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Star Ledger column, On Politics from 8-18-06, foresees school funding debate framework, quoting Jt Comm on Public School Funding Chairman Senator John Adler and more....NY Times editorial on pensions, 8-22-06, while written about New York's huge pension deficit problems, could have been written about New Jersey just as well, especially when noting that "...But for all the complications of the pension issue, there is one simple, obvious, outrageous part of the problem that is easy to explain. The governor and the State Legislature have been utterly irresponsible in expanding the city’s obligations without providing any money to pay the additional cost...Leaders from both political parties in Albany love to throw large, meaty bones to municipal labor unions in return for election-year support..."
Camden
Friday, August 18, 2006
It seemed like a miracle when the tests came back from the
Somehow, these fourth-graders racked up the highest math scores in the state. Every single student was proficient, and nine of 10 were deemed "advanced."
And the magic seemed to be spreading across the city. Another elementary school nearly matched
Given the boatloads of money that the state sends to
But no one in
"If I had seen it, I would have been skeptical," says Gordon MacInnes, the assistant commissioner in charge of the poor urban districts. "There's just no way this can happen."
The state finally did take a second look after the scores were questioned by the Philadelphia Inquirer. And this year, with monitors everywhere, the
Only 20 percent of the kids at
It turns out that in 2005, they were allowed to use calculators on sections where calculators were banned. Some were given extra time. Some benefited from "educational prompts" that were left on the classroom walls during the tests.
Teachers at Wiggins told investigators that their principal, who has since retired, demanded they break the rules.
"You can't help being despondent," says Sen. John Adler (D- Camden). "With all the money we've poured into
Political support for the expensive effort to improve
The tragedy is that this kind of failure overshadows some real suc cesses, especially in smaller districts like
But the state can't seem to turn around districts where the locals are screwing up, like
"The state's taken the position that we can just give them money, and the problem will go away," says the Rev. Reginald Jackson, head of the Black Minister's Council. "But it's not going away."
One problem is that the Department of Education simply doesn't have the muscle it needs. MacInnes has just 30 people working on academic performance in the nearly 500 urban schools, and many of them are paid less than teachers.
"One of my reading experts was just hired away," MacInnes says. "She got a $10,000 raise and two months off. That happens all the time."
The state is also a big wimp when it comes to getting tough with the districts. Lucille Davy, the acting commissioner of education, won't even use the word "cheating" in describing what went on in
She calls it "adult interference."
Even the
"You need to cooperate and work with the local districts," says Paul Tractenberg, ELC's chairman. "I suppose the state would say the same thing."
So here we are. Davy swears she will get tough on the locals. But the Legislature is already considering bigger changes.
Adler is chairman of the joint committee on school funding. The most likely outcome, he says, is that more aid will be shifted to middle-class districts where property taxes are soaring, while funding for urban districts is frozen.
"It would not shock me if the committee comes up with something like that," he said. "Enor mous frustration has mounted over the last few years."
Tom Moran's column appears Wednesdays and Fridays. He can be reached at tmoran@starledger.com or (973) 392-1823.
August 22, 2006
Public Pensions in Trouble
Public employee pension plans are a financial time bomb in many states and localities. Now
That’s a staggering figure. The Bloomberg administration, which has raised the city’s annual contributions to the pension funds, disagrees wholeheartedly. The mayor and his aides say their own number-crunching shows near fully funded obligations. All taxpayers can conclude right now that they need — and deserve — a longer and more informed conversation on this issue, involving the comptroller and the City Council as well.
Unlike private business, public pension funds have no uniform standard for reporting, making the potential for confusion — and misinformation — enormous. But for all the complications of the pension issue, there is one simple, obvious, outrageous part of the problem that is easy to explain. The governor and the State Legislature have been utterly irresponsible in expanding the city’s obligations without providing any money to pay the additional cost.
Leaders from both political parties in
Neither that nor other special benefits, like annual Christmas bonuses for pensioners costing tens of millions every year, were negotiated in collective bargaining. It was much easier for the unions to do an end run around the system and simply buy the benefits with campaign contributions and political support. And no one, obviously, asked the city if it could afford to pay the bill. The city, in fact, argued long and loud that it couldn’t. No one cared.
