e right Ready's good okay we're ready good morning everyone Welcome to our September meeting the summer was very fast but here we are in the fall wishing a great
school year for everyone ahead of us I'd like to call this meeting to order the New Jersey open public meetings Act was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meeting of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon in
accordance with the provisions of this act the State Board of Education has caused notice of this meeting to be published by having the date time and place thereof posted in the Department of Education Secretary of State's office and notice has been given to the State
House Press cores the governor's office and the state board agenda subscribers and as a quorum is present this meeting will now come to order may I please have a motion move thank you very much board member Barry may I please have a
second thank you very much board member Bennett all those in favor please say I I thank you and I'd like to um adjourn to Executive session whereas in order to
protect the personal privacy and to avoid situations wherein the public interest might be disserved the open public meetings act permits public bodies to exclude the public from that portion of the meeting at which certain
matters are discussed now therefore be it resolved that consistent with the provision of njsa 10 colum 4-12 B the State Board of Education will now adjourn to Executive session to discuss personnel and legal matters may I please
have a motion um thank you board member shahada may I please have a second he is in May I please have a second thank you very much board member Barry
all those um in favor please say I I any opposed please say nay we are now going into executive session thank you very much we hope to be back at 10:00 a.m. thank you e e
e e e e e e e e e e
e e e e e e e e hi good good morning everyone Welcome to our fall semester
for students God bless um we're happy to have everyone with us and those online welcome thank you for joining in I'd like to reconvene please to resume the public session of our meeting whereas consistent with the provision of
njsa 10 colum 4-1 12b the state board will now adjourn from executive session to resume the the Open session of this meeting May I please have a motion thank you very much Dr butcher may I please have a
second thank you very much board member Peña all those in favor please say I I perfect I believe it's unanimous any opposed any extensions motion carries so
I'd like to begin our meeting today please with the Pledge of Allegiance and our newest board member may I please introduce everyone to Ahmed Shah shahada and he's going to lead us with the pledge of allegiance aliance to the flag of the
United States of America to the Republic for which it stands one nation thank you so as our state board of education meetings are accessible to our public for viewing on the YouTube channel I
would ask and like to advise you that it is um available in multi- languages and translation options within closed captioning if you are viewing the simal cast presently you
can use the settings option in YouTube for information about subtitles and Clos captioning in multiple languages again I would like to welcome Amed shahada today who joins us for his first time in the new role of State
Board of Education member Ahmed resides in Union County and is an an assistant superintendent of business in Clifton Public Schools his term will expire in 2029 Amed brings a great deal of
knowledge and experience to our board and I very much look forward to your future contributions and if we can continue please with the approval of the minutes um I would like to have uh a motion to
accept the August 7th 2024 minutes please thank you very much board member Barry may I please have a second thank you very much board member Bennett um all those in favor please say
I I any opposed please say nay any extensions perfect thank you and Dr butcher you'd like to abstain thank you and um board member Peña you'd like to abstain
yes yes thank you so the board um has scheduled for today open public testimony and the opportunity for today meaning that registered members of the public may offer public testimony on any educational topic of
choice state board members Dr Ronald butcher Dr Ned Johnson Mr Ahmed shahada and board member Janette Peña are scheduled to hear testimony this afternoon for the month of October the State Board of Education will not
receive public testimony as there are no topics on the schedule state board members claudin Kenyan Dr Joseph rickle arelo were scheduled to hear and myself to hear testimony in October but um there's nothing scheduled as far as our
president's report I'm delighted to introduce our wonderful student she is Anna paskowitz and she's a senior at Palmyra high school and uh which is in Burlington County um her advisor Miss
Kelly Jones and Miss Kim Martino are they here would you like to stand up please thank you and welcome Anna I would like very much uh to have you share with all of us your comments and if you'd come here there's the microphone ready for
you thank you very much thank you president Goldenberg and good morning everyone today I want to shine a light on the 2024 njc State charity as well as how fundraising for njc's annual charity incorporates the involvement of
students across the state every year the njsc state officers select a charity typically one from New Jersey for which member schools from around the state are asked to fundraise during the school year the selection process begins with open applications from Charities that
submit information to the njc executive member of Charities from the pool of applicants and information provided the executive members selects three or four Charities to give presentations at the njc state officer meeting in April after the
presentations the njc officers vote on which one is the the best choice for the mission of njc as well as the best fit for the students of New Jersey this is a huge deal member schools around the state will raise funds in support of the charity and donate all of all proceeds
to these efforts at the njac spring conference at Six Flags Great Adventure in May the previous year's charity receives a commemorative check and the total funds raised from that year is announced in addition to this the charity for the following year is announced and representatives from the
charity introduce themselves this past May njsc was proud to present the hugs for Brady foundation with a check for $76,000 all raised by students across New Jersey hugs for Brady's ultimate goal is to end pediatric cancer the
money donated to the foundation goes toward research blood drives families and bringing joy to Young cancer patients in addition to announcing this large fundraising success the njc also announced the 2024 to 2025 State charity
Ava's voice Ava Bullis a 2024 graduate from Shore Regional High School in New Jersey is the inspiration behind this charity which is run in part by Ava and her family when Ava was little she was diagnosed with Usher syndrome a rare genetic disease that causes hearing
sight and sometimes balance to be impaired and potentially disappear later in life there are approximately 400,000 cases of Usher syndrome world wide however it often goes undiagnosed Ava's mom knew that there was no cure for Usher syndrome but she
made it her goal for Ava to have as many opportunities as possible before she lost her sight and hearing permanently she also wanted Ava's voice to be heard and that's how Ava's voice was created since its founding in 2015 the charity has provided an outlet for communication between children's and
families impacted by this syndrome it has also spread awareness to people that otherwise would have never known about Usher syndrome they are a partner in the Usher syndrome Coalition and affiliate of the national Family Association for de blind because of
Ava's roots in New Jersey she organized and facilitated multiple summer camps for children with Usher syndrome here in New Jersey these camps provide kids with opportunities not only to seek support through one another but also experience and see amazing things before they are
no longer able to thanks to the Charity's National and international connections they were able to take their camps abroad and connect New Jersey with children across the globe for example Ava along with other children with Usher syndrome were able to see the sunrise at
the Grand Canyon recently Ava's voice partnered with Usher kids UK and Usher Kids Australia to summer camps for children with Usher syndrome the goal is to create memories for the participants even if their Vision Hearing and Balance deteriorates all funds raised by NJ
schools through the njc in 2024 to 2025 will only be used in New Jersey camps that way schools who raise money for the state charity know they are having a direct impact on kids in schools across the state schools across the state raise money for the state charity in numerous
ways there are the typical fundraisers bake sales car washes Etc however schools come up with their own unique ways to raise money for the designated Charities as well many schools have a spoof on a beauty beauty pageant for example NE neun High School in Mammoth
County hosts a Mr Neptune pageant which raises money through a $5 participation fee and $1 judges bribes where the audience can bribe judges for whom to Crown the winner many of these pageants also raise money through audience tickets and food sales and can raise
significant amounts of money for the state charity it's one great way to involve school spirit with raising money for a great cause since 2010 njc has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to support numerous nonprofit Charities whose efforts support children and families in
the Garden State njc's past fundraising recipients have included the hero Campaign which seeks to prevent drunk driving injuries and deaths by promoting designated driving good grief which seeks to build resilience and provide support for Children and Families struggling struggling with loss hope
loves company which which seeks to provide support resources and Community for children with ALS or who have a family member with ALS and one simple wish which seeks to support happiness and hope in the lives of children who have been impacted with by family crisis
and foster care and Christine's hope which seeks to help create a new generation of leaders by teaching kids how to help other kids njc incentivizes incentivizes and rewards schools support of the annual state charity by recognizing their funding efforts at a
spring conference at the conference njc Awards member schools who have donated the amounts 1,000 2,000 5,000 and $10,000 with a plaque it's a way to motivate students to reach a goal while simultaneously giving them recognition
for their hard work for the 2023 to 2024 school year Gloucester County Institute of Technology in Gloucester County Allentown High School in Mammoth County and Stonebridge middle school and upper Freehold Township Mammoth County won Top awards for raising 10,000 and $55,000
for hugs for Brady respectively an additional 35 middle and high schools from around the state raised at least $1,000 for the charity njac is proud of the efforts of student councils from all over New Jersey who donate their time and energy to raise money for the annual Charities using their leadership
creative thinking and teamwork skills to do so it is njc's hope that this year we will help Ava's voice dream believe and Crush its goal of empowering youth with with Usher syndrome and educating families and school communities thank
you that was a wonderful wonderful um I'm so impressed and I think what you're doing for New Jersey students affected by ushers is creating not just memories but dreams and hopes and thank
you so much for everything that you and the organization are doing I don't know if anybody else would like to say something Mary Beth I always love the opportunity to um to comment um to comment at amazing work that New Jersey student councils are
doing I love the idea that you remember how important it is to give back and that you by example by your amazing programs um are having all kids in your student body be thoughtful about whatever the charity is hubs for Brady
ushers um aa's voice amazing it's it's such a a great thing and it brings the school Community together so I applaud the student councils of New Jersey I applaud you for your work um what day did did you start school yet what day was your first day tomorrow tomorrow is
your first day well then then that blows that I was going to ask how was it it's so exciting to me the beginning of the school year there's such hope um but I um so appreciate you being here part of our board I think it's so important for
all of us to have that opportunity to hear what's going on in our school so keep up the great work um Your Enthusiasm is contagious and you know I'm so glad you're going back and you're spreading that and all the student councils are so this project great I
can't wait to hear how um how it goes um but keep thinking about others um I think it's so very important and so well needed so thank you have a great school year thank you commissioner just a quick word I want to thank you and your fellow
students giving back to Community is uh really impressive I never heard of Usher's syndrome uh so now Having learned about it I think that's been effective and thank you bring for bringing that to our attention um I'm also looking at my doe colleagues these ideas about the pageants might be
something that we have to take up so um I've got some interesting ideas already uh so thank you very much and I appreciate you coming and we didn't even get you out of school today so thank you good luck tomorrow very
exciting okay um next I'd like to start with the policy uh committee report um Elaine if you are up to it if not I can speak for you but if you would like to please go
ahead our our committee chairperson is Elaine bobov and like to have her give her committee report thank you you're sorry can you hear me yes
ma'am okay um the uh board met with um the uh members of the department on August 21st 2024 um among the board members present was uh Kathy Goldenberg ex officiate
Mary Beth Barry Mary Bennett Janette Penna and Claudine K Keenan as well as myself um Department staff and attendance via the teleconference were Kevin damer Jesse young Samantha price
Jordan Schiff Kayla cular uh Paula Bloom J Gordon Carla Spates uh Beth awald and Stephanie Russo during the meeting we discussed
chapter 12 which is interdistrict public school choice and Chapter 30 which was the evaluation of the performance of school districts qsac or qac as it's called the policy committee um met on
August 21st to receive an update on the read-option of chapter 12 inter District public school choice which is on excuse me which is on today's agenda at adoption level the department also
presented to the committee about its proposed changes to the instruction and program indicators for the New Jersey quality single accountability Continuum or New Jersey qac
uh on behalf of the committee I thank acting commissioner jamer and his staff for being respons to theate State board's concerns about the point values for some of the instruction and program indicators and proposing additional
changes since we will be discussing both Ru makings later on in the agenda I will forego the rest of my report thank you board member bobra um and
next I'd like to um talk about the national Association of school board Educators the election for the chair elect nationally will take place at the uh Association State Board of Education annual meeting which will be held
Thursday October 24th 2024 um usually if we have a board member there um we go and and we have a delegate who votes in behalf of uh the gentleman who's running there's only one
person running this year um and I I know that um we have also conflicting with the first two days of the meeting the New Jersey school board association annual meeting so um I think
in lie of that I will not go in person to vote I will um do it by proxy with the permission of the board for Byron and um I think that it would be beneficial if I could get the board to
go ahead and approve sending a ballot in behalf of the New Jersey State Board of Education let me find his name is Byron Ernest he's from Indiana I've met him many many times over the year he's a tremendous very active gentleman with nasby and I think he'll be a phenomenal
president I would wholeheartedly vote for him if I were in person so I'd like to ask the state board members for the permission to go ahead and and put up this particular gentleman as the New Jersey approved person to vote for
unless the State Board objects um I would like to place New Jersey's votes for chair-elect for the board of directors Byron Ernest of Indiana so could I please have a motion to do so also support
thank you very much Dr butcher may please have a second thank you very much board member Kanan Dr Kean um all those is there any more discussion or questions about the gentleman he's also very funny he keeps
people's attention all right all those in favor please say yes yes any oppose please say negatively no okay the motion carries are there any uh abstentions for any reason someone knows
him or doesn't want okay motion approved so we'll send that notification director shoner in behalf of the New Jersey state board thank you um and now we have in front of us our commissioner's
report and items to go over thank you thank you madam president as we do not have any uh commissioner reports this month we can move right into the agenda items and the first item for
consideration is for appointments and this is a standing uh agenda item but we do not have any appointments to move forward this month so we can move on to Item B on the agenda which is certification for school districts since
the August state board meeting the executive County Superintendent have finalized 29 NJ qac evaluations for districts I'm recommending 12 of those move forward for certification today Dr Shan Jordan Schiff is joined by Carlos
Spates to uh address any questions you may have and to uh share the list of certifications or I can share it to for Dr Shar thank you commissioner um Mrs Spates if you don't mind reading off the
um the districts that are Serv certified as high performing of course Atlantic County Port Republic School District Bergen County the following district demerest school district Emerson Public School District Franklin Lakes School
District Mawa Township Public School District Northern Valley Regional High School District pasak Valley Regional High School District Saddle River School District Burlington County cinamon
Township School District exx County Barona Public School District and West Orange school district and finally Gloucester County East greenwitch Township School District thank you I don't believe we have any uh board members from these
counties unless I'm mistaken tell me you are yeah okay okay so you need to don't you don't need to recuse yourself
all right um so do we have any questions at this time I I would just like to make um one comment we we read the 12 districts that scored 80% um in all five of the qac areas and we're going to have
more conversation later about qac but I I think it's important to note that there were 17 that scored below the 80% and if it's a new school year and it's an exciting time and I'm hoping this time next year when we're at a meeting
that we're not um looking at um o you know 12 having um scored proficient and 17 that have fallen not quite where where we want our children um to be at
so I'm I'm great new school year new opportunities moving forward um but but I I do think it's important to mention that um there is a level of concern that there are that many districts that are not and it's instructional and
programming is the area that seems to be where people are falling short so we got lots of work to do New Year let's get to it so thank you you're welcome thank you okay
um so did may I have a motion please to approve the 12 districts motion thank you very much board member pñ may please have a second thank you very much um any further discussion before we
vote hearing none all those in favor to accept the 12 districts for certification of these school districts please say I I any opposed any extensions hearing none
motion carries thank you very much thank you so much and today we have more good news I'm happy to announce that we have uh some donations to the Marie H katzenbach school for the de we've received donated funds from two
groups Miss Valerie amand delaro donated funds totaling $20,000 and the Ocean County oral oral and maxillo facial surgery LLC donated funds totaling $500 These funds are to be used for the
sole purpose of supporting student activities such as field trips yearbooks and student clubs Miss Kathy aing is our assistant commissioner for the division of educational services and is here to address any questions you might have on these
donations thank you any questions for assistant commissioner aen hearing none may I please have a motion to accept the donations as presented thank you very much board member Bennett may I please have a second second thank you very much board
member Barry all those in favor please say I I I any opposed any extensions motion cares thank you so much thank you thank you uh moving on to agenda item d uh which is a resolution to amend
the New Jersey State Board of Education public testimony procedures we're at adoption level included in your agenda materials is a resolution to amend the State Board public testimony procedures president Goldenberg I'll turn it over to you for discussion uh with the other
board members thank you so much and I would like to turn this over to our committee chairperson our vice president Dr Ned Johnson thank you good morning thank you um I I'd like to present forth our
resolution for um adoption of amendments to the uh State Board of Education testimony um procedures public testimony procedures whereas the uh New Jersey State Board of Education recognizes its responsibility as the entity authorized
to enact Statewide policy governing the supervision and control of public education in the state of New Jersey and whereas within that responsibility it is the state board's duty to make its Statewide policy enactments including those pertaining to the ru making
subject to comment from the public and whereas the administrative procedures act requires that the State Board of Education receive public comment on Ru making during the formal comment period and whereas in addition to accepting
written public comment on rulemaking the State Board previously established a process for accepting or a public comment on Ru making from the public and whereas the state state board also has established a process for scheduling uh
three open topic uh public testimony opportunities each year and whereas that policy implementing a process to allow for oral public comment on rul making and to schedule separate open uh topic public testimony sessions before the
state of board uh State Board of Education was originally adopted on September 2nd 1987 and IED on June 6 2012 and on March um 6
2013 and whereas the state board has currently deemed it necessary to reconsider its policy for uh for oral public comment on rul making and open topic public testimony now therefore be it resolve excuse me that the members of the New
Jersey State Board of Education amend its oral public comment and open topic public testimony procedures Poli polic so that that so that it may now begin an estimated 30 minutes following the conclusion of the regular public
business meeting agenda rather than at 2 at 2 pm and be it further resolve that the members of the New Jersey State Board of Education further amended or public comment on open topic uh testimony procedures policy and remove
the previous established 2our time limit and be it further resolved that this policy will take effect immediately beginning with the first public testimony session following the adoption of the resolution thank you um may I please ask
for a motion so moov thank you very much board member Barry may I please have a second thank you very much board member shahada um is there any discussion at this time hearing none all those in favor please
signify by saying I I all those opposed please signify by saying nay any abstentions at this time the motion carries thank you very much chairman of this committee we look
forward to to this thank you madam thank you and now we go to the next topic thank you we're now on a agenda item e uh which is a resolution to approve appointments to
the State Board of examiners we're at adoption level for this uh today I request for your consideration a resolution to reappoint five current members and to appoint six new members to the State Board of examiners Dr
Jordan Schiff is joining us with Miss Ronnie Singh uh who will uh describe the role of the State Board and share the roster of recommended appointments and address any questions thank you commissioner the State Board of examiners is responsible for the revocation and suspension of
educator certificates to ensure student safety and review determinations of appeals and adverse decisions of the office of recruitment preparation and certification regarding certificate eligibility pursuant
njsa 18a colon 6.34 the board is comprised of volunteer Educators from various areas of the profession both Administration and instruction the board members are appointed by the commissioner with the approval of you the State Board of
Education board members have an appointed term of two years the following individuals are proposed for your consideration for appointment to the State Board of examiners Miss Melissa PE Mr Derek Jess Dr Thelma um
Ramsey Miss Dana Dario orlac Miss Kristen ludman and new appointees myself Dr Jordan Schiff Dr Carmela sommerso Mr Robert Ford Mr Kevin
fitzer m Michelle McGreevy and Miss gari adakar we present this as an adoption motion thank you you have time for that wow um so let me please ask for a motion did you say thank you I didn't know if
you wanted to comment okay thank you may I please have a second second thank you Dr Johnson Dr butcher I've noticed over the years there tends to be a couple positions that are always vacant uh again this year I see there
two uh I do have some personal comments about why but I guess I'll Reserve those they're not very positive towards that particular group uh is there any way to encourage you know the presidents have their
Association is there any way to speak to them to encourage them to give representation number one baring moving forward with that what do we have to do to remove that position from the State Board of examiners this
legislation yes it's in the law um the U the particular examiners who who would be on the the board of examiners um we do reach out to our stakeholder groups to all of the professional associations that are represented here and we're
continuing to seek full um full enrollment of all of the the board seats including the vacant board seats but this is a a very important step for the state board so that we can move forward with with our meetings we've had um difficulties with quorums so to make
sure that we have uh as many members of the board of examiner seated is really important for the work I have no doubt about moving forward with the recommendation it's just I deeply concerned about the fact that the college presidents aren't participating particularly given the
role of the State Board of EX examiners and and how it impacts the universities and I don't know what the total number now is you know of the uh you what we got 209 County colleges and how many privates how many you know how many
fouryear institutions I can't believe that amongst their associations they can't get somebody to serve on this we'll continue our outage thank you thank you Dr butcher anyone else have any comments at this time
hearing none um all those in favor of accepting and approving the appointments for the State Board of examiners as presented to the State Board of Education today please say I I thank you any opposed please say
nay any extensions hearing none the motion carries thank you now we go to our next item of business thank you uh and we're on agenda item F and today I present at adoption the
read-option with Amendments of chapter 12 interd District public school choice uh Dr Jordan Schiff who is currently the assistant commissioner of the division of teaching and learning and Services I just want to thank him for serving as interim assistant commissioner for field
services for last several months um and continuing in that role today and joining us uh along with uh Jessie Gordon who is a director of The Office of in District school choice um and so here uh to excuse me they're joining us
here today to present an overview of the rulle making and to respond to any questions you might have thank you commissioner good morning again president Goldenberg Vice President Johnson and members of the State Board of Education um today we'll be considering a chapter 12 in District
public school choice at the adoption level at the April meeting of the the State Board voce to publish the chapter in the New Jersey register for public comment we received some but very few public comment today uh director Gordon
who uh directs the office of interdistrict school choice and non-public will walk the state board and the public through some background of it as well as the proposed changes for your consideration at adoption today thank you thank you you I appreciate this
opportunity next slide please ah okay sorry didn't realize I had that control okay um as you can see on this slide uh the mission of the program is to increase educational opportunities
for parents and students by providing Public School options outside of a students's district of residence and giving parents the power to select a school district or program that best serves their child's individual needs the choice program enables approved
Choice districts to enroll K through 12th grade students who do not reside within their District without cost to their parents now we turn to the history of the statute code and code amendments the
choice program was originally established by the State Board of Education in 1999 as a 5-year pilot the interdistrict public school choice program act followed in 2000 and expired in 2005 rules were adopted in
200 the rules were reopt it in 2004 and 2009 the interdistrict public school choice program Act was then amended in 2010 to expand the program to additional school districts rules amended in
2012 were aligned with the revised statute and the rules were reopt without amendments effective April 2017 okay got some background on uh the choice districts that are operating in
2025 as shown on this slide uh you can see that the choice program is relatively small in terms of participating districts and students there are 125 operating Choice districts with Choice students attending them um
5,33 Choice students are um currently attending those those districts they are located in 19 counties all but Essex and middlex the current program cost in the state budget is 63.8
million due to Rapid growth in the number of choice districts from 15 and 2010 to the current level program growth has been outlined in each annual state budget resulting in the number of choice districts and enrollment of choice
students growing minimally since 2015 this slide shows a um presents an a brief overview of the program um which I'll um read um the school districts apply to the department to become a choice District um once they're approved
they publicize their number of seats in advance of the application deadline Choice districts are allowed to limit their choice programs to a particular grade range or to specialized programs such as stem Roc or the
Arts with reasonable selection criteria such as interest in the program the selection criteria has to be identical for Resident students as it is for the choice students uh Choice District cannot discriminate in its admission policies
students apply to a choice district and if they're accepted they're enrolled in the choice District once they're enrolled they're treated just like resident students until the final grade in the district they do not need to reapply once they're in they are Choice
students until they graduate or leave the pro or leave the district and if there are more applicants than available seats Choice districts hold a blind public library library a a blind public Lottery the department is proposing and
um the Amendments that are reflected on this slide we are proposing to streamline language for clarity we are updating the chapter to account for temporarily unfunded Choice students to align with the new law that requires school districts to collect
tuition for non-resident students we're codifying the processes required of Choice districts operating the choice program and provide detail on the steps of the student application Pro of student application process and finally we are proposing the codification of
requirements to the depart for the Department to review and approve sending districts seeking to limit their students participation in a choice program the appet division is requiring the department to enumerate the factors
that go into the decision of limiting resident students in a choice program this provides a simplified visual of the enrollment process process takes about a year um from the time that choice districts
publicize their available seats to uh the point when they're uh accepted and then the students actually enroll in the choice program and this is finally um at the propos proposal level the board uh unanimously approved um the proposal and
this slide uh provides the regulatory uh timeline and we are at adoption level and we thank you for your attention and we're available to answer any questions that you may have thank you I have um oh would you like to go first Dr butcher please thank you the
the bullets that you had listed thank you the um nope not that one keep going it that one thank you so the payment of tuition but these were supposed to be not could you expand on that a little bit for my knowledge thank
you sure did you want okay um the choice program in the statute um Choice districts are not allowed to take parent paid tuition right um therefore there's a situation in which students who are attending a choice district and
move are sort of in no no man's land and so we carved out a a category called unfunded Choice students that allows those students who have moved in the in the during the school year to remain
only until the completion of that school year without funding so we defined unfunded Choice as a as a definition in the code to address the the situation where they can't the school district cannot accept parent
tuition and in order to align with the new law that requires tuition Dr Johnson you brought this up at one of our last meetings and you kind of caught that that conflict and it was contemplated in in um in the regulatory changes that were recommending today
thank you so much uh Dr butcher sir just is a point of interest in looking at the bullet layout on the state uh looking at the concentration of where the districts are Etc uh not for today
but uh you know sometime in the very near future could you please provide us with a uh list of what those schools are by county and what their budget is be happy to do so yeah just just a total you know this District this County total
budget sure and possibly enrollment thank you not a problem what happens as um if I could ask one other question what happens when a the school has an influx of additional students and they've already committed
to this Choice program and so now incoming residential students move in and suddenly there are less seats available for out of District do the students in District get sent elsewhere or how does that work because we all
have limited seats so how does that work right the resident students certainly remain in their in the district where they where they reside and uh director Gordon if you could wouldn't mind answering the second part of that question about what happens if there is
um a district that due to local enrollment increases may have less seats available for Choice every year the choice districts determine how many open seats they have so it's an annual it's an annual calculation right thank you so
they they post the number of open seat seats that they have um and so they and they indicate which grade levels they have openings in thank you thank you very much
um I'm sorry pleas um as just a followup I have additional um question coming but what Kathy had said um raises a very interesting point um for an example a
biomedical program may have a seat that's opened that's a 4-year program how does that work then um is there going to be any difficulty with the in school students someone moves into the district wants to be part of that
biomedical program there's only 25 seats if we've offered them to other um you know to other schools and said that there's a choice are are there um how how do you Factor the app all in to to
Choice um as I mentioned before the the school district determines at the beginning of every year before the applications are or the actual enrollment happens they determine how many seats they have available and they
will always prioritize their resident students um but they have a pretty good sense of how many openings they have available and so they'll make those available and if by chance they are unable to fill
all of those seats or they have too many students then they'll put the students on wait list the choice students on waight list but but once the student is accepted into the choice program they remain in the choice program for the duration I think that I I was wondering
whether they would be bumped out because someone okay that's thank you for that clar once they're in they're in once they're in they're in that's a great point of clar ification some and and here's where my mind goes on on this
whole issue if we went back to the um to the mission um statement um increase educational opportunities at nothing more important and some of the amazing stem programs and things that are out there that maybe would love to run in a
school district um and could use the benefit of outside students while they starting programs I think is is so so important so when I I look at that mission and I put uh the parent hat on you get one chance to get those great
opportunities for your students school choice seems to me for a parent that and a child that has particular dreams a great opportunity um to Avail themselves of opportunities that may be out there that their particular school doesn't
have so um we have had great meetings I always like to take the form of in public just saying it's been since 2015 since we've added school choice districts I know it's legis it's a
legislative piece but I think it is important to know or to to say to the public you know what we haven't really added any more schools since 2015 and yes there are districts um I
think Kevin had made the statistics one in five schools in the area will have the opportunity for choice but when I'm looking at the numbers and I'm just looking at the 2024 numbers got to put my glasses on because I can't see them
um is the number of choice applicants was 3,595 um applicants of which um 1,484 were accepted and 2029 are on a wait list I I recognize
that this is a legislative issue as well I just love that the department of Ed has an opportunity to use their voice to explore further whether is this a call for we need more Choice districts they're great programs out there we have
extraordinary Educators we have opportunities to maybe grow something even better so I I would just like to take the opportunity to say it's worth investigating whether Choice isn't a program we'd like to grow more so thank
you thank you thank you member bar and sir you have the floor thank you I'm just kind of curious to know how the department is going to train and prepare Educators for adequate School integration you know based on like speak into the microphone so we can make sure everyone hears you okay can you guys hear me better now yes so I just want to
know about the school integration and how we're going to train and prepare are the Educators because you know if we have kids coming from Princeton going to Newark or vice versa we just want to know that you know the differences in culture and race and socioeconomic status are going to be taken into account because I don't some school districts don't have that population
that may want to come to that District so do we have anything in place for that as please okay as part of the um School District application process when they originally apply to become a choice program they are required to address
that very point and um talk about the kinds of programs that they're going to make and and support that they make available for the choice students who are not coming from the local community thank you thank you thank you any other questions at this
time all right hearing none um I think we've had a motion in a second haven't we yes so all those in favor sorry I'm just looking no we didn't have we don't have
a motion yet so move thank you sir may I please have a second second I believe uh board member paa was next thank you and all those um any other discussion at this time all those in favor please say I I any opposed please say nay
any extensions I'm I'm going to abstain thank you but the motion carries thank you very much thank you thank you thank you very much good [Music] explanations thank you Justin and Jordan
don't go any um so we're GNA move on to agenda item G the evaluation of the performance of school districts at proposal level uh today I present a proposal level with read-option Excuse me the read-option
with Amendments of chapter 30 evaluation of the performance of school districts this chapter establishes a comprehensive single accountability system for monitoring and evaluating school districts called the New Jersey equality single accountability Continuum or more
commonly NJ qac under NJ qac school districts are evaluated in five key component areas of school district Effectiveness instruction and program fiscal management governance personnel and operations the chapter establishes
the standards and criteria used to evaluate school districts Dr Jordan ship is joining us once again and Mr Robert Gregory the executive directory director of the division of field support and services are joining us here to walk through uh additional discussion items
and to respond to questions that you may have thank you again commissioner and good morning once again members of the State Board um today executive director Robert Gregory and I will present for proposal several of the Department's
agency initiated changes at njac 6A col3 referred to as qac Hereafter today's presentation is inclusive of three agency initiated changes since second discussion that Encompass the continuation of our
efforts to harmonize and align our accountability systems while being respons respons while being responsive to stakeholder feedback the first two agency initiated changes we will review our technical updates at Chapters appendices A and B that update
terminology to align to terms used in our state performance report additionally a technical update that clarifies a provision at governance indicator 14 based upon feedback heard after second discussion finally an agency initiated change at appendix a
which is an alternative Point distribution for indicators 1 through six that equalize the point values for achievement and progress indicators in response to feedback expressed by members of the state board at policy meetings first and second discussions
it's important to note that while agency initiated changes at indicators 1 through six balance the weights of achievement and progress indicators and graduation rates the Department's efforts to place greater emphasis on growth by assigning more points to progress indicators reflect our
responsiveness to public comments received since second discussion and those from members of our state board of education the first technical update applies to appendix a instruction and program indicators 1 through 7 and
dependencies a and b governance indicator 2 the department proposes to update terminology and replace the term subgroup with the term student groups as Illustrated on this slide this is to align to terminology used on our New
Jersey student performance reports this reflects the Department's efforts to use student- centered assets-based language to the extent possible in the rul making process the next technical update is at governance indicator 14 which is a requirement for all
districts to ensure that students have access to library media Services connected to class room studies in each School building currently njac 6A colon 13-2 is partially cited as the existing
indicator the department proposes to add a sentence that clarifies the rule and include the remainder the remainder of 2 AG to reflect um to reflect the code citation in full that all school districts shall provide library media
Services Under the direction of a certified School library media specialist as Illustrated on this slide I will now invite executive director Robert Gregory to provide the board with an overview of our final agency initiated
change thank you Dr shf uh good morning president Goldenberg Vice President Johnson and members of the State Board of Education as Illustrated on this slide chart a provides the existing Point values at imp
indicators 1- six and chart B is a summary of the Department's proposed amendments at first and second discussion in short the department proposed to rebalance points at existing
appendix a imp indicators 1- six as Illustrated on chart B this rebalancing involved assigning more points to progress indicators for K through 8 and K through 12 school districts and the
graduation rate indicator for 9 through 12 school districts additionally reducing points at indicator three science achievement for K through 8 school districts and adding points for the same indicator for 9 through 12
districts to reflect the 11th grade in jsla Science assessment which became operational in 2018 as highlighted on the bottom of charts A and B the Department's proposed amendments at first and second
discussion inverted Point values assigned to achievement and progress indicators for K through 8 and K through 12 districts placing greater weight on progress indicators and the graduation rate indicator for 9 through 12
districts the existing Point values prioritize achievement over progress the department proposals at first and second discussion flip them and prioritize growth uh or progress over achievement
this led to some discussion and debate at policy meetings and that first and second discussion with the state board after hearing feedback regarding our proposed rebalancing of points at achievement and progress indicators from
the state board the department considered agency initiated changes that we are bringing forth for proposal the changes reflected uh or highlighted on chart C is the Department's revised rebalancing
of points that is responsive to state board and stakeholder feedback and allows the department to continue to assign more points to growth or progress indicators which receive favorable
public comment uh at second discussion if I can draw your attention to chart C on the right specifically what's highlighted in Orange the Department's rebalancing of points is inclusive of
our efforts to align accountability systems Place greater emphasis on growth while ensuring our primary accountability system for evaluating School District Effectiveness is equitable regardless of the school district's grade
configuration our uh revised proposal balances the point values for achievement and growth indicators for K through 8 and K through2 school districts and achievement and graduation rate for our 9 through 12 school districts the science achievement point
value for all school districts represents half the point value of ela achievement and half the point value of math achievement which is also responsive to stakeholder feedback
received in the ru making progress uh process I'm going to advance to the next slide which highlights the existing Point values at imp indicators and the Department's revised proposals that we
feel responsive to both feedback from the public and state board if I can draw the board's attention to chart a on this slide which shows us our existing Point values and chart C which reflects our revised
proposal as you can see Ela and math achievement on chart C Remains the Same for k through eight school districts it decreases by half a point in K through 12 districts and by five points in 9
through 12 districts science achievement decreases by five points for K through 8 districts one and a half points for K through 12 districts and it increases by five for those 9 through 12 districts as previously
discussed Ela in math progress or growth increases by 2.5 points for K through 8 districts and one and a quarter points for K through 12 districts and finally our graduation rate increases by five
points for 9 through 12 school districts at the bottom of the chart chart C you'll find the balancing of Point values for achievement and progress indicators for K through 8 and
K through 12 districts and achievement and graduation rate indicators for 9 through 12 districts the next several slides help illustrate our proposed amendments to appendix a in the rul making process
let's start with our k through eight school districts of which there are 274 that undergo comprehensive NJ qac review uh please note the pie chart on the far left of the next several slides
will highlight our existing Point values uh Ela and math group if you look at the first chart is 30% and it's weighted at 50% for
achievement in essence as it currently stands achievement is half the point value assigned to kd8 districts the second pie chart shows the inverted weights for achievement and growth
indicators presented at first and second discussion where Now growth represented 50% and achievement represented 33% and finally our revised proposal for growth and achievement uh reflects equal weights
for both at 42% uh I also just want to highlight that this still represents a 9 percentage Point increase for growth or progress indicators uh as growth remains one of
the priorities for the department but now we've really been able to balance Things based on feedback from members of our state board uh we see the same for our K through2 districts of which there are 236 that undergo comprehensive qac
review on this slide uh the blue represents achievement the yellow represents growth uh if you look to the far left existing achievement is at 33% growth at 25%
the second chart shows the inverted weights for achievement and growth uh those are reflected in blue and yellow and the final chart or the third chart to the far right shows the balancing of weights for both indicators uh which now
is at 29% finally our 9 through 12 districts of which there are 51 currently achievement is at 50% grad rate at 33% the inversion is reflected on the
second chart in blue and green where grad rate is at 50 and achievement is at 33 and finally the balance reflected on the third chart uh which is the Department's proposal in blue and green
where graduation and achievement are at the same weights which is 42% the department receiv received public comment from 18 commenters since second discussion those comments and the Department's responses are captured in
our summary memo we would like to thank all of our commenters and the state board for feedback we've received throughout this process the department remains committed to ensuring we incorporate feedback where possible and
we urge all stakeholders to unite in our efforts to improve improve the quality of public education for all students in the state of New Jersey so their dreams can become reality and they flourish in 21st century America and in our global
economy uh thank you for your attention this morning Dr Schiff and I will now take any questions you may have board members any questions or comments Dr butcher still on I
understand first of all I appreciate the fact you made those moves towards the progress side of it and and I'll vote in favor of moving this forward today but uh to put you on alert I find it uh interesting and kind
of disturbing that we're putting science in a different category than ath and uh Ela uh particularly in the society we're living in today and what's going on
around us uh you know we've fought long and hard to get science to added to the Core Curriculum content standards and and I personally believe it should be right up there equal to those other two categories here you know if you look at
I'm on page seven uh in the charts I don't know what slide it is it's but one that's S at the bottom yeah uh there it is yeah if if you look at science achievement you know you've got uh indicators Less in the science area
than the other two and it's totally missed in the achievement or excuse me in the progress part I really think we ought to take a second look at elevating the importance of Science in both of those categories
and just taking like 10 seconds to write two things down uh you know we look at topics that are being discussed globally right now and politically particularly in the United States climate change and Med and Medicine are those math are they
English language arts I would propose to you that they are but they're also significantly based upon science I really think we need to take a closer look at how much Credence we're giving to how we prepare students to be ready for the world of
science I appreciate that comment I I would also just draw the board's attention to our 9 through 12 group where science there wasn't a point value associated with science we are now including it for the first time here for our high school students one of the
concerns that that was discussed and debated as we were doing this is that we had to rebalance it all has to add up to a particular number in order to do it so if we take from one we have to pull from another and I do appreciate the concern about the importance of of Science and we're going to be moving forward um in
the relative relative near future with new science standards as as um the 2020 standards come to expire so um we take that very seriously also in ela and Mathematics they're tested every year in in grades three through eight where
science is not it's just tested once in the elementary um time frame once in middle and once in high school so um I appreciate those comments Dr Butcher and Dr but butcher if I can also add uh the
science achievement is not a part of our Essa uh state plan but it is a part of qac uh that was a very deliberate decision uh made during the previous uh adoption of the code in
2017 uh to overemphasize the point that you just raised sir if I could just add a couple more points and I appreciate you raising this because this is something we've discussed I think at length primarily in our policy committee but not I don't think we've done as much discussion in
the public um so two two major components for the science because of the frequency of assessment um that that's kind of reflected here this was uh in the in the comments uh that that Dr Gregory pointed out this was a common
refrain in those because science is not offered as many times that to hold it at the same same point value uh did was inconsistent uh in terms of with El Ela and Ma the the other piece um for
Progress having that data for every year between grades three and eight allows us to create those progress uh indicators for science it's uh given in grade five and eight so it's not year you can't do that same year to year it's a different
cohort that uh takes the assessment each year which doesn't lend itself to the same uh uh uh progress measure that we have in El and math so this is the these Point values not only reflect I think
the feedback that we received from the commenters the public and and through our Pol policy meetings um but also just the the Practical consideration of the frequency of which uh science assessments are are proper and if I
could just in in that regard my comments were back more approach to the real issue here which is it it isn't taught that much it isn't so frequent tested in and the science there in to me is the real
problem because if it were it would be Avail you know we could we could assess what we're teaching we could look at Point systems based upon what we're teaching but we're not teaching it as much and I think that's part of where the problem is I I I believe in today's
age we need to take a different look at what we're teaching our children I think science is critically important at all at all grade levels by the way I I have I I have a kindergartner granddaughter who started school last week and she's
already taking biology good studying butterflies but it's great thank you um please uh Janette paa Mar you'll be next um so I don't disagree with you Dr
Butcher and there were uh there was a very robust uh debate regarding the qac process but um I think that that refers more to your your comments refer more to what happens before qac and we really
wanted to focus on how we were going to measure uh a school district's progress and how they were meeting the expectations um so I just want to thank everyone I want to thank uh uh president
Goldenberg I almost called you Dr Goldenberg um sorry so I want to thank her for her leadership because this was a very long process and sometimes I almost feel bad I said wow I'm not letting this go um but it really you know I think it was very productive um
I'm grateful to have worked with all of you and and um Mr damer as well uh this was a very good process and I'm uh pleased I do think that this is something that will let children know we do think you can do it um we're going to
help you along the way obviously but we do think you're capable of that and even more so so thank you so much thank you thank you board member p and Mary Beth Barry yes thank you and I'd like to Echo that sentiment um we had great
conversation um lots of conversation um so I I believe compromise is really important I think there is a great deal of compromise that came um into this process my my question is um in the beginning the technical
updates you alluded to the um the change from subgroup to student group can you expand upon that a little bit more yeah uh so as we presented at the last board meeting uh throughout the
rulemaking process we've really been trying to align our accountability systems uh and we presented to you the difference between our Sate plan qac and our school performance reports uh currently in our school performance
reports uh we use the terminology student group uh and so again we just wanted to align more our accountability systems and use the same terminology and qap so is there any kind of like metric
is there these are the um delineated student groups or yeah it's in our federal accountability system so when when we report out on state assessment results when I come to you at the middle of the year and we review all of those charts those are based upon all of the
student groups so race ethnicity um special needs status of students multilingual Learners and economically disadvantaged are all of those student groups that we we have and and that would weigh in because of course now we're looking at accountability and we're looking at where these groups are
so all of that has been factored in to make sure that each group is represented and and how um groups are are are groups double counted that's all um something that you've looked that and making sure
that all of the data works you guys are good at that yes but to to be specific about it the way that we calculate the what percentage of the maximum points are allowable is we look at total students and then we average all of the subgroups that are available that have
20 or more students within them and we average those together what that does is to ensure that those student groups which may be relatively small are still an area of focus for districts as we as we go on so remember when we looked at those charts and we saw those
significant achievement gaps between particular subgroups um they can be masked because they're relatively small this calculation makes sure that they're not masked and it aligns to how we do the work in Essa as well thank you any other comments or
questions hearing none um I'd like to please ask for a motion to accept the evaluation and performance of school districts as presented and thank you very much board member Peña may I please have a second thank you very much board
member Bennett hearing no other questions comments all those in favor please say I I I any opposed please say nay any abstentions at this time please
it voice them the motion carries thank you so much and I would like to thank the committee for being so Avid and involved and dedicated and discussion that emanated and flowed and I would like to
very much thank the doe for listening discussing and talking about it thank you all thank you thank you and now um is there any new business to discuss at this time
hearing none um I'd like to wish everyone a great beginning of school year for those who have children involved and for all of us involved in education so may I please ask for a motion to adjourn so moved thank you I believe Mary Bennett was first and Mary
Beth may I please have a second I would love to second that thank you all those in favor please say I I I'm I guess if you want to say n or abstain but the motion carries thank you all have a
great year testimony starts thank [Music] you yeah e