Garden State Times

Senator Declan O’Scanlon has called for an investigation into the spending practices of College Achieve Public Schools (CAPS) charter management organization following reports of a high CEO salary.

“This salary, $697,528, is a real shock. It’s extremely confusing in this instance why there is such an inflated salary here when the actual fee the charter school is paying to this charter management organization is within normal industry standards. It’s clear that some real digging needs to be done,” said O’Scanlon. “Charter schools have documented benefits to students and taxpayers—in Asbury Park the per pupil spending at the charter school is dramatically lower than at district schools. But in the case of CAPS it’s actually a management organization that contracts with the school, not the school itself, that is responsible for this large salary.”

“We’ve met with the New Jersey Public Charter Schools Association (NJPCSA) and done a deep dive here and we know the public is clamoring for information. For instance, if you take CAPS out of the equation, the average salary for a chief executive officer for a charter management organization is $257,000 in total compensation. For school-based chief school administrators, it’s lower, around $161,000. Both in line, or lower than executive salaries you’d expect to see in education. Clearly, and thankfully, this CAPS situation is an outlier that needs to be investigated further. The NJPCSA has jumped in to bring good information and transparency to the situation. They are genuinely concerned about spending of public money and the conduct of their schools.”

“We are actively working with NJPCSA on potential legislation to make the operation salaries paid to these management organizations more accessible and transparent. That ought to prevent anything such as this from happening again.”