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NJ Spotlight--Top Reports: How Fair Is School Funding in NJ Compared to Other States?
The answer, it seems, is fairer than most. Only Wyoming matches New Jersey on key criteria
Just how much do states fund their schools? And how fairly do they do so in terms of what the schools need and what the states can afford?
John Mooney | December 27, 2018
NJ Spotlight--Top Reports: Experts Say Big Cuts Needed to Make State Fiscally Stable
Senate President Steve Sweeney convened a nonpartisan group to examine New Jersey’s ledgers. They prescribed some harsh medicine, including cuts to public worker benefits
After a new federal tax law took away the deduction for state and local taxes that is coveted by many New Jersey residents, Senate President Steve Sweeney assembled a 25-member panel of fiscal policy experts to scrutinize state fiscal policies and search for ways to find new savings.
The group issued a report in August that called for sweeping policy changes. Among the proposals were public-worker benefits cuts, merging some school districts, and adding tolls to certain highways.
Ever since its release, Sweeney (D-Gloucester) has been meeting with local governments, editorial boards, and other groups throughout the state to make the case for adopting the nonpartisan group’s proposals.
John Reitmeyer | December 26, 2018
Star Ledger--With more students sickened by vaping, another N.J. school district joins chorus of warnings
After a number of its students were sickened last week, another New Jersey school district has issued warnings about the dangers of e-cigarettes in connection with a particularly potent brand of the flavored electronic nicotine sticks.
“We are writing today to ask for your help in discussing a serious topic with your children,” stated a Dec. 20 letter to parents of North Warren Regional High School in Blairstown. “We have had several students fall ill after inhaling substances from vape pens. This is a burgeoning problem.”
Steve Strunsky | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com| Updated Dec 24; Posted Dec 24
Washington Post—Asking if early-childhood education ‘works’ is the wrong question. Here are the right ones.
The midterm elections were good for supporters of expanding early-childhood education, with the majority of newly elected governors expressing support for programs targeted at teaching and caring for young people.
Though there may be widespread support on the need for early-childhood education programs, there is no consensus over what those programs should focus on and look like.
Valerie Strauss| December 29, 2018
Chalkbeat--Want a charter school application? If your child has a disability, your questions more likely to be ignored, study finds
In a sweeping national “mystery shopper” experiment, researchers posing as parents sent emails to thousands of schools asking how to apply for admission.
Some messages said their child had a disability. Others said their child sometimes had trouble behaving in class, or struggled with academics.
The results: charter schools and certain traditional district schools were more likely to ignore parents who indicate their children may be tough to educate, and charter schools in particular are more likely to ignore inquiries that appear to be from families of students with disabilities.
Sarah Darville - December 21, 2018
The Atlantic--The Year the Gun Conversation Changed
States passed a flurry of gun-control measures in 2018, but the future of the push for greater regulation is tied to the much larger political drama playing out in America.
The year was not a month old when a 16-year-old allegedly opened fire in a cafeteria in Italy, Texas, injuring one of his classmates on January 22nd. It was the first shooting on a K–12 campus this year. One day later, in Benton, Kentucky, a 15-year-old student allegedly killed two of his classmates and injured 17 others. Over the next three weeks, there were shootings at or near Lincoln High School in Philadelphia, Salvador Castro Middle School in Los Angeles, and Oxon Hill High School in Maryland. And on February 14, a former student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, allegedly killed 17 people and wounded more than a dozen others.
https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2018/12/2018-year-gun-conversation-changed/579067/
Adam Harris| Dec 27, 2018
