NJ Superintendents Ask Senate Committee for Kean or Bateman Legislation to Extend QSAC Cycle

March 24, 2014  Contact: Jeremy Rosen / (609) 847-3600

During today’s Senate Education Committee meeting, New Jersey school superintendents called for the passage of legislation sponsored by Senate Republican Leader Tom Kean Jr. or Senator Christopher “Kip” Bateman to extend the New Jersey Quality Single Accountability Continuum (QSAC) in high performing school districts to every seven years.

“I would like to thank superintendents for calling attention to this common-sense legislation,” said Kean (R-Union, Somerset, Morris). “The less time educators have to spend on unnecessary bureaucracy, the more that they can devote to improve education for our students. That is what is most important.”

“Schools with a track record of high performance and success have earned the privilege of greater flexibility,” said Bateman (R-Somerset, Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex). “We should not be weighing those schools down with over-burdensome regulations. They should have the freedom to focus more on student outcomes to improve as a leading example for other schools around the state and country.”

Senator Kean’s S721 extends the cycle for QSAC — to measure the performance of school districts from fiscal management to personnel to operations – from every three years to every seven years in “high performing districts.”  This bill was unanimously passed by the state Assembly in 2011 but has yet to be posted for a vote in the Senate.

Senator Bateman’s S135 was the first legislation introduced (in 2010) to extend the cycle to every seven years. It also allows the Education Commissioner to direct a limited review of high performing district operations at the five-year point between seven year reviews.