NJ Spotlight--Murphy Echoes Kennedy, Jabs Trump in Optimistic Inaugural Address
New governor wants immediate action on some of his promises amid Republican grumbles that he’s ‘still posturing, still campaigning’
Sworn into office with the same Bible that President John F. Kennedy used for his inauguration nearly 60 years ago, Gov. Phil Murphy repeatedly struck tones of service and inclusion during his inaugural address in Trenton yesterday. He also urged fellow Democrats to get to work right away on measures that would follow through on major campaign promises, including increasing the minimum wage and boosting funding for women’s healthcare.
Murphy emphasized a message of unbridled optimism during the roughly 30-minute address, saying he would remain sanguine while taking on the state’s steep fiscal problems and other major policy challenges.
John Reitmeyer | January 17, 2018
Education Week--Nation's Schools Stuck in 'Average' Range on Annual Report Card
Analysis flags state disparities
As a new presidential administration nears the close of its first year in office and educators across the country grapple with the challenges and opportunities in implementing the Every Student Succeeds Act, the nation's educational performance earns a grade of C from Quality Counts 2018, the 22nd annual report card issued by the Education Week Research Center.
The nation's score of 74.5 is about the same as last year, when it posted a 74.2, also a C grade—continuing years of flat performance noted in the annual report, which weighs a host of academic, fiscal, and socioeconomic factors.
https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2018/01/17/nations-schools-stuck-in-average-range-on.html
Sterling C. Lloyd| January 17, 2018