Jim McGreevey served as governor of the state of New Jersey from 2002 to 2004 and is a candidate for mayor of Jersey City in the 2025 election. This first appeared at Jersey Journal.

The Jersey City Board of Education is tasked with ensuring that the Jersey City school district provides the best education possible to our children by setting policies, goals and objectives.

In recent weeks, though, the Jersey City Board of Education, where members of JCBOE ousted the board’s president and instated new leadership, as well as calls for the state to intervene, have demonstrated that the Jersey City Board of Education is characterized by dysfunction and an inability to adequately meet the needs of our teachers and more importantly our children.

The governance of the JCBOE, the leadership of the school district, and the recent antics have demonstrated a clear divergence from their basic function to educate our children. The actions of recent weeks are not representative of a normal board of education and school system and starkly demonstrate that our present school district is not functioning properly.

One of the primary functions of a community is to educate our children to have them learn the basics of reading, writing, arithmetic and now computers; to provide them with a sense of belonging to a community and nation; and to assist in preparing them for life. For the sake of the future, there can be no greater or more noble purpose than to provide an excellent education for our children.

As someone who works with court-involved persons every day — individuals who have suffered the ravages of failing schools, healthcare systems, and often an unresponsive correctional system — the net effect of a failed primary and secondary school education is all too often involvement with the criminal justice system.

Today, in Jersey City, we are at the crossroads. Whether taxes, development, cleanliness and public safety, we, as the Jersey City community, need to determine a shared direction. As for our school system, we are failing. By any rational metric, the majority of our children, having gone through Jersey City public schools, are not competitive for either college or the workplace.

This needs to change. I am concerned as to the consequences if we don’t.

Jersey City students exhibit significantly low proficiency rates in both English language arts and mathematics. For the 2021-2022 academic year, the proficiency rates for English language arts were 35.9 percent of third-graders and 36 percent of ninth-graders. Nearly two-thirds of our students are unable to read at proficient levels.

For mathematics, the proficiency rates were 32.7 percent for third-graders and 10.6 percent for eighth-graders. The fact that nearly 90 percent of Jersey City students are deficient in eighth-grade mathematics is concerning and alarming.

Studies show that one in six children who are not reading proficiently in third grade do not graduate from high school on time, and 23 percent drop out or fail to finish on time. Reading and mathematics proficiency at an early age is highly correlated with future student success, high school graduation, and ability to enter successful careers.

The Jersey City school district’s current budget is over $1 billion, and the average cost per Jersey City student is now over $36,000. Of the largest cities, that is the highest cost per student in the state of New Jersey. However, Jersey City students exhibit significantly low proficient rates. In addition, Jersey City public schools lag behind the statewide graduation rate, with only 78 percent of Jersey City students graduating, compared to the statewide level of 90.9 percent.

The Jersey City school district’s budget for the 2023-2024 academic year is $1,035,238,9434, an increase of over $300 million from the 2021-2022 academic year.

With 28,707 students, the school district is spending approximately $36,062 per student. Comparatively, with 47,737 students in the same academic year, the Newark Public School District spent $30,896 per student. In addition, Elizabeth public schools, with 24,834 students, spent $28,642 per student, significantly less than the similarly-sized Jersey City public school system.

Arguably, Jersey City has one of the most expensive school districts in the nation, while having one of the worst performing school districts in our State. As a candidate for mayor, I would seek to be responsibly involved with our school system to support our teachers; ensure high-quality academic as well as vocational education through partnerships, such as with Hudson County Community College; implement “best practices” and benchmarks for progress; and build upon the success of other school districts throughout the nation.

To ensure that the school district abides by these objectives and put our teachers and children first, within the first 100 days of my administration, I will form a Joint Task Force on Education to examine the present practices of the JCBOE and the school district, as well as present specific recommendations to the JCBOE, superintendent, and the city on how to effectively implement “best practices” and ensure that all of our children, regardless of zip code, receive the highest-quality education.