ON THE HOMEPAGE at www.gscschools.org :

4-17-09 Model letter to community re required language on budget election ballot
Read to see one district's outreach to its community explaining the objectives of high quality education that lie behind the required language. Your district may want to use this letter as a model. "...When voters go to the polls on Tuesday, April 21, 2009, they will see...[t]he following state-mandated language appears at the end of the budget question: “The school district has proposed programs and services in addition to the core curriculum content standards adopted by the state Board of Education. Information on this budget and the programs and services it provides is available from your local school district.”
This language may be confusing to some voters..." More...
 
090416 DOE RELEASE - IDEA ALLOCATIONS More...
 
090416 DOE RELEASE - TITLE 1 ALLOCATIONS More...
 
4-17-09 The $609M Federal Stimulus aid to NJ - initial reactions
Star Ledger 'Gov. Corzine announces $609M in stimulus funds for N.J. schools'...New Jersey school districts will share $609 million in federal stimulus money... "It is a one-shot revenue infusion for two years. It's not certain what will happen after that," said Frank Belluscio, a spokesperson for the New Jersey School Boards Association..." "One of things districts will be faced with is how do we spend this money well," said Lynne Strickland of the Garden State Coalition of Schools, an advocacy group for about 100 suburban districts in New Jersey. "They're going to have to do it within a reasonably short amount of time..."
The Record, The Herald News, NorthJersey.com – ‘NJ schools eligible for $609 million in federal money’
In Norwood, the funds, though small by comparison, are a welcome cushion for the unexpected special-education costs that Superintendent Andrew Rose says challenge his district every year.“We’re often faced with unbudgeted and unexpected special education costs, due to children moving in over the summer or becoming age 3 and becoming eligible for services,” he said. “This will protect the integrity of our budget,” and help keep class sizes small, he said...
“The dollar amounts are pretty high for a lot of districts and it’s new money,” she said. “Districts across the state — when they see these figures — will breathe a sigh of relief as we go into a tough budget vote next week and continue to deal with a tough economy...[GSCS]”
The state has included a sweetener for districts that want to use Title I money to expand preschool programs for low-income children..." More...
 
4-17-09 The Trenton Times
"Those are big numbers for us. Absolutely that will benefit the children," said Ronald Bilondi, superintendent of the East Windsor Regional School District. "We're going to look at innovative programs, we're going to look at things that normally we wouldn't have funded." In a prime example of the recession's diverse impact, Bilondi's district is eligible for $1.57 million in federal stimulus funding and is also projected to receive about $19.5 million in state aid during the 2009-2010 year, but could have received nearly $2 million in additional money had the state not limited its aid program as part of a tight state budget...The superintendent was not complaining..."
More...
 
4-16-09 Federal Stimulus funds for IDEA and Title 1 just announced: Dept. of Educ. posts district by district listing
GOVERNOR CORZINE ANNOUNCES $609 MILLION IN AMERICAN RECOVERY AND INVESTMENT ACT FUNDS FOR TITLE I AND IDEA TRENTON - New Jersey’s school district funding allocations for Title I and IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) total approximately $609 million, Governor Jon S. Corzine announced today. The State’s allocations under Title I are approximately $238 million while the State’s IDEA allocations total $371 million.
Information on district allocations under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) for Title I and IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) are now available on the New Jersey Department of Education’s web site at www.nj.gov/education/arra/. In addition, the state Department of Education also released guidance on how districts can apply for the funds, and reiterated federal guidance about how the funds can be used. The allocations for each district are set by formulas in federal statutes, and the uses of the funds are also determined by federal statutes, regulations and guidance. “By accepting these funds, however, both the State and local districts must take on the responsibility to ensure that every dollar is spent responsibly on programs that have proven successful, and we must accurately measure and track the results,” the Governor said....
As required by the US Department of Education, all districts will be required to submit applications for the Title I and IDEA funds and receive approval from DOE before the money is disbursed. The applications will be made available in the summer for money to be used between September, 2009 and September, 2011. However, there will be a streamlined application for districts that plan to use the money for student programs or staff professional development during the summer of 2009 or preschool for 2009-2010. More...
 
4-13-09 News of Note
Star Ledge, Sunday/Essex 4-12-09 - 'Frustration grows as schools cut yet costs rise' "...Situation would have been even worse if not for state aid, officials say.." 'In nearby Glen Ridge, the $200 user fee for such extracurricular activities as the chess club at the top-ranked high school is getting a 50 percent markup, to $300 a year...Demotions. Staff cuts. Still higher costs. State spending caps.
"This is the worst year I've ever seen," Digesere [Bloomfiled sup't.] said. The list of cutbacks extends to 21 classroom teachers and 30 instructional aides in West Orange, eight basic-skills instructors and five permanent substitutes in Nutley and a half-million-dollar payroll for classroom aides in Montclair.Even so, homeowners will be, as they say, paying more for less.
But just as budgets have been pared so, too, have been the increases. "It is half of last year's," Elisabeth "Betsy" Ginsburg, Glen Ridge school board president, said of the tax increase. "We just felt we had to be as fiscally responsible as we could in these hard times." It could have been worse. The doling out of state school aid left most of Essex County's districts relatively unscathed, with either the same funding or, in a few cases, slight bump-ups..."
Star Ledger Editorial - Teacher tenure: It's time to end Newark's antiquated tenure system April 10, 2009
Star Ledger, /sunday 4-12-09 'Accounting for a $2.2B difference in budget's bottom line...GOP questions why Corzine figure excludes federal stimulus money' More...
 
4-13-09 Dept. of Educ. reissues its 4-2-09 guidance memo on Federal Recovery funds for schools, including fed'l. website
"...The United States Department of Education (USDE) posted several guidance documents yesterday on the additional federal funds that will be available to school districts throughout the state under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) at the following address: http://www.ed.gov/policy/gen/leg/recovery/index.html#apps.
The above site includes specific guidance documents and Q & As on the ARRA funds under Title I, Part A and Individuals with Disabilities Act, Part B. The department is currently reviewing this information and encourages all districts to access and review these documents.
We also received yesterday the final state allocations for ARRA Title 1 and IDEA. We are calculating the district awards and we will post them on the DOE website early next week. This will allow for your initial planning for the use of the funds. We are also working on a New Jersey specific guidance document and application to use these funds and will provide them to you as soon as they are available..." More...
 
4-8-09 News of Note
Education Week -April 8, 2009 Obama Echoes Bush on Education Ideas
Star Ledger 4-8-09 - Lawmakers, treasurer spar over property taxes...$29.8B budget proposal causes debate in Assembly
Press of Atlantic City 4-8-09 N.J. treasurer says residents not overtaxed TRENTON - Is New Jersey overtaxed? Depends on whom you ask.
Star Ledger 4-8-09 - Newark school district plans school closures, job cuts, More...
 
4-5-09 A new approach to an old math problem'
Star Ledger - 'The state looks to balance traditional and reform methods to improve learning.' More...