Daily Austerity Watch: Medford, New Jersey's Daft Idea Of Charging Student Teachers

Medford, New Jersey,  a wealthy suburb of about 22,000 outside of Philadelphia, may seem to be the least likely place to have a cash-strapped school district.   The community is mostly white, fairly wealthy and home to several local celebrities including former Philadelphia Phillies pitcher turned broadcaster Mitch Williams.    In 1670, William Penn (yes the famous one)  helped sell the original 900 acres where the town was established.  Yet, looks can be deceiving.

The 3,089 student Medford School District is struggling so much that it has proposed an idea that is both unprecedented and bizarre  of charging student teachers for the privilege of working there for free over a 12-week period .  The fees would be $1,200 for students attending in-state colleges and universities and $1,500 for those in out-of-state schools.   The New Jersey Education Association is, of course, aghast.   Officials from local colleges say they won’t send students to teach at Medford because of the fees.

This policy is being excoriated in the Philadelphia media and rightly so.    Adding new fees for student teachers  may deter people from entering the profession at a time when older teachers are retiring in droves as states slash K-12 education spending.  The costs of employing unpaid student teachers seem to be minimal and the benefits are many.   For one thing, it’s a low-cost method of recruiting talented young educators and will help them sharpen their pedagogical skills, which in theory will benefit children.  Plus, Medford only had 30 student teachers last year  while another 25 had “field experiences” there, meaning the fee would not have done  much in the way of income to fill the district’s depleted coffers.   District officials counter that few student teachers in the past few years have become full-time faculty.

What’s surprising about the Medford policy is that no one apparently hadn’t thought of it before.  After all, school districts are not shy about making a buck through everything from selling advertising on buses and athletic fields to entering sponsorship arrangements with soft drink companies.   As state aid dries up, schools are finding even new ways to make a buck, including raising activity fees so high that they are unaffordable to some parents.

Medford officials say the student teacher fees are a creative solution to a vexing problem.   Besides, they note that there is no rule against it. Bryan McGair, assistant superintendent for finance and support services, said in an interview that the student teaching policy, which begins in September, is part of a broader strategy to generate revenue from sources other than property taxes.  Medford, he says, receives a small portion of its budget from the state because it’s considered to be a wealthy district.

“Not everybody in Medford is quote, unquote wealthy,” he says, adding that the community has clamored for the district to keep taxes low.  “We have made significant cuts in our budgets over the past few years.”

As for charg instudent teachers, McGair argues that the district is trying to cash-in on a service that it provides which is highly in demand and that the negative reaction from colleges was expected.  About 75-100 people will apply for an opening in Medford.   Indeed, teachers in the area “in many instances will take a pay cut” to work in the district,  he says.

Local residents have voted down the last two school budgets in a cockamamie ritual of school budget elections where people are asked to vote against their own interests and agree to raise their own taxes. This year, unlike many others, many school budgets passed — a record 80% — because tax receipts were greater than expected negating the need for big increases and property tax increases were capped.   Medford proved to be one of the exception because it was one of the 20 communities that tried to raise taxes above the 2% cap.  Medford’s proposed municipal increase was 25%.  Had the school budget  not been tied to the municipal budget, it would have passed, according to McGair..

According to local media reports, voters shot down a pretty austere budget that among other things cut  a physical education teacher, increased student activity fees and privatized the district substitute program.  After the township council slashed the defeated budget further, the district decided to privatize its educational assistant jobs.   Township officials, though, approved the lower budget and did not negate the tax increase entirely.

What the Medford story proves is that the U.S.  system of funding education through property taxes is too erratic to be trusted thanks to the depressed real estate market.  Districts are being forced to scramble to make a buck, and that’s bad news for all.

–Jonathan Berr