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April 11, 2024DOE Commissioner Dehmer on School Funding and Learning Loss
Yesterday at the Assembly Budget Committee public hearing, acting Education Commissioner Kevin Dehmer acknowledged that New Jersey’s school funding formula, signed by former Governor Jon Corzine 16 years ago, needs to change. Yes, Gov. Murphy’s proposed education budget increases state aid by 5.2%, for a total of $20.965 billion, but that’s not help for the more than 100 districts that have lost state aid. Toms River, for example, has a $26.5 million budget gap despite lowering per pupil cost to just over $16,000, well below the NJ average of about $20,000.
Dehmer, who spoke quietly and precisely, promised changes:
“As many of you know, this isn’t a perfect school funding formula, and it will likely need some tweaks going forward. That isn’t to say, however, that this isn’t a good funding plan. For the first time, we can now start a new conversation — not about how we haven’t implemented the formula, but instead to focus our attention on what it will take to make this work for the next generation of students and educators.”
When Assemblyman Al Barlas pressed Dehmer on why the Legislature was stuck proposing bills to compensate districts with lost revenue, Dehmer replied that the Department of Education is only tasked with carrying out the formula. Its hands are tied.
Lawmakers also probed him about the high-dosage tutoring initiative that Gov. Murphy announced in December 2022 under former Commissioner Angelica Allen-McMillan’s tenure at the DOE. The program, called the New Jersey Partnership for Student Success, had promised to provide 5,000 volunteer tutors to help students catch up. Almost a year later Allen-McMillan conceded at a State Board of Education meeting that the DOE had only recruited 517 tutors; she declined to say if any were currently deployed. Dehmer explained that there were two sets of grants to districts to get their own tutors, one expiring in August and the second in December.
Assemblyman Benjie Wimberly asked the Commissioner about the DOE’s efforts to remedy the tremendous amount of learning loss suffered by students during the pandemic, how the DOE was addressing the teacher shortage, and how it planned to raise the percentage of minority teachers.
“We do have some programs that are making some progress, but they’re relatively small,” Dehmer said. “I want to think outside the box and find new pathways for individuals coming in.”
6 Comments
Dehmer seems like a decent guy. However, time is of the essence. We need more than one who speaks in a soft, precise tone. We need the real deal, which means someone who’s going to take action and do so quickly.
Relatively small” and helping students “catch-up” seem like very tame words for a situation that needs aggressive action. It took one day to close NJ schools due to the pandemic and years to decide how to help students catch-up from the unprecedented learning loss. A celebrated amount of money was given to the unsuccessful volunteer tutor program and no one knows if any of the less than 10% of recruited tutors were even deployed. And furthermore, if no one was deployed ,where did all that money go?
To speak softly but carry a big stick is a style of many great leaders. “The idea is negotiating peacefully but also having strength in case things go wrong.” I hope Mr. Dehmer displays the strength and sense of urgency needed, because things have gone wrong.
Our students need to sprint, not catch-up. They have already lost valuable time while the DOE and legislators lackadaisically deliberated solutions to an action that took less than 24 hours to enact. And now we know from the independent COVID -19 report commissioned by the state of New Jersey that our schools were closed unnecessarily too long. Our students would have experience less learning loss and isolation had the schools reopened earlier. A poor decision causing life altering consequences. Perhaps, accountability can be the first “outside the box” solution.
Dehmer is looking like another Murphy marionette. Even small, go-through-the-motion accomplishments seem to evade his command, as continued, internal turmoil dominates his department. This is not a good sign. If he can’t clean up the inside problems, how in the world will he control the external ones?
The conservative approach to keeping schools closed was not done with the intent to keep students behind in their studies. It was done to save lives in a time when knowledge regarding best practices was unavailable.
We must also stop discussing learning loss. Students cannot learn what they were not offered.
Let’s figure out a way to use summer months to offer extended learning for grades 2-4 as they are the students who did not receive the foundational instruction in math and reading.
Pay teachers a strong hourly rate and they will come. Have parents make the choice about sending their children. If they don’t ,then they will hold the accountability for not taking advantage of the opportunity.
We must move forward. We must learn from the experience, not the mistakes because I refuse to believe that we made mistakes in trying to pivot to saving lives and educating children in a time in our country when every day was a challenge and we were using freezer trucks to hold dead bodies.
Let’s figure out a way to use summer months is a good idea. An idea that could have been in the works some time ago, because everyone knew schools being closed would cause learning loss and mental health issues. Teachers are professionals that deserve higher wages and classroom support and perhaps that would help the shortage of qualified teachers that NJ is experiencing.
But, we can not dispute the science. While our schools were closed our streets were filled with peaceful protests and other activities. Masks and 6 feet of separation had no scientific backing, as stated by Dr. Fauci. And children were not a vulnerable populations. During the Omicron outbreak it made sense to close schools for two weeks and immediately reopen, per Dr. Osterholm.
New Jersey kept schools closed the longest and the commissioned report states, unnecessarily. And it had its consequences. I think we can all agree on that fact. Hopefully, an action plan is in the works at the DOE, so we are prepared and able to avoid having another set of children, especially the disadvantage, from being damaged. This will take a leader that carries a big stick.
The Murphy Administration caused the upsetting status quo with its dictatorial extensions. Blaming others for its mishaps is disgraceful. Take ownership and start fixing the problems. And by the way, a commissioner who contemplatively pauses isn’t a promising first step in getting the job done. Lead, damn it, lead!