Grades pre-K to 12 Student-teacher ratio 13.21:1 Founded 1902 Faculty 1845.0 | Business administrator Richard J. Kilpatrick Enrollment 28,139 (as of 2014-15) Number of students 28,139 Schools 48 | |
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Superintendent Dr. Donnie W. Evans (state appointed) Profiles | ||
The Paterson Public Schools (PPS) is a comprehensive community public school district that serves students in pre-Kindergarten through twelfth grade from Paterson, New Jersey, United States. The district is one of 31 former Abbott districts statewide, 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.
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Map of Paterson City, Paterson, NJ, USA
As of the 2011–12 school year, the district's 48 schools had an enrollment of 24,365 students and 1,845.0 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 13.21:1. As of October 2014, the district had an estimated enrollment of 28,139 students. For the 2014-15 school year, the district anticipated a budget with total expenditures of $591 million and per pupil spending of $16,696.
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.
Among the 594 students who took the SAT in 2013, the mean combined score was 1120 and there were 19 students (3.2% of those taking the exam) who achieved the combined score of 1550 that the College Board considers an indicator of college readiness, a decline from the 26 students (4.3%) who achieved the standard the previous year.
District enrollment in Paterson surged at the start of the 2015-16 school year, creating a public school enrollment of 700 students higher than expected and putting the school district in a situation of needing to hire teachers rapidly not long after the district had laid off 300 positions.
State intervention
The district is one of three districts in New Jersey (along with Newark Public Schools and Jersey City Public Schools) under "state intervention", which authorizes the Commissioner of Education to intervene in governance of a local public school district (and to intervene in the areas of instruction and program, operations, personnel, and fiscal management) if the Commissioner has determined that a school district failed or was unable to take corrective actions necessary to establish a thorough and efficient system of education.
Schools
Schools in the district (with 2011-12 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics) are:
Administration
Core members of the district's administration are:
Governor of New Jersey Jon Corzine announced in March 2009 that he was recommending the appointment of Evans as the district's superintendent, with the State Board of Education ratifying the nomination of Evans by Lucille Davy, Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Education.