Camden City School District

Camden City School District
Address
1033 Cambridge Street
Camden
, Camden County, New Jersey, 08105
United States
Coordinates39°56′53″N 75°07′34″W / 39.948058°N 75.126221°W / 39.948058; -75.126221
District information
GradesPreK to 12
SuperintendentKatrina T. McCombs
Business administratorRaymond Coxe
Schools19
Affiliation(s)SDA District
Students and staff
Enrollment7,553 (as of 2020–21)[1]
Faculty668.0 FTEs[1]
Student–teacher ratio11.3:1[1]
Other information
District Factor GroupA
Websitecamdencityschools.org
Ind. Per pupil District
spending		 Rank
(*)		 K-12
average		 %± vs.
average
1ATotal Spending$26,998102$18,89142.9%
1Budgetary Cost20,84910314,78341.0%
2Classroom Instruction11,4441008,76330.6%
6Support Services4,4091032,39284.3%
8Administrative Cost1,791931,48520.6%
10Operations & Maintenance3,1771021,78378.2%
13Extracurricular Activities1135268−57.8%
16Median Teacher Salary61,2032864,043
Data from NJDoE 2014 Taxpayers' Guide to Education Spending.[2]
*Of K-12 districts with more than 3,500 students. Lowest spending=1; Highest=103
Board of Education Building

Camden City School District is a public school district that serves students in pre-Kindergarten through twelfth grade from the city of Camden, in Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The district is one of 31 former Abbott districts statewide that were established pursuant to the decision by the New Jersey Supreme Court in Abbott v. Burke[3] which are now referred to as "SDA Districts" based on the requirement for the state to cover all costs for school building and renovation projects in these districts under the supervision of the New Jersey Schools Development Authority.[4][5] In 2013, after years of requests from local officials,[6] New Jersey intervened in Camden City, making the school district state-run under the leadership of Superintendent Paymon Rouhanifard.[7]

As of the 2020–21 school year, the district, comprising 19 schools, had an enrollment of 7,553 students and 668.0 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 11.3:1.[1]

The district is classified by the New Jersey Department of Education as being in District Factor Group "A", the lowest of eight groupings. District Factor Groups organize districts statewide to allow comparison by common socioeconomic characteristics of the local districts. From lowest socioeconomic status to highest, the categories are A, B, CD, DE, FG, GH, I and J.[8]

In 2017–18, Camden students who took the state PARCC test showed year-on-year progress since the test was first administered in 2014–15, as reported on KYW NewsRadio. About 14% of district students in grades three through eight are proficient in language arts, with about 10% testing proficient in math.[9] Just under 11% of high school students tested at or above the statewide proficiency rate in language arts. For math, that number was 1 to 3% of high school students.

But there are also signs of progress. In 2016, the state committed $133 million[10] to renovate Camden High School, the graduation rate has gone up by 17 percentage points in five years, while drop outs have been cut in half.[11] the District-led pre-school program has become a highlight.[12]

In 2015, a new, $41 million, 110,000-square-foot (10,000 m2) school opened on Broadway,[13] and in 2017 two additional brand new renaissance school buildings opened, one in the Cramer Hill neighborhood and the other in Haddon Avenue in Whitman Park. Working in partnership with the school district, today renaissance schools serve about 4,200 students and boast rising test results.[14]

The district is guided by its school improvement plan, Putting Students First.[15][16]

  1. ^ a b c d District information for Camden City School District, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed February 15, 2022.
  2. ^ Taxpayers' Guide to Education Spending April 2013, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed April 15, 2013.
  3. ^ What We Do: History, New Jersey Schools Development Authority. Accessed March 1, 2022. "In 1998, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled in the Abbott v. Burke case that the State must provide 100 percent funding for all school renovation and construction projects in special-needs school districts. According to the Court, aging, unsafe and overcrowded buildings prevented children from receiving the "thorough and efficient" education required under the New Jersey Constitution.... Full funding for approved projects was authorized for the 31 special-needs districts, known as 'Abbott Districts'."
  4. ^ What We Do, New Jersey Schools Development Authority. Accessed March 1, 2022.
  5. ^ SDA Districts, New Jersey Schools Development Authority. Accessed March 1, 2022.
  6. ^ Goodnough, Abby. "On Politics; A Request From Camden: Take Our Schools, Please", The New York Times, March 29, 1998. Accessed July 12, 2017. "But takeovers were back in the spotlight last week, after Mayor Milton Milan of Camden beseeched Governor Whitman to seize control of the schools in his hard-luck city."
  7. ^ Steele, Alison. "How an Iranian refugee rose to lead Camden's schools", The Philadelphia Inquirer, February 6, 2017. Accessed July 12, 2017. "After Rouhanifard's family settled near Nashville, his father pumped gas until he was able to start a small business. Rouhanifard learned English, went to college, and became an educator. In 2013, Gov. Christie appointed him superintendent of Camden's state-run school district, calling on him to turn around the city's struggling schools."
  8. ^ NJ Department of Education District Factor Groups (DFG) for School Districts, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed March 18, 2015.
  9. ^ "CCSD 2016-17 PARCC Results" (PDF). Camden City School District. September 2017. Retrieved April 5, 2018.
  10. ^ "SDA Camden High Redevelopment Project". Camden City School District. October 2017. Retrieved April 5, 2018.
  11. ^ "Drop out rate down, student back on track" (PDF). Camden City School District. February 13, 2018. Retrieved April 5, 2018.
  12. ^ "Philadelphia Inquirer". Archived from the original on March 4, 2016.
  13. ^ "Courier-Post".
  14. ^ "Camden Schools Show Improvement" (PDF). Camden City School District. September 29, 2017. Retrieved April 5, 2018.
  15. ^ Putting Students First, Camden City School District. Accessed March 28, 2022.
  16. ^ McCombs, Katrina T. "Your Turn: Camden students deserve district that puts them first", Courier-Post, October 26, 2018. Accessed March 28, 2022.