Education

State Journal

December 14, 1994 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

The New Jersey Education Department will hold hearings this week with board members and administrators from the Newark school district after questioning the propriety of spending $74,000 on five new cars for board members’ use.

The state, which is attempting to take over the troubled 48,000-student district, first raised questions about the cars when its acting auditor general, who is in Newark monitoring the district’s finances for the education department, was asked to approve the purchase. A top state official forbade the purchase in a letter to the Newark superintendent, but local officials have apparently chosen to keep the cars, a department spokeswoman said.

District officials told the state that the board members need the cars to be able to visit local schools. But state officials said that no other New Jersey district offers such a perk and that they are leery of the precedent.

The state has subpoenaed the board members and top Newark administrators for hearings this week, officials said. The Newark officials may soon become familiar faces in the education department’s offices in Trenton; the state expects to launch hearings on taking over the district in February.

The state school board and legislature in West Virginia are fighting over who has the authority to give Henry R. Marockie, the state school superintendent, a raise.

The legislature gave the state chief, who made $70,000 last year, a $5,000 annual increase earlier this year, but the pay raise was delayed until 1997. But board officials decided to give Mr. Marockie a $15,000 increase with no delay.

The state’s supreme court will resolve the conflict.

The state superintendent’s salary has been adjusted at times by lawmakers and at other times by the state board, but, until this year, neither side has contested the other’s generosity or lack thereof. Lawyers for the state board argue that the salary should be considered part of the board’s domain since the superintendent is an appointed rather than an elected official.

Mr. Marockie’s pay raise is linked directly to the question of who serves as his boss. The board’s lawyer argued that if the legislature controlled the superintendent’s salary, it would control the superintendent--a measure of power that the board would like to claim for itself.

--Lonnie Harp

A version of this article appeared in the December 14, 1994 edition of Education Week as State Journal

Events

Ed-Tech Policy Webinar Artificial Intelligence in Practice: Building a Roadmap for AI Use in Schools
AI in education: game-changer or classroom chaos? Join our webinar & learn how to navigate this evolving tech responsibly.
Education Webinar Developing and Executing Impactful Research Campaigns to Fuel Your Ed Marketing Strategy 
Develop impactful research campaigns to fuel your marketing. Join the EdWeek Research Center for a webinar with actionable take-aways for companies who sell to K-12 districts.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Privacy & Security Webinar
Navigating Cybersecurity: Securing District Documents and Data
Learn how K-12 districts are addressing the challenges of maintaining a secure tech environment, managing documents and data, automating critical processes, and doing it all with limited resources.
Content provided by Softdocs

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Education Briefly Stated: March 13, 2024
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
9 min read
Education Briefly Stated: February 21, 2024
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
8 min read
Education Briefly Stated: February 7, 2024
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
8 min read
Education Briefly Stated: January 31, 2024
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
9 min read