Data from NJDoE 2014 Taxpayers' Guide to Education Spending.[2] *Of K-12 districts with more than 3,500 students. Lowest spending=1; Highest=103
Elizabeth Public Schools is a publicschool district in Elizabeth, in Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, serving students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade. The district is one of 31 former Abbott districts statewide that were established pursuant to the decision by the New Jersey Supreme Court in Abbott v. Burke[3] which are now referred to as "SDA Districts" based on the requirement for the state to cover all costs for school building and renovation projects in these districts under the supervision of the New Jersey Schools Development Authority.[4][5] The district was the third largest in New Jersey in 2022,[6] with a culturally diverse student body coming from 50 countries and speaking more than 37 languages.[7]
As of the 2018–19 school year, the district, comprising 36 schools, had an enrollment of 28,712 students and 2,173.0 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 13.2:1.[1]
The district is classified by the New Jersey Department of Education as being in District Factor Group "A", the lowest of eight groupings. District Factor Groups organize districts statewide to allow comparison by common socioeconomic characteristics of the local districts. From lowest socioeconomic status to highest, the categories are A, B, CD, DE, FG, GH, I and J.[8]
In the 2008-09 school year, Victor Mravlag Elementary School No. 21 was recognized with the Blue Ribbon School Award of Excellence by the United States Department of Education,[11] the highest award an American school can receive.[12][13] For the 2006-07 school year, William F. Halloran Alternative School #22 was one of four schools in New Jersey recognized with the Blue Ribbon Award.[14] William F. Halloran Alternative School #22 earned a second award when it was one of 11 in the state to be recognized in 2014 by the National Blue Ribbon Schools Program.[15][16][17] Terence C. Reilly was also recognized as a National Blue Ribbon school in 2013 and was recognized as a NJ School of Character and National School of Character. Terence C. Reilly is also an Apple Distinguished School and Top 25 in New Jersey. Terence C. Reilly School No. 7 was honored by the National Blue Ribbon Schools Program in 2019, one of nine schools in the state recognized as Exemplary High Performing Schools.[18]
In 2007, Dr. Albert Einstein Academy School No. 29 became one of 24 schools selected from across the United States and the only NASA Explore School in the state of New Jersey at that time.[19]
In the 2012 "High School Challenge" published by The Washington Post, a continuation of high-school rankings formerly published in Newsweek, ranked Elizabeth High School as the best public high school in New Jersey, and the 76th-best in the United States.[20]
History
Battin High School was constructed in 1913 at 300 South Broad Street on the site of a mansion that had been donated to the city nearly 25 years earlier by Joseph Battin, president of the Elizabethtown Water Company, and namesake of the school.[21] Originally operated on a coeducational basis, the school became female only starting in 1929, after Thomas Jefferson High School was constructed and dedicated to serve male students.[22] In 1977, district officials stated that the inability to determine attendance zones for the two comprehensive high schools after Thomas Jefferson High School opened in 1929 combined with the expansive shop facilities in the new building, led the district to decide to split students by sex, with girls at Battin and boys at Thomas Jefferson.[23] By 1972, Battin was the only public high school in New Jersey operated exclusively for women, despite coeducational programs at both Princeton University and Vassar College. By that time, a policy under which pregnant students had been required to withdraw from school had been eliminated and students were allowed to return to school after giving birth and attending a special off-site program during their pregnancy. Though 40% of graduating students went on to college and district officials insisted that the curriculum was standard across the district's separate high schools, a student criticized the difference in expectations of male and female students, noting that "Boys are expected to be engineers and attorneys. Girls are supposed to be secretaries and mothers."[24]
Battin High School and Thomas Jefferson High School were both closed at the end of the 1976-77 school year, after the Elizabeth High School complex was completed and all of the district's students, male and female, were accommodated at the new four-building facility, ending the city's status as "the only community in the state with separate public high schools for boys and girls". The $29.3 million project included renovations to Thomas Jefferson High School, which was integrated into the new complex. The Battin High School building, together with the four existing junior high schools, was repurposed as a middle school for grades six through eight.[23]
Harold Kennedy, business administrator and board secretary[68]
Board of education
The district, with nearly 29,000 students, is the third largest in New Jersey.[6] With an estimated 28,500 students for the 2021-22 school year, the district projected an operating budget of $527 million, of which $452 million (85.8%) would be from state sources and $60 million (11.4%) from property taxes[69]
For 2016, the $507 million budget was mostly subsidized by state aid, which accounted for 82.6% of the district's budget, while property taxes covered 11.6% of the budget.[70]
The district's board of education, composed of nine members, sets policy and oversees the fiscal and educational operation of the district through its administration. As a Type II school district, the board's trustees are elected directly by voters to serve three-year terms of office on a staggered basis, with three seats up for election each year held (since 2012) as part of the November general election. The board appoints a superintendent to oversee the district's day-to-day operations and a business administrator to supervise the business functions of the district.[71][72][73]
The school board has long had a majority led Rafael Fajardo, a former school board president who has had at least six family members on the payroll.[74] Although he is no longer on the panel, Fajardo had controlled the school system with the support of several board members.[75][76]
Controversy
In June 2011, the Union County Prosecutor's Office was investigating charges that members of the school board gave jobs and promotions to employees in exchange for political contributions. Republican members of the New Jersey General Assembly asked for records relating to district spending for entertainment, travel, equipment and other expenditures.[77]
The Investigations Unit of the New Jersey Department of Education reviewed district practices in 2008, following a state auditor's report that undocumented aliens were being improperly hired by the district in custodial and clerical positions. The district's business administrator indicated that the district had been hiring non-citizens for math and science teaching positions due to the inability to find qualified citizens qualified to work in those positions. Other findings had shown that $88,000 was spent by the district for what was deemed to be political advertising and that employee information had been taken from confidential files to be used for soliciting political contributions.[78]
Some other recent headlines include:
At least $1.5M paid out secretly by Elizabeth schools, a fraction of workers' settlements;[79]
Elizabeth Board of Education used taxpayer money to keep lawsuits hush-hush;[80]
Investigation finds Elizabeth school board pressures workers to fill campaign coffers;[81]
Elizabeth school officials' kids don't pay full meal costs, records show;[82]
Former Elizabeth Public Schools Equipment Manager Robert Firestone admitted that he conspired to defraud the school system through fraudulent business practices for his personal gain, according to the FBI and US Attorney's office.[83][84]
2022 Teacher Union Negotiations
At the end of the 2021-22 school year, negotiations between the Elizabeth Education Association, the labor union representing teachers in the Elizabeth Public Schools, had its contract expired while both the Elizabeth School District and the EEA worked on negotiations, leading to no agreement by June 29 when negotiations ended.[85]
On August 24, 2022, Elizabeth mayor Chris Bollwage threatened on Twitter to not give any promotions to teachers who if they go on strike. The tweet has to criticism from residents and staff members.[86][87] During a board meeting of the Elizabeth Board of Education, EEA President John Griffin spoke to the board demanding that it respond to the Bollwage's Tweet, mentionign that state law does not have the power for the mayor to make staffing decisions and that mayor accused Griffin over planning a strike.[88][89]
A lawyer representing the teachers Union questioned the legality of the tweet including to the mayor, warning that he could face violations of the State School Ethics Act and that the tweet damaged the reputation of EEA President Griffin.[90]
^What We Do: History, New Jersey Schools Development Authority. Accessed March 1, 2022. "In 1998, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled in the Abbott v. Burke case that the State must provide 100 percent funding for all school renovation and construction projects in special-needs school districts. According to the Court, aging, unsafe and overcrowded buildings prevented children from receiving the "thorough and efficient" education required under the New Jersey Constitution.... Full funding for approved projects was authorized for the 31 special-needs districts, known as 'Abbott Districts'."
^Mueller, Mark. "Which N.J. schools were named National Blue Ribbon schools?", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, September 29, 2015. Accessed November 14, 2016. "Fifteen New Jersey schools have been recognized by the federal government as National Blue Ribbon Schools, a designation that celebrates excellence in academics or progress in closing the achievement gap among groups of students.... Each of the 15 New Jersey schools was chosen for the 'exemplary high performing' category, which weighs state or national tests, high school graduation rates and the performance of subgroups of students, such as those who are economically disadvantaged."
^"CIBA cited as one of the best by Education Department", Journal Inquirer, November 16, 2006. "The Blue Ribbon award is given only to schools that reach the top 10 percent of their state's testing scores over several years or show significant gains in student achievement. It is considered the highest honor a school can achieve."
^"Viers Mill School Wins Blue Ribbon; School Scored High on Statewide Test", The Washington Post. September 29, 2005. "For their accomplishments, all three schools this month earned the status of Blue Ribbon School, the highest honor the U.S. Education Department can bestow upon a school."
^Goldman, Jeff. "Which N.J. schools were named to national 'Blue Ribbon' list?", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, October 2, 2014. Accessed December 31, 2014. "Eleven New Jersey schools have been named to the annual National Blue Ribbon list, the U.S. Department of Education announced Tuesday."
^Lannan, Aktie. "Elizabeth gifted and talented school earns National Blue Ribbon School designation", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, October 1, 2014. Accessed December 31, 2014. "Federal education officials designated the William F. Halloran Gifted and Talented School No. 22 as a National Blue Ribbon School, one of 337 selected nationwide based on academic excellence and progress in closing the achievement gap. This is the second time School 22 has received the honor in the past 10 years, according to the school department. It was first named a National Blue Ribbon School in 2006."
^Hatala, Greg. "Glimpse of History: When Battin was co-ed", The Star-Ledger, June 11, 2012. Accessed March 16, 2015. "According to research by Kristin Kulick, director of special projects for the Elizabeth Board of Education, the academic year 1976-77 was the last year male and female students attended classes separately."
^ abHorowitz, Ben. "Elizabeth Awaits Coed High School", The New York Times, July 10, 1977. Accessed March 16, 2015. "Elizabeth's 48-year role as the only community in the state with separate public high schools for boys and girls will end in September with the opening of a new fourbuilding complex at the corner of South Pearl and South Streets."
^Bloom, Kathryn Ruth. "Battin High in Elizabeth, the only All-Girl Public School", The New York Times, September 24, 1972. Accessed March 16, 2015. "Elizabeth - With women having invaded Princeton and Vassar a coed college, the days of the single-sex school might seem to be over. They're not, though, for the girls at Battin High, one of three public high schools in this industrial city; the girls are students at New Jersey's only public all-girl high school."
^Iati, Marisa. "Elizabeth's $507M schools budget: 45 new teachers, no tax increase", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, June 8, 2016, updated January 16, 2019. Accessed August 11, 2020. "Small upticks in government aid: State funding, which Gov. Chris Christie intends to increase for every district in New Jersey, makes up 82.6 percent of Elizabeth's budget. At $419 million, proposed funding to Elizabeth for next year is very slightly higher than this year's actual state funding of $417 million."
^Annual Comprehensive Financial Report of the City of Elizabeth School District, New Jersey Department of Education, for year ending June 30, 2023. Accessed April 11, 2024. "The City of Elizabeth School District is a Type II District located in Union County, New Jersey. The School District is an instrumentality of the State of New Jersey, established to function as an educational institution. The Board of Education of the Elizabeth School District is composed of nine members elected to three-year terms. A superintendent is appointed by the Board and is responsible for the administrative control of the District."
^Sherman, Ted. "Two investigations launched into Elizabeth school board", The Star-Ledger, June 13, 2011. Accessed September 5, 2011. "The Elizabeth Board of Education has become the focus of two investigations in the wake of charges that jobs and promotions at one of the state's largest school systems were tied to political contributions.
