At last week’s State Board of Education meeting, the outgoing superintendent of Camden City Public Schools, Katrina McCombs, gave her annual presentation on the state of the district. Her comments focused on next year’s $91 million budget deficit and the need to lay off 117 staff members due to declining enrollment. One data point: In 2013 when the state took over the district there were 11,800 students. Now there are 5,904. Why? Because Camden boasts three public school sectors — district, public charter, and charter-district hybrids called renaissance created through legislation called the Urban Hope Act— and parents are choosing non-district options. This means the district gets less money because the per pupil state aid (or most of it) follows the student.

Two points:

Much of the news coverage of the pending lay-offs and deficit has focused on student and staff protests. But the significant shift in where parents are sending their kids— the reason why the district has less state money— merits only a brief mention. The Philadelphia Inquirer discusses “uncertainty and angst among teachers and says “many have questioned how the district could land in such financial woes.” NJ Spotlight’s headline is “Camden city school finances sapped by charter, renaissance schools,” WHYY warns, “Camden students bring concerns about budget cuts to New Jersey Department of Education.”

It was left to the superintendent to address the facts directly in her report to the State Board: 

“As more public funding follows students to charter and renaissance schools, the district is left to maintain facilities, staffing and programming for fewer students in district-run schools,” explained McCombs. “The simple reality is that we are operating a system built for almost twice as many students as we currently serve.”

Second, why isn’t anyone talking about how the students are doing in this transformed system that allows parents to choose among different public options? Why are we so focused on how we’re divvying up the money instead of the results of that money? (Note that the district gets about $23,000 per pupil per year, the renaissance schools about $22,000, and the charters about $16,000.)

So here’s a look at how students are doing in this system of public school choice. The numbers come from the Department of Education’s spreadsheet database of results from the most recent state standardized tests. I arbitrarily chose third grade reading and sixth grade math for comparison. Here are averages for the district, for a representative charter  school (Hope Community Charter) and for a representative renaissance school (Camden Prep). Note that renaissance schools enroll more students with disabilities and multilingual learners than district schools; charters enroll the fewest. 

Percentage of Third Graders Who Read Proficiently

• District Schools: 11%
• Charter Schools: 34.6%
• Renaissance Schools: 24%

Percent of Sixth Graders Who Do Math Proficiently

• District Schools: 3.9%
• Charter Schools: 24.2%
• Renaissance Schools: 14.9%

This data tells us students in district schools have lower levels of proficiency in reading and math than charter and renaissance schools and that parents are choosing wisely. Yes, Camden City School District has a long institutional history that was disrupted by the passage of the Democratically-sponsored Urban Hope Act, despite opposition from NJEA and Education Law Center. But there is no going back.

Of course staff members facing lay-offs are sad and it’s good to hear their views. But how about interviewing some Camden families who have benefitted from the district’s transformation? How about thinking more about outputs than inputs? 

Here are some Camden parent voices from NJER:

Camden Renaissance Grandma Praises Mastery For Support of Autistic Granddaughter

Parents: This Is the Most Hopeful We’ve Ever Been About Camden

Camden Parents To Anti-Reformers: Your Concerns Are Just Noise

Camden Update: Anti-Choice Lobbies Threaten Action

Camden Mom Explains Why Her Children Need School Choice