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GARDEN STATE COALITION OF SCHOOOLS/GSCS
GSCS EMAILNET 2-12-09
Public Support for Public Education
Celebrating Lincoln’s Birthday
SHOWING UP TELLS A STORY: GSCS MEETING FEB 25 7 pm LEONIA
Federal Stimulus Proposal Garners Enough Votes to Pass
Find out @ www.gscschools.org gscs2000@gmail.com
GSCS Message for State Budget FY10: STABILITY & FAIRNESS
GSCS quick facts:
GSCS Board of Trustees meeting, 3:30 March 4 at the E. Brunswick Board of Education, Room 103 [note room change]; Executive officers to meet beforehand at 2 p.m. also in room 103. Please RSVP gscs2000@gmail.com with your attendance plans.
CONCERNED ABOUT YOUR SCHOOLS? YOU ARE INVITED - GSCS GENERAL MEETING in Bergen County, at Leonia Schools' Little Theater Feb 25, 7 p.m.
THERE'S SO MUCH TO TALK ABOUT...GSCS General Membership-Open Regional Meeting: Wednesday, February 25, 7:00PM, Leonia (approx. 1/2 mile off Rt.80 East, exit 70A). DIRECTIONS & DETAILED INFORMATION/FLYER ATTACHED. The meeting will include "CONVERSATION WITH EDUCATION COMMISSIONER LUCILLE DAVY, moderated by MICHAEL ARON, NJN's (New Jersey Network) Senior Political Correspondent, including panelists Dunstan McNichol, NY Times contributing reporter and NJ Statehouse specialist,Jim ONeill, Chatham Superintendent and GSCS President, and Lynne Strickland GSCS Executive Director.
Click ‘More’ below for flyer [in pdf & word] & detailed directions.
SHOW YOU CARE, BE THERE...More
While legislation has moved the Governor’s State Budget Message to March 12, at this time the Statehouse seems to be holding to March 10 as the actual message date. By law, schools must receive their state aid figures no later than 48 hours after the message is delivered.
In recent weeks, GSCS has been in a series of meetings with key legislators to present GSCS’ message of the need for stability and fairness in funding for schools in FY2009-2010; GSCS also addresses the federal stimulus package, focusing in particular on IDEA special education funding remaining whole as increases from the stimulus package make their way to local districts. GSCS will continue to pursue these issues in Trenton…
2-12-09 Federal Stimulus Plan gets enough votes to pass
GSCS: DEVIL IS IN THE DETAILS......NY TIMES - 'Deal Reached in Congress on $789 Billion Stimulus Plan' (Education funding pared down, but still remains a healthy chunk) STAR LEDGER - 'Corzine says federal stimulus makes 'pain a little less terrible' More...
2-11-09 a.m. Education Week Update on Federal Stimulus plan More...
GSCS MESSAGE TO NJ LEADERS: KEEP IDEA FUNDING WHOLE FOR LOCAL DISTRICT STUDENTS
GSCS' advocacy efforts in recent meetings with state leaders has been directed towards IDEA funding in the proposed stimulus plan. While the plan is still not resolved, IDEA funding for special education remains in both the House and Senate proposals. Students - districts - benefit from the increases that this potential aid would bring to districts. In fact, it brings the federal support of special education nationally up to approximately 38.6% - The federal goverment getting much nearer its original promise to the state of 40% federal funds for IDEA requirements. Based on a federal formula for state wealth, New Jersey would receive less percentage - somewhere in the lower 20% region - but noetheless that is a major increase considering New Jersey has only been receiving 11-12% from the federal government. GSCS' message here is that the increases in IDEA funding should stay whole to each district, and that the funding should be forthcoming to local schools as the increase the federal government intends, and that the state should not use these funds to supplant state funding. Let your legislators hear from you directly on this. More...
2-8-09 Remand Hearing delving into Abbott challenge of School Funding Reform Act begins Monday
STAR LEDGER - 'School funding reform will get its day in court' "...Lawyers will gather in the Bergen County courtroom of Superior Court Judge Peter Doyne for three weeks, including half days on Saturdays, grilling expert witnesses on arcane school funding formulas and whether they do enough to help the state's poorest children...Three months ago, the state Supreme Court refused Corzine's request to end the long-running Abbott vs. Burke school funding case, instead ordering an evidentiary hearing to try to determine whether a decade of increased funding had been enough..."
Corzine last year succeeded in convincing lawmakers to go along with a wholesale reform of the way state aid is distributed to school districts...That effectively increased funding for districts struggling with large numbers of poor students that had not been deemed among the state's poorest 31, known as Abbott districts..." More...
2-7&9-09 New York Times on vagaries of Fed Stimulus Package bill
February 8, 2009 'Divisions Over the Competing Stimulus Bills' "Congress is racing to try to finalize the legislation this week...But the competing bills now reflect substantially different approaches. The House puts greater emphasis on helping states and localities avoid wide-scale cuts in services and layoffs of public employees. The Senate cut $40 billion of that aid from its bill, which is expected to be approved Tuesday..."
February 7, 2009 'Senators Reach Deal on Stimulus Plan as Jobs Vanish' "...The biggest cut, roughly $40 billion in aid to states, was likely to spur a fierce fight in negotiations with the House over the final bill. Many states, hit hard by the recession, face wrenching cuts in services and layoffs of public employees as they struggle to comply with laws requiring them to balance their budgets...When debate began this week, the price tag on the Senate version of the stimulus bill was roughly $884 billion, but it grew to more than $900 billion as senators added provisions including tax breaks totaling $30 billion for purchases of homes and cars..." More...
2-6&7-09 Press of Atlantic City on Report Card & High School Redesign
2-6-09 'Poor students struggle no matter where they go to school in New Jersey'..."The new state school-funding formula is supposed to provide funding for all at-risk children, and preschool is being expanded to reach poor children in every district. But funding shortfalls may jeopardize those efforts. "Children in poverty bring the disadvantages with them to school," said Lynne Strickland, director of the Garden State Coalition of Schools. "But funding for these kids in middle-income districts has been lagging.." 'Reforming high schools a slow process' "...While most high schools offer the new requirements, all students are not required to take them. A DOE survey found that while about 70 percent of the state's public high schools require biology, geometry and algebra I, only 45 percent require algebra II and 35 percent require chemistry. Mandating more lab science for all students would require the costly addition of more science labs in the schools..." More...
New Jersey Report Cards Issued by Dept of Education
2-4-09 The New Jersey Department of Education today released the 2008 School Report Cards and the 2008 Statewide Assessment Reports. Additional information is found at http://www.nj.gov/education/news/2009/0204rc.htm
2-3-09 Corzine to unveil new cuts when he offers 2010 budget
STAR LEDGER - "Gov. Jon Corzine said yesterday that more midyear cuts to the state's current budget are unlikely, but he is preparing a new slate of cutbacks for the budget he will deliver next month..." More...
BREAKDOWN OF EDUCATION FUNDING IN HOUSE BILL passed 1-15-09
As the Senate Federal Stimulus bill is in the midst of heated debate in Washington, its counterpart House bill was passed in January. Here are the education funding figures from the House bill (remember, these figures and allocations can and probably will change after the Senate version is passed and a compromise is then worked out between the two houses)…More...
2-2-09 'Area highs schools' investment in personal finance grows'
PRESS OF ATLANTIC CITY "...The state Assembly passed a bill in September that would establish a pilot project to teach personal finance to students in six high schools in the state. The Senate Education Committee approved its version of the bill last week.But schools across the state have not been waiting for a mandate. "They could just ask us to be the pilot," said Ocean City High School Principal Matthew Jamison. The school has had its own personal finance requirement for at least the past five years." More...
2-1-09 'Stimulus plan aims to pour big money into NJ'
STAR LEDGER "...Because the Senate version isn't yet struck, it's unclear whether the locals will be making their case directly to the federal government or go to the state...School officials said hundreds of millions of dollars in direct grants to districts and assistance for special-education and other disadvan taged populations could go a long way toward righting a historic imbalance: The federal government has long mandated programs for special education and pledged to provide 40 percent of the funding, yet most years it has funded about 18 percent... Noting the upcoming Senate debate, the governor said, "We're trying to shape the language in the educational allocation," so the funding can be used for preschool. Corzine has pushed for universal preschool for all low-income children in the state, but a lack of cash has put the plan on hold..." More...
1-30-09 EMAILNET Fed Stimulus Proposal, School Vote, Stability & Fairness More...