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GSCS September Notes
Welcome to Fall 2012. With legislative elections in both houses coming up this November, and with the Governor taking his education reform conversation to school folks directly - last Friday to school board members and today (Monday) to school superintendents - politics and education policy are emerging as front burner items. The Senate has started to convene committee meetings and voting sessions, not the usual routine during election season. There is talk of charter, teacher evaluation, tenure, merit pay, school funding reform, mandate relief -and more legislation- being on the Statehouse agenda prior to the November legislative elections. (In fact, just today the Education Transformation Task Force made it's initial report on mandate relief. To read more scroll below to the news briefs.)
Welcome to Fall 2012. With legislative elections in both houses coming up this November, and with the Governor taking his education reform conversation to school folks directly - last Friday to school board members and today (Monday) to school superintendents - politics and education policy are emerging as front burner items. The Senate has started to convene committee meetings and voting sessions, not the usual routine during election season. There is talk of charter, teacher evaluation, tenure, merit pay, school funding reform, mandate relief -and more legislation- being on the Statehouse agenda prior to the November legislative elections. (In fact, just today the Education Transformation Task Force made it's initial report on mandate relief. To read more scroll below to the news briefs.)
GSCS will continue to press our members' concerns and ideas to Trenton during this time. Our "short list" of advocacy items includes:
· Quality education for all children
· State aid for suburban school districts
· Mandate relief
· Reasonable education reform
· High-stakes testing; testing revisions
· School district / county consolidation proposals
· Changes to the School Funding Reform Act (SFRA)
· Special education funding
· Charter school funding, development and regulation
And we'll be watching for the latest new developments. So please let us hear from you, visit the GSCS website for the latest news . . . and as always, stay tuned. . . .
