Quality Public Education for All New Jersey Students

 

 
     3-20-12 Education Issues in the News
     4-29-11 BOOMERANG! Near 80 per cent of School Budgets Passed in Wednesday'sSchool Elections
     4-26-11 School Elections, Randi Weingarten in NJ, Special Educ Aid, Shared Services bill
     4-3-11Press of Atlantic City - Pending Supreme Court ruling could boost aid to New Jersey schools
     4-2-11 The Record - Charter school in Hackensack among 58 bids
     3-31-11 Charters an Issue in the Suburbs - and - So far, only 7 Separate Questions on April School Budget Ballots
     3-22-11 Special Master's Report to the Supreme Court: State did not meet its school funding obligation
     Attached to GSCS 3-7-11 Testimony: Marlboro Schools strike historic agreement with instructional aides, bus drivers, bus aides
     GSCS Take on Governor's Budget Message
     Gov's Budget Message for Fiscal Year 2010-2011 Today, 2pm
     2-16-11 Commissioner Cerf talks to educators on Tenure, Merit Pay , related reforms agenda
     GSCS FYI
     2-7-11Grassroots at Work in the Suburbs
     1-25-11 Education in the News
     1-24-11 GSCSS Testimony before Assembly Education Committee: Charter School Reform
     Public Hearing on the Impact of Education Aid Cuts, Thursday January 20
     1-20-11 GSCS Testimony before Senator Buono's Education Aid Impact hearing in Edison
     Assembly Education Hearing on Charter School Reform Monday, 1-24-11, 1 pm
     GSCS Board of Trustees endorsed ACTION LETTER to Trenton asking for caution on Charter School expansion
     GSCS testimony on Tenure Reform - Senate Education Committee 12-09-10
     12-7-10 Education Issues continue in the news
     12-5-10 New York Times 'A Bleak Budget Outlook for Public Broadcasters'
     12-5-10 Sunday News - Education-related Issues
     11-19-10 In the News - First Hearing held on Superintendent Salary Caps at Kean University
     11-15-10 GSCS meeting with Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver
     GSCS Education Forum Stayed Focused on Quality Education
     Nov 10 Program Announcement - GSCS & NJSDC Fall Education Forum
     Mark Your Calendars: GSCS-NJ Schools Development Council: Education Forum November 10, 2010 Douglas College Center
     8-23-10 S2208 (Sarlo-Allen prime sponsors) passes 36-0 (4 members 'not voting') in the Senate on 8-23-10
     8-13-10 East Brunswick Public School seeks stay on Hatikvah Charter School opening this fall (re: Hatikvah not meeting minimum enrollment requirement)
     7-22-10 'Summer school falls victim to budget cuts in many suburban towns'
     7-18-10 Troublesome sign of the times? Read article on the growing trend for education foundations - the pressure to provide what the state no longer supports for education...California's Proposition 13 cited
     7-16-10 GSCS Information & Comments - S29 Property Tax Cap Law and Proposal to Reduce Superintendent salaries ....
     7-15 & 16 -10 'Caps - PLURAL!' in the news
     GSCS - High costs of Special Education must be addressed asap, & appropriately
     7-1 and 2- 10 Governor Christie convened the Legislature to address property tax reform
     GSCS On the Scene in Trenton: State Budget poised to pass late Monday...Cap Proposals, Opportunity Scholarship Act in Limbo
     4-21-10 DOE posts election results
     Hear about Governor Christie's noontime press conference tonight
     4-21-10 News on School Election Results
     4-20-10 Today is School Budget & School Board Member Election Day
     4-18-10 It's About Values - Quality Schools...Your Homes...Your Towns: Sunday front page story and editorial
     4-19-10 GSCS Testimony before the Assembly Budget Committee on State Budget FY'11
     4-18-10 Sunday Op-eds on school budget vote: Jim O'Neill & Gov Christie
     4-13-10 Testimony submitted to Senate Budget Committee
     GSCS 'HOW-TO' GET TRENTON'S ATTENTION ON STATE BUDGET SCHOOL ISSUES FY '11' - Effective and Well-Reasoned Communication with State Leaders is Critical
     Administration's presentation on education school aid in its 'Budget in Brief' published with Governor Christie's Budget Message
     PARENTS ARE CALLING TO EXPRESS THEIR CONCERNS FOR THE SCHOOL AID PICTURE - GSCS WILL KEEP YOU UP-TO-DATE
     GSCS 'HOW-TO GET TRENTON'S ATTENTION ON STATE BUDGET SCHOOL ISSUES FY '11': Effective & Well-Reasoned Communication with State Leaders is Critical
     3-5-10 HomeTowne Video taping + interviews of GSCS Summit@Summit
     3-5-10 GSCS Summit@Summit with Bret Schundler to be lead topic on Hall Institute's weekly 2:30 pm podcast today
     3-4-10 GSCS Email-Net: Summit @ Summit Report - A New Day in Trenton?
     3-3-10 'Public Education in N.J.: Acting NJ Comm of Educ Bret Schundler says 'Opportunity'
     3-4-10 'NJ education chief Bret Schundler tells suburban schools to expect more cuts in aid'
     Flyer: March 2 Education Summit Keynote Speaker - Education Commissioner Bret Schundler - Confirmed
     2-25-10 Gov. Christie's Red Tape Review Comm., chaired by Lt. Gov. Guadagno, to hold public hearings In March
     Flyer: March 2 Education Summit Keynote Speaker Confirmed
     Flyer for March 2 Education 'Summit@Summit'
     GSCS at TRI-DISTRICT MEETING IN MONMOUTH COUNTY January 27
     GSCS Report on its Annual Meeting June 2009
     6-23-09 Grassroots at Work re A4140, A4142 and A1489
     6-26-09 Executive Director to GSCS Trustees; Wrap Up Report - State Budget and Assembly bills this week
     5-27-09 GSCS 18th ANNUAL MEETING - All INVITED GUESTS HAVE CONFIRMED, INCLUDING GOVERNOR CORZINE
     4-17-09 Model letter to community re required language on budget election ballot
     FIND OUT & STAY TUNED - www.gscschools.org has nearly 1,000,000 verified hits and approximately 90,000 individual visits to date ... and counting
     3-27-09 GSCS Travels the State
     March 25 GSCS-HADDONFIELD OPEN MEETING 7pm
     Haddonfield On Line posts Commissioner Davy's appearance with GSCS at Wednesday March 25 meeting hosted by Haddonfield School District Board of Education
     GSCS-Leonia 3-18-09 meeting Press Release
     March 25-GSCS-HADDONFIELD GENERAL MEMBERSHIP-OPEN MEETING 7pm
     RESCHEDULED to MARCH 18 - GSCS MEETING IN LEONIA
     CONCERNED ABOUT YOUR SCHOOLS? YOU ARE INVITED-GSCS General Membership Open Meeting Leonia Feb 25 7 pm
     SAVE THE DATE - GSCS GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING IN BERGEN COUNTY
     More good examples - Grassroots advocacy: letters- to-the-editor published
     11-6-07 GSCS Parent Advocates help clarify election issues...the Millburn Example
     10-23 Media reports & Trenton responses to date re GSCS Press Conf
     GSCS 'NOV 6th LEGISLATIVE ELECTIONS 'ADVOCACY PACKET
     7-10-07 EMAILNET GSCS ADVOCACY PACKET Need for new school funding formula, more
     2-20-07 FAIR HAVEN SCHOOL FUNDING & PROPERTY TAX FORUM
     3-15-07 Millburn-Short Hills Advocates for Education ask for you help in contacting Governor
     Grassroots Forum set for 3-8 in Millburn-Short Hills
     GRASSROOTS SPEAK UP re State Aid for FY07-08 & Recent Legislation that can negatively impact school communities
     11-2-06 GSCS Parent Press Conference Coverage
     11-1-06 Press Conference packet
     10-31-06 PRESS ADVISORY
     DIRECTIONS to Statehouse
     SPECIAL SESSION ADVOCACY TIPS
     Parent & Member Information Packet on Special Session
     October 2006 Quality Education At Risk
     7-18-06 Summit PTO-PTA communication
     7-17-06 Bernards Twp communication to citizens
     Contact info for Letters to the Editor - Statewide newspapers
     6-22-06 GSCS Parent Coordinator Letter to the Editor
     NEW to our website...WHAT'S THE 'BUZZ' ?
     4-24-06 Citizens for Hopewell Valley Schools letter to Senator Shirley Turner
     4-16 Courier Post 'Do Nothing Leaders'
     Grassroots at work - Ridgewood Board member testimony of FY07
     3-24-06 Schools learn who wins, loses in Corzine budget
     3-9-06 Governor speaks to S1701 at town meeting
     EMAILNET 3-9-06 to South Jersey districts
     COFFEE a coalition of families for excellent education
     1-29-06 Asbury Park Press Sunday Front Page Right
     Posted 1-17-06 December 2005 article from the NewsTranscript of Monmouth County
     12-16-05 EMAILNET
     1-17-06 Asbury Park Press "Viewpoint" comments by parents Kim Newsome & Marianne Kligman
     1-12-06 Asbury Park Press letter to the editor
     12-12-05 EMAILNET Bills move out of Assembly Education Committee
     Nora Radest Summit Parent, Glen Ridge Supt. Dan Fishbien, Glen Ridge Parenet and Board of Education President Betsy Ginsburg
     UPDATE on 12-8-05 Assembly Education Committee hearing
     12-2-05 Hopewell Valley letter to Senate Education Committee Chair Shirley Turner re: school budget amendment bills & S1701
     Madison parents and Morris County Outreach Efforts on S1701 Amendment legislation 11-28-05
     Parent Network FYI re EMAILNET 11-28-05 on S1701
     10-14-05 EMAILNET Parent question for Gubernatorial Candidates aired on 101.5 debate, SCC funds, Next Board meeting, press briefing notes
     Readington Forum on School Funding & Meet the Assembly Candidates 11-1-05
     Bergen County's 'Dollars & Sense' organization hosts informational meeting on
     Bergen County's 'Dollars & Sense' organization hosts informational meeting on "Bergen County United" Wed. Oct 19th Paramus High School Cafe 7:30 p.m.
     Parents in Trenton 9-21-05 Press Conference
     Annual Meeting President Walt Mahler's Good News on NJ Public Schools
     Glen Ridge community group 'New Jersey Citizens for Education Equity in Funding'
     Glen Ridge Schools and GSCS Dec 9 Meeting
     Red Bank Area December 6, 2004 Forum
     Rumson PTA, Monmouth Parents, May 2005
     Princeton Marh 2005 Education symposium
     Grassroots 'faces'
     Regional Forums: Quality Education Counts - School Funding Reality and S1701
     A99 and S1701
     GSCS Web Servey Results
More good examples - Grassroots advocacy: letters- to-the-editor published

Home News Tribune Online 11/25/07

LETTER OF THE WEEK  http://www.thnt.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071125/OPINION02/711250303/
1004/OPINION

 

No more stalling on school funding -

I was terribly disappointed during the recent campaign that so few candidates addressed in any specific way the critical issue of school funding. I believe that Gov. Jon S. Corzine and the current leadership in the Legislature have failed the people of this state by being reluctant to encourage any public discourse on the issue of school funding and property-tax relief. Leaving what many voters would consider the most important problem facing New Jersey to a lame-duck legislative session is irresponsible and hints at the type of politics that most people find abhorrent.

It is time that we ceased allowing the officials who govern our state to ignore the very laws that they enacted. Since 2002, the state has failed to carry out the provisions of the current funding formula under the Comprehensive Educational Improvement and Financing Act. It is no wonder that local property taxes have skyrocketed as school districts try to maintain quality programs. It is imperative that our representatives in the Statehouse unite to initiate and work for passage of a comprehensive, flexible and sustainable school-funding system.

Any formula considered should reflect each community's fair and reasonable financial stake in their children's education. Recognizing the financial contribution local taxpayers must make does not absolve the state from its responsibility to provide essential, basic per-pupil funding. It is nothing short of ridiculous that 45 percent of the regular operating districts in New Jersey are considered too wealthy to receive basic state foundation aid. Similarly, the state must guarantee special-needs students per-pupil categorical grants regardless of which town they reside in.

Schools themselves hold huge responsibility in any viable formula. Teachers and their students must be ready to accept accountability. Measures of program effectiveness are already available. School administrators need to be able to produce evidence regarding cost containment and keep budgets within reasonable limits. If strict budgeting guidelines are followed and caps are intact, the need for a school budget vote is eliminated — a move that would save thousands of dollars for every complying district.

Full details on what a workable comprehensive school-funding formula would look like and how it could work have been developed by the Garden State Coalition of Schools, a grass-roots organization made up of parents and school officials that represents about 400,000 students in New Jersey.

I hope our legislators realize that we are at a crucial juncture and that the time to act responsibly is now.

Meredith Shaw, East Brunswick

 

STAR LEDGER - To the Editor (published shortly before the Nov. 6th legislative elections):

 

Like other education groups within New Jersey, the Scotch Plains-Fanwood PTA Council is concerned that a new state funding formula for public schools will not be ready by the time local Boards of Education must adopt their budgets for next year. 

 

The Governor and the Legislature have indicated that adopting a new formula will be done during November and December of this year in what is known as a “lame-duck session.”  Yet statewide during this election campaign in which every seat in the Legislature is up for a vote, the public is hearing little about the need for a formula or what a new formula might contain.

 

We are concerned that with the many pressing issues before the Legislature and with the complexity of building the formula, there will not be enough time to complete the job before the Governor gives his annual budget address at the end of February.  NJ statute requires that school districts be notified of their state funding within 48 hours after the Governor’s budget message. If there is no new formula by the time local Boards of Education must act on next year’s budget in March, the 2008-2009 school year will be the seventh year in a row that the state has not provided a funding formula for public education. 

 

We hear much about the need to provide property tax relief, but the public knows that such relief cannot be realized until a sustainable, fair funding formula for all districts and communities is adopted. For years overburdened local taxpayers have been forced to make up the difference when education aid has fallen short. Valuable programs are unnecessarily put on the chopping block due to the fact there is no funding formula.  This is unfair to the Board of Education, taxpayers, administration and most importantly the students.  NJ communities will receive long term relief only when a new, more equitable funding formula becomes a reality.

 

We are calling on Gov. Corzine and all members of the Legislature  to make as their priority the quick adoption of a sustainable, equitable funding formula that does not diminish educational quality in NJ schools. 

 

Trudi Karpel

Corresponding Secretary

Scotch Plains-Fanwood PTA Council