Letter to the Editor: Unfair to Compare Academic Vo-Tech Test Scores Against HHS

This letter to the editor was first published in the Asbury Park Press on Feb. 20. Holmdel Patch is reprinting it here with permission from the writer, Holmdel Board of Education Vice President Barbara Garrity. Garrity notes the opinion expressed is solely her own. 

To the Editor,

I read with interest two items on your February 13, 2011 Opinion and Commentary pages:  “Get a Better Fix on Public School Spending” and “Vo-tech Schools at Top of Class in SAT Scores.”  The two items are actually interrelated when viewed from the perspective of a Board of Education member like me, speaking solely on my own behalf.  

First, our Monmouth County “vo-tech” schools (High Tech, Biotech, etc.) actually function as magnet schools that pick and choose from among the students who apply.  Although each county school district is entitled to enroll one student in each magnet program, many have no takers.  The open spaces are then made available by application. 

When students are accepted, our school district pays $5,800 per pupil in local school funding to the vocational district.  That money, plus county funds, pays the cost of their education, which at High Tech for example runs about $3,000 a year higher than ours in Holmdel even though it doesn’t include transportation, fine arts, athletics or extracurriculars.  “Home” districts pay to transport the vo-tech students, and provide their sports, fine arts and club opportunities. 

Local districts have no authority to limit the number of students who opt to attend the vo-tech/magnet schools, and in Holmdel the annual budget impact has grown to nearly $430,000 for some 74 students.   Next year, tuition will increase to $5,900 and the number of Holmdel students attending is expected to rise. 

This transfer of local school funding makes the vo-tech schools similar to charter schools in terms of financial impact on comprehensive public school districts who must educate all who walk through their doors.  With school tax levy growth capped at 2%, this cost has become yet another wild card in the budget planning process.  Like health insurance and energy costs, vo-tech tuitions create uncertainty at a time when district budgets have little margin for error.

Second, when you compare the average SAT scores of New Jersey high schools, you compare those of vo-tech or, more accurately, magnet schools with those of comprehensive high schools.  High Tech High School’s average SAT scores are 729 Math, 687 Verbal, and 691 Essay.  These scores are superb, the highest in New Jersey.  However, they were earned by students cherry-picked from among the finest students in Monmouth County, including Holmdel, so I would expect them to be outstanding.  If they weren’t, and if I were a vo-tech Board member, I would be asking the administration what we should be doing differently. 

I am proud of the average SAT scores of Holmdel’s students – 618 Math, 585 Verbal, 585 Essay – 98-86 points above state average, and 44-30 points higher than average in our district factor group (districts socio-economically like ours).  Ninety nine percent of our juniors take the SAT, so our average reflects the performance of nearly every student, no matter his ability.  That means students with special needs, as well as students taking basic skills, regular, honors or Advanced Placement level courses. 

As our mission statement says, we strive to “develop the potential of every student into achievement.”  Thanks to the dedication of our administration, staff, and students, and the support of our parents and community, our average SAT scores reflect the high performance we seek to foster. 

Both High Tech and Holmdel do a fine job educating the students they serve, but the two populations are as different as apples and oranges.  That should be noted when their average SAT scores are compared.

I have no desire to deprive students of the opportunities offered by our excellent county vo-tech schools.  However, the real impact of this lost funding on the “home” districts is yet another factor state officials need to understand better “before making vital decisions on how best to allocate [school] funding.” 

It would also be helpful if the media would stop making apples-to-oranges comparisons between the test results of magnet schools who select their students and have significantly higher per pupil budgets, and those of comprehensive high schools who educate all comers with fewer dollars.

Barbara J. Garrity

VP, Holmdel Board of Education