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Quality education was the focus of the GSCS- NJ School Development Council Education Forum on November 12. Thanks to our talented and knowledgeable moderators, Tom Moran (Star Ledger editorial page editor and columnist, and John Mooney, NJ Spotlight founder and education writer) and to our top-notch panelists, the conversation at the forum stayed on track and was refreshing in that the talk remained on quality education issues. This was the GSCS hope & plan and we are rewarded that the plan worked. Feedback on the forum was extremely positive all the way around, now we need all to keep this conversation on the real issues going in real time at home, and in Trenton.
Please make sure you take the time to read the report on the Forum discussion immediately below. As always, we look forward to hearing from you for your input. FYI, it is our understanding that the legislature plans to delve into education reform in December. Be ready and Stay tuned...
In the Thick of It:
In the Face of a Host of Challenges,
Staying Focused on Quality Education
Presented by the Garden State Coalition
of Schools &
The NJ School Development Council
Nov. 10, Douglass College Campus Center
They came to talk. Sometimes they agreed. Sometimes they had to agree to disagree. And in one case they even agreed to continue the conversation on their own. Butwhatever the topic, the seven panelists at the November 10th Education Forum came prepared to face the big issues in NJ education and present their organization's position.
And the over 130 parents, community members, school administrators and superintendents in attendance at the panel discussion-jointly presented by the Garden State Coalition of Schools and the NJ School Development Council-were there for a rare sit-down between a diverse group of school stakeholder representatives that also included a now-rare sit down of the NJEA and the Christie administration.
For their willingness to dive into these topics and their grace under fire, GSCS thanks Executive Directors Richard Bozza, NJASA; Marie Bilik, NJSBA; Brenda Considine, NJ Special Education Coalition; Carlos Perez, NJ Charter School Association; and Vincent Giordano, NJEA; as well as Gregg Edwards, policy director for the Christie administration and currently interim chief of staff at the Department of Education. GSCS Executive Director Lynne Strickland rounded out the panel.
Our thanks also to moderators Tom Moran, Star Ledger editorial page editor and columnist, and John Mooney, NJ Spotlight founding editor and education writer, for sharing their insights and deftly keeping the conversation moving.
Starting the Dialog
GSCS called for a collaborative effort between Trenton leaders, the education community and the public to start real conversation that will elicit real information. There was general agreement among the panelists that to maintain educational quality and success in NJ education, all stakeholders must work together and keep the conversation going. Noting that there hasn't been enough discussion about the Governor's toolkit of proposed legislation for the public to know if it will help, Lynne Strickland called for immediate public discussions about school funding issues.
Also calling for more dialog and an in-depth look at education funding was the NJEA's Giordano, who repeated several times an open invitation to the Christie administration to sit down with his organization and talk.
Accountability and Tenure
In the discussion regarding accountability, Giordano declared his organization ready to discuss the two major complaints about tenure that he hears over and over: that the teacher dismissal process takes too long and it's too expensive. But he declared himself not willing to abandon the right of public employees facing dismissal to have due process.
The administration's Edwards pointed out that Governor Christie's reforms do not call for the elimination of tenure, but rather for basing teacher evaluation on performance. Edwards feels that some teachers facing tenure lose out because
districts cannot afford to take a chance on inexperienced teachers who would benefit from a few more years before being evaluated for tenure.
After following up on this topic with Giordano during the program break, Marie Bilik announced that the NJEA and the NJSBA had agreed to immediately sit down together and start the tenure reform conversation.
Charter Schools a Hot Button Topic
A call for more public discussion on Charter Schools also came from panelists and the audience in the Question-&-Answer session. The NJ Charter School Association's Perez noted that although the law calls for per-pupil funding to follow the child, 30% of this funding currently is staying with public school districts. Saying that administrative costs are lower in Charter Schools, he explained that any funding cuts must therefore directly impact instruction and facilities.
Perez emphasized that Charters have a place in NJ education, even in well-performing districts, as they meet a different kind of need for smaller, creative programs. And Charters must be able to prove their effectiveness and be accountable for their students' academic performance.
Lynne Strickand explained that GSCS, while supportive of Charter Schools in concept, is concerned that funding must be addressed because current law drains local property taxes away from public schools with no local control. A process for authorizing and funding Charters must be collaboratively developed that will support communities, not pit people against each other.
Special Education
The Special Education Coalition's Considine declared that NJ is making policy decisions in a vacuum of information, that there is no data to support the outcomes promised from these decisions, and that published costs of special education do not compare the same things. She called for the state to conduct a full study of all special education costs in a manner that compares apples to apples. If all costs, including district tuition and transportation costs, were included, educators and Trenton decision makers would see that there are smarter ways to spend the limited amount of funding we have.
GSCS' Strickland noted that special education funding continues to increase while revenue applied to general education is declining, that the pressures of the 2% cap will exacerbate this no-win situation, and that the state needs to acknowledge the growing gap and address it.
Other Highlights
· Edwards pointed out that the Governor is working within the confines of a very unforgiving Court decision. While it's too soon to tell if a new formula can be introduced, the administration does hope to address some funding inequities in the current SFRA.
· As noted by all at the table, both Bilik and Bozza stressed the pending crisis facing public education as the 2% property tax levy cap goes into effect with little or no district surplus and no tools coming out of Trenton to help local communities cope. And with local citizens not fully understanding what's coming, panelists called for Trenton to get its priorities in order and lead the dialog before school districts hit a proverbial brick wall.
· Other topics in the wide-ranging discussion included merit pay and evaluation, consolidation, the Charter School authorizer expansion bill and unfunded mandates.
