Today’s headlines feature two news stories that are seemingly unrelated but actually overlap.

First, NJ Spotlight examines how the New Jersey Department of Education has failed to collect data on the efficacy of its teacher shortage initiatives. The teacher shortage, of course, directly affects our children’s education.

Second, the Asbury Park Press looks at the latest news about Lakewood Public Schools’ chronic fiscal insufficiency, which is a result of the district’s obligation to transport and provide sundry educational needs for 50,000 private school students. A state court of appeals ordered former Commissioner Angelica Allen-McMillan to complete a needs-assessment of Lakewood by April. But she’s made little progress, leaving the mess for new Commissioner Kevin Dehmer.

Both these stories elucidate the dysfunction of a well-financed state agency during a pandemic-induced learning crisis that will haunt our most needy children and their families. 

At the State Board of Education meeting yesterday, DOE leaders gave the public an update on its progress in addressing the teacher shortage, describing initiatives like eliminating some certification tests and cutting certification fees. 

One problem: The Board  wanted to know whether any of this was working but the DOE had no clue. Member Arcelio Aponte: “This lack of data to back these assertions is part of a larger trend by the department in its presentations to the board.”

Here is board member Nedd Johnson:  “ I’d like to see some data in regard to outcome. We’re doing all these things. What is that actually looking like in the field? Who is actually coming on board? I’d just like to be able to see what we are getting from all this front-end effort that we’re putting in. Are we getting the outcomes?” 

We don’t know because, given recent history, the DOE isn’t collecting data. For instance, the head of the DOE’s Division of Field Support and Services told the Board it had waived $6 million in teacher certification fees. Did that loss of revenue (i.e., your taxes) make a difference in expanding the teacher pipeline? It’s a mystery because the DOE hasn’t been measuring the efficacy of its efforts. Who pays the price? Schoolchildren, teachers, and school districts.

Let’s move to Lakewood with its unusual situation of 5,000 in-district students and ten times as many ultra-Orthodox private school students who require massive amounts of support, from gender-specific buses to special education services. (Given the influx of Haredi families to nearby school districts like Jackson, Toms River, Brick, and Howell, Lakewood’s uniqueness will be short-lived.)  Over the last decade the district has “borrowed” $173 million in state aid but it’s not enough. Two lawyers sued the state for depriving in-district students of their constitutionally-guaranteed “thorough and efficient” education because so much money goes to private schools. A three-judge appeals panel ordered then-Education Commissioner Angelica Allen-McMillan to come up with a plan by April. But she’s gone and Dehmer will most likely be unable to meet that deadline.

That’s not Dehmer’s fault, of course. He inherited this mess. Yet if he’s as good as people hope, he will feel obliged to address not only Lakewood’s fiscal insolvency but also the DOE’s systemic dysfunction, which goes far beyond not tracking the success or failure of its attempts to alleviate the teacher shortage. 

It’s easy to say the buck stops with Gov. Phil Murphy and his Administration. Except the real victims of this lack of accountability are our children and their teachers.