Dive Summary:
- New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie announced plans Monday for a state takeover of the 26 schools in the state's troubled Camden School District, the first such takeover since 1995 and the fourth overall.
- In 2012, the district's graduation rate was below 50%, 37 points below the state's average, and the city's schools also performed drastically lower than the state average for standardized test scores in math and reading.
- Christie said he waited three years to see if the district would improve and ultimately acted based on a report from the state Department of Education, saying the district's deep-rooted problems couldn't be solved without state help.
From the article:
... "Today we are taking the lead because for too long, the public school system in Camden has failed its children," Christie said at press conference on Monday.
"The situation I believe is dire now and so far gone that we are at a breaking point." ...