Education Chief Leaving for Job at Rutgers

Jul. 29–The state’s top education official is stepping down to take a new job at the Graduate School of Education at Rutgers University.

Education Commissioner William L. Librera’s last day will be Sept. 7.

“It’s important for me to say how much of an honor and a privilege it has been for me to have been the commissioner and how much I really do appreciate the great support that I think we’ve had from the governor’s office, the Legislature, the courts and from all of the communities under what were some difficult times in the past three and a half years,” the 59-year-old educator said Thursday.

Acting Governor Codey has not reached a decision on a replacement, said his spokeswoman, Kelley Heck.

Edwina M. Lee, executive director of the New Jersey School Boards Association, said Librera became commissioner at a “challenging time.” She pointed out his work to improve the state’s testing program and praised his support for exploring ways beyond paper-and-pencil exams to measure progress.

He also had to grapple with President Bush’s strict new regulations for improving student performance.

“Dr. Librera also faced the serious challenges of implementing the requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind Act with little federal money, and of revising the system that our state uses to monitor school district performance,” she said in a statement.

Lee said Librera’s background as a teacher and administrator has “always showed through.

“While we have not agreed with every one of his decisions, we always found him willing to listen to the concerns of local school boards,” Lee said in a statement.

Improving the state’s poorest schools — the 31 so-called Abbott districts — has been a focus of his administration. He said progress made there “is a source of great satisfaction to me even though I know we have plenty that still needs to be done.

“I think that what we have are more examples of Abbott districts achieving at suburban levels,” he said. “That student achievement information is encouraging, although, still, the positive examples are the exception rather than the rule.”

As for business left undone, Librera said he wishes he had made more progress toward changing the school funding formula. He said “the need is significant so the changes will be far reaching. I know that will take a considerable amount of time.”

In his new post at Rutgers, Librera said he will focus on building a “better and more positive connection” between the university and the state’s public schools. He said he never expected to serve more than four years as commissioner and decided to leave a bit early for this “extraordinary opportunity.”

Librera conceded there’s not a lot that will get completed between now and his departure, especially because he’s planning some vacation time in August. But he has asked the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association for an improvement plan by Aug. 19. He said he hopes “to be able to resolve the problems the athletic association has had.” The group has been under scrutiny for questionable spending practices and high ticket prices following articles in The Record.

There’s also progress in professional development and a push to end the Special Review Assessment, which allows students to graduate without passing the state’s high school exam. Librera has asked the state Board of Education to eliminate that path to a diploma.

“Something I learned very well here is you don’t have too many things that begin at a certain point and stop at another point,” he said. “What you have is something that you begin, it changes form, and you make progress on pieces of that over time.”

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