to the whim of the party in power, are not compatible with the continuity required for efficient education.
3) Partisan politics and educational decisions are not always going to align. What becomes the basis for decisions?
4) Undeniably correct is the decision to maintain a local Superintendent. (This has been substantiated in the Dollar$ and Sense report called "The Key Roles of the Superintendent". This is attached to this report.) This person must be allowed to make decisions regarding local issues. The District Superintendent's value as a leader within the schools and the community is substantially responsible for the success of our schools. It also encourages the community's willingness to invest through their tax dollars.
5) For the public to accept that there are great potential cost savings, appropriate regard must be given to local input.
6) Efficiency is lost by trying to please too many people with too few solutions. The application of any correction must be localized. Regional needs and demands vary too greatly for a single applied solution. As example, student support services are critical to accomplishing the goal of a high graduation rate. A uniform solution doesn't acknowledge that required support is as varied as the student. A successful program in Warren County may fail miserably in Essex County.
7) The systems that have proven successful in Somerset, Middlesex, and Bergen County will not necessarily work for all other counties. However, there are likely many parts of each of these existing successes that would prove effective elsewhere. Local adaptations of existing models allows for maximum utility of all dollars and maximizing of all talents.
8) Cost is the amount of dollars required to accomplish a specific goal. Since children learn in different ways, and schools have different needs, only bottom line costs can be predetermined. A county based market basket can provide the most accurate estimate of required expenditures.
9) A regionally appropriate system allows for the use of local people and programs with known abilities and proven success.
10) Customized systems cost the most in set up, but cost the least in operating costs. Monitoring can be specific and detailed. One size cannot fit all when providing or evaluating. Eliminating waste that comes from applying blanket solutions is the cost savings we seek.
Specific suggestions for specific County tasks are listed below:
1) Establish the number of county level superintendents required to efficiently distribute the responsibilities. Staff these offices with enough people to provide needed services. Under staffing and over staffing are equally inefficient.
2) Establish at county level the authority to recognize problems before they grow and become costly. Include financial and special education expertise and the ability/authority to waive unnecessary mandates.
3) Establish a county position that proactively seeks opportunities for sharing and consolidation, and interlocal agreements. Utilize and promote existing models for shared services between municipality and school district.
4) Advance the "Highly Skilled Professional" program to address targeted interventions and to remediate district needs. These people should have expertise to address financial and educational concerns.
5) Promote regional special education services to effectuate economies and establish fixed costs for service providers, i.e. OT, PT, speech services. Promote efforts to share transportation services and instructional programs. Establish programs to minimize out of district placements.
6) Promote mediation services as the preferred method of conflict resolution.
7) Examine systems utilized within Pennsylvania’s Intermediate Units, and New York’s B.O.C.E.S. Reach out to counties within New Jersey and evaluate existing best practices. With local need in mind, determine if existing models are applicable. This must include special education, traditional education, professional development, vocational education, and community services.
Monitoring and governance are necessary functions, but they cannot be primary functions. If we address only those who take unreasonable advantage, when required levels of decorum and integrity are achieved, we will have invested in a band-aid with minimal future value. Future value and integrity can be accomplished with the right investments now. We need to know that penny wise and pound foolish serves no one well.
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