From: Justin Escher Alpert <justinalpertesq@escheralpert.

com>
To: "senruiz@njleg.org" <senruiz@njleg.org>; "senturner@njleg.org" <senturner@njleg.org>;
Sen. D.O. Allen <senallen@njleg.org>; "senbeach@njleg.org" <senbeach@njleg.org>; Sen.
Doherty <sendoherty@njleg.org>
Cc: "sensarlo@njleg.org" <sensarlo@njleg.org>; Senator Jennifer Beck <senbeck@njleg.org>;
"aswcaride@njleg.org" <aswcaride@njleg.org>; "asmoscanlon@njleg.org"
<asmoscanlon@njleg.org>; "aswrodriguezgregg@njleg.org" <aswrodriguezgregg@njleg.org>;
Asm McKeon <asmmckeon@njleg.org>; "aswpintormarin@njleg.org"
<aswpintormarin@njleg.org>; "aswwatson@njleg.org" <aswwatson@njleg.org>
Sent: Thursday, May 4, 2017 10:04 AM
Subject: Field Report Yesterdays State Board of Education Meeting - PARCC, Charters,
Public Education
Dear Senate Education Committee:

I got dressed up in my monkey suit and went down to Trenton yesterday to attend the State
Board of Education Meeting and raise the usual diatribe about the PARCC brand model being a
poor pseudoscience which cannot get out from beneath its own biases that it doesnt give us
any answers that we dont already know that it has ZERO support from the stakeholders. I
was particularly incensed at the universal, arbitrary, and capricious imposition of the PARCC
brand graduation requirement and was prepared to make all kinds of religious and philosophical
indignations about the God-given Right to Self-Determination, the nature of Liberty, and the
core mission of Public Education. But enough about me.

During the public comment session, a number of students from one of the charter schools in
Newark stood forward to make their case about their school being closed for "poor
performance." Now, if youll remember, two years ago this month, the Senate Education
Committee held a hearing about the PARCC exam. One of the corporate charters brought some
barely literate folks down to Trenton to testify about the importance of
PARCC. This wasnt that. This was genuine. My understanding from people in the room is that
a public school was originally closed to make way for this charter. When charter schools were
originally conceived, they were a way for members of the community to step forward, claim
responsibility, and innovate. The charter process was subsequently misused by a corporate
control structure which became readily apparent when it used PARCC as leverage to privatize
the institution of Public Education. The charter school in the instant case seems to be a
throwback to the original intent. The students, some parents, and a founding administrator spoke
with passion about their struggles... about their school that they have sunk their hearts into... and
about their future. And their charter has been revoked. And for everything that PARCC and
QSAC ostensibly measure, we missed out on everything that is humanly important. And we have
snuffed out innovation.

* * * *
We do not have an education problem. We KNOW what an excellent education LOOKS
like. Standardized test scores have always exposed an underlying socioeconomic problem. That
requires a completely different set of tools to fix. For those of us who identify as Originalists,
we may refer to the text of the State Constitution to understand in plain language that, The
Legislature shall provide for the maintenance and support of a thorough and efficient system of
free public schools for the instruction of all the children in the State between the ages of five and
eighteen years. Charter schools started to pop up around the country in the early 1990s. Our
State Constitution is from 1947, when the idea for a publicly-funded, privately-operated charter
school would have conflicted with the good common sense of the time with respect to a free
public school that is accountable to the community it serves. We are ahead of ourselves. There
are a whole host of political, social, and economic factors at play, but at the end of the day, we
must remember that we are dealing with People. Those kids have been whipsawed
by Policy. Had I kicked their legs out from beneath them on their way up to the podium, it
would have hurt less.

So, back to me. I firmly believe everything that I said up in the first paragraph above and would
welcome a chance to parse the ideas over coffee at some point of time. If I may Secure the
Blessings of Liberty for my daughter to opt out of the PARCC brand graduation requirement
before Monday, I would welcome the chance to do so. Otherwise, we are prepared to take the
test out of spite and under protest. To the person who uses the PARCC brand results to compare
my daughter to those kids from Newark, I proffer that the Test says more about the inequities of
the system than it does about the potential of any one student, the proficiency of any one teacher,
or the comparison of any two people from different circumstances.

The answer to the socioeconomic problem is to invest through accountable public infrastructures,
paying skilled and educated people from the community real living wages to do the work that
needs to be done to sustain a healthy community. And then there is an iterative process of
tracking cash flows and making adjustments with smart tax, wage, banking, land ownership,
credit, and community development policy. The Land in Newark has Infinite Value that may be
cultivated on behalf of the People who live and work on it in perpetuity. If done intelligently, it
could drive regional Growth.

One gets the feeling that both the State Board of Education and the professionals at the State
Department of Education are longing to be freed to do more compelling work. The Acting
Commissioner should be asked to sit for Senate confirmation and clearly state her vision in
setting up for the next administration. The Senate has a special duty to protect the vital
institutions of the State. Thank you to the Senate President and the Chairwoman for their clear
message sent last month by letter to the State Board of Education President and the Acting
Commissioner. There is now a conversation that needs to happen about what is truly important.

We need a new vision for Public Education. We need to know the immediate capital
requirements to construct and upgrade facilities to meet the constitutional and moral
requirements. Lets do the job right and anticipate Growth. By the way, Essex County is in a
position to develop more-engaging assessments that bring together stakeholders from the several
districts to interact and compare and contrast and work together to solve real world problems. If
you were to grant a county-based commission (say... 150,000 students in Essex County X $22.50
PARCC fee = $3,375,000), we could develop for next year a model program based on diverse,
compelling, hands-on experiences. The assessment answers may not be known in advance and,
quite possibly, neither will the questions. But the reports generated will provide profound
insight. New Jersey is in a good position to lead the country out of the standardized testing era to
tap at the heart of excellence in Public Education. Public Education that is properly-funded and
accountable to the community served is the backbone of democracy.

This is a tough job. Thank you for your leadership.

Respectfully submitted,

Justin Escher Alpert

Livingston, New Jersey