Documentary Film Critical of NJ\’s Education System Open this Weekend

From Friday\’s (10/9)Courier Post (http://www.courierpostonline.com)A new documentary film (The Cartel)detailing shortcomings of the New Jersey public education system has won acclamation at local film festivals and is getting a chance to be seen by the public. The film runs about 90 minutes and focuses on several of the 31 Abbott districts — poorer, mostly urban districts, including Camden. \”When money is coming from the state, there is a disconnect between who gives the money and who spends the money. That\’s a waste. You can have 29 percent of that money being wasted, and it doesn\’t enrage people because it\’s coming from the state,\” Bob Bowdon producer.

Bowdon believes Abbott districts spend money wastefully because if they don\’t spend every penny they won\’t get even more money the following year. Gloucester City is an Abbott District and spent $218,000 this year on stadium lights to play four football games under the lights. The district also received Abbott funds to build a $20 million gym constructed three years ago. There was nothing wrong with the old gym except it needed a new floor. Presently Gloucester City School Board is waiting for $67 million from the state to build a Middle School. When the Middle School was first proposed the construction costs was $20 million. Millions were spent by taxpayers to clear the former industrial site of contaminants. The four block area, once the home for 70 families and one neighborhood business, has been sitting vacant for several years now waiting for construction funds from a state that is bankrupt. ~Bill Cleary

When the New Jersey Schools Construction Corporation ran out of money and left a number of school districts in the lurch over schools that had been approved but not yet funded and built, it retooled and re-emerged as the Schools Development Authority.