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NJ school districts look to federal stimulus to boost special-needs programs - Sunday August 02, 2009, nj.com Voters will weigh in on future of Pascack Valley, Northjersey.com State set to announce feasibility studies for school consolidations Press of Atlantic City, 7-28-09
NJ school districts look to federal stimulus to boost special-needs programs
by Kristen Alloway/The Star-Ledger
Sunday August 02, 2009
Highland Park schools are spending $15,000 in federal stimulus money to ensure students who need reading and writing help get it this summer.
Rockaway Township schools sent nearly 40 teachers for summer training, and officials there are purchasing dozens of interactive whiteboards and other items with $277,000 in federal funds.
And the Newark school district will spend $2.2 million from the federal government to help struggling students get on track.
About a third of New Jersey's nearly 600 school districts have begun laying claim to their share of $609 million federal stimulus money targeted for programs for poor and special-needs students.
Much of this money is being used for summer programs and equipment. School districts still can apply by late this month for additional money that would be used for the school year.
Each year, New Jersey schools receive federal money for low-income and special-education kids, but President Obama's stimulus package included a two-year boost of about 50 percent more than districts typically receive for these programs.
The money is intended to help local economies preserve jobs and beef up academic standards, increase teacher training and effectiveness, enhance collection of educational data to track student achievement and improve low-performing schools.
These funds are the second large chunk of federal money flowing to New Jersey for education as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which earmarked an unprecedented $100 billion for schools nationwide. Gov. Jon Corzine used an earlier installment of $891 million in federal money in his budget to avoid major cuts in education spending.
The awards for low-income and special-education students vary greatly depending on a district's size. For the 2009-10 school year, the grants range from $24.9 million to aid low-income students in Newark, to $1.9 million for Piscataway schools for special-education programs, to $80,000 for Highland Park to fund programs for poor children.
"These are far more resources than we ever had," said state deputy education commissioner Willa Spicer. "This is a great hope for kids who need help."
JUMPING AT THE OPPORTUNITY
Although amounts are determined by formula, and districts must apply to the state for the money, officials have some discretion in how they spend the money. The funds are available for two years, and the state Department of Education urged districts to begin using the money this summer for equipment and enrichment and remedial classes.
Officials in many districts jumped at the chance.
"The minute it opened up, we applied. The money won't be here forever," Linden superintendent Rocco Tomazic said.
The state has cautioned districts that the additional money for low-income and special-education students is temporary and they should not invest in initiatives that require repeated funding.
"We're hunting for those projects that are different from the ongoing, sustainable things," Tomazic said.
The federal money also comes with oversight required by the Obama administration. The state will begin collecting quarterly reports from districts in October to track how the money has been used, Spicer said. Those reports will be available to the public, possibly on the state DOE website, Spicer said. The website already has preliminary information on the funding at www.state.nj.us/education/arra/.
The Office of the State Comptroller will assist in cataloging the data and also may audit programs if they involve large dollar amounts or if the district has had heavy turnover, among other factors, a spokesman said.
Spicer also noted the state had not approved every project. If the programs did not target low-income or special-education students, for example, they were turned down, she said.
Some people are skeptical the state will ensure the funding is spent appropriately.
"We have never shown in the state of New Jersey that when people get large sums of money that they can properly spend it. . . . I have no illusion that it's going to get much better," said Assemblyman Joseph Malone (R-Burlington). "We'll hear horror stories two, three years from now of how monies were misspent. It's the way of life around this state."
SKEPTICISM OVER THE FUTURE
Others question whether the money, because it is a temporary boost, can have a lasting impact.
"These investments, while important . . . are not the kinds of deeper investments in school improvements, strategies and reforms that can be sustained over time, which is an essential prerequisite to school improvement," said David Sciarra, executive director of the Education Law Center, which for decades has advocated for the state's poorest schools.
But many New Jersey school districts say the money already is making a difference.
Highland Park, a Middlesex County district of 1,500 students, applied for $15,000 to expand its remedial summer program. The funds meant the district could hire three more teachers to reduce summer class sizes and accept all 10-15 children who typically are on the waiting list.
Soon-to-be sixth-grader Claudia Rondos said she has learned to add more details to her writing and read a little faster.
"I want to come here so I can learn to read better," Claudia, 11, said. "And so I won't mess up in sixth grade, so it will be a little easier for me."
Newark, with 40,000 students, is spending $2.2 million in federal money on programs for students who need extra help. Without stimulus funds, the district estimated it could serve about 20 percent of students who need it. With stimulus funds, no one was turned away, said Daniel Gohl, Newark's executive assistant for innovation and change.
At Newark's South 17th Street School, more than 400 general-education and special-needs students are working on reading, writing and math, said vice principal Kenneth Amparbin. That's about 60 more kids than last year, he said.
"When they come back in September, they haven't had two months of inactivity," said Telaya Parham, principal of the special education program at South 17th Street School this summer. "When they come back in September, they're ready to go."
Voters will weigh in on future of Pascack Valley - Northjersey.com Tuesday, August 4, 2009 BY DENISA R. SUPERVILLE The Record STAFF WRITER WOODCLIFF LAKE — The Borough Council decided Monday to ask voters in November whether it should continue to explore breaking up the Pascack Valley Regional High School District despite doubts about whether the school board or the Montvale Borough Council will back the initiative. Council members who approved the ballot question’s wording said they were concerned that plans to reconfigure the district would not go forward if the local school board did not support them or if Montvale, the borough’s partner in the venture, did not have the funds to continue with the effort. “I would like to see a resolution or a memo affirming that they want to go forward with this,” Councilwoman Joanne Howley said of Montvale during the discussion at Monday’s council meeting. Councilman Jeff Bader also had similar concerns. “I just want to make sure that when we go into this, that we have a solid partner, a committed and dedicated partner,” Bader he said at the Borough Council meeting Monday. “&hellip We need to pin down that Montvale is going to be a committed partner to $170-some-odd-thousand-dollars in expenditure over the next three to four years, whatever it may be.” Mayor Joseph LaPaglia said he was sure that Montvale was committed, but would ask Montvale Mayor Roger Fyfe about obtaining a resolution or written commitment. But he admitted that without the school board or Montvale, the plan was as good as dead. “If our school board is adamantly opposed to it, that makes this a more difficult thing to achieve,” LaPaglia said. “Vito (Gagliardi) has told us that. And if Montvale says, ‘We can’t afford to do it, we changed our mind,’ then we don’t go ahead with it.” Gagliardi is an attorney hired by Montvale and Woodcliff Lake to determine how they would go about dissolving the district. Fyfe said Tuesday that the Montvale Borough Council will consider Aug. 11 whether it wants to go forward with the plan, the likelihood of its success and the amount of money that would have to be spent. The Montvale council also will look at how it would fund the effort, Fyfe said. “I am hoping get a decision on the 11th whether or not we want to go forward,” Fyfe said. “The thing we have to consider then is whether we are going have the money to fund it.” “We have to find out how we are going to afford it, and, No.ÿ2, everybody has to come up with an opinion as to whether they think we can win it,” he added. “I don’t think the (state) Department of Education is just going to say, ‘That’s a good idea, you can go ahead.’ We are really going to have to make a case and jump through a bunch of hoops, and that’s what the lawyers are going to be doing, and that’s going to take a lot of time and money.” The Woodcliff Lake ballot question will ask borough voters whether they want to pursue a more equitable formula to fund the Pascack Valley Regional High School and form a pre-k through 12th-grade district with Montvale. The question grew out of a study commissioned in 2007 by Woodcliff Lake and Montvale to look at the feasibility of pulling out of the regional high school. In addition to Montvale and Woodcliff Lake, students from River Vale and Hillsdale attend the regional high school. Woodcliff Lake and Montvale hired Vito Gagliardi in 2007 and paid $30,000 each to conduct the study. The study was completed last year and excerpts were shared with the school boards from Woodcliff Lake and Montvale in March of this year. Montvale and Woodcliff Lake mayors have argued the state school funding formula, which is based on ratables, forces the two boroughs disproportionately pay more to educate students than Hillsdale and River Vale. The inequity has grown through the years, LaPaglia said. Woodcliff Lake pays $27,000 per student, Montvale $22,000 per student, Hillsdale $14,000 per student and River Vale $17,000 per student, according to the explanation that will accompany the question. When the school district was created in 1955, all four towns agreed to pay a per student cost, which would have been $19,000 for the 2007-2008 school year if the formula had not been revised, the ballot information would add. The explanation would also state that there is not a high probability of success, and that the council would cap spending at $175,000 during the next two years on efforts to achieve a more equitable funding formula. Hillsdale Mayor John Sapanara and River Vale Mayor Joseph Blundo have said in the past that they will fight attempts to dissolve or reconfigure the regional school district. The approved ballot wording says the Woodcliff Lake Board of Education has reservations and questions about the study, but does not elaborate. The Woodcliff Lake School Board is concerned about possible retribution from the county and state boards of education, which the board fears may support a larger, pre-k through 12-grade district, covering all four towns, Bader said at the meeting. The board also is concerned about loss of control, LaPaglia said. Woodcliff Lake Superintendent of Schools Peter Lisi was on vacation Tuesday and unavailable for comment. School Board President Bob Nathin did not return a request for comment by press time. But in July, shortly after the LaPaglia floated the ballot question, Lisi said the board was taking a stand. “The board really feels that at this point, it’s going to be a town matter and that it’s not going to be right for us to make a statement,” he said at the time. E-mail: superville@northjersey.com |
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State set to announce feasibility studies for school consolidations
TRENTON - The state Department of Education will announce the first group of school consolidation feasibility studies early next month.
The studies are expected to be completed by December and would still have to go before the voters in the affected municipalities.
County executive superintendents submitted the proposals to the state, and the DOE has recruited state colleges to do the feasibility studies. Representatives of Rowan University and Richard Stockton College said they have agreed to participate.
Each college will be assigned one or two studies in the pilot group, according to a timeline provided by the DOE. In late August, the participating colleges will meet with DOE representatives to provide a cost analysis and look at alternative ways to complete the studies. The draft reports will be due in late fall for review, and the final reports will be released in December.
Harold Sahm, director of continuing education at Rowan, said the colleges will likely be assigned studies in their immediate or neighboring counties.
"We already have relationships with these districts," Sahm said. "And we want to stress that we will be providing facts, not opinions."
The studies will look at education quality, facilities, debt and the property-tax impact for the affected districts in each proposal. The first group is expected to include a mix of fairly easy consolidations and some more challenging proposals to get an overview of the scope of trying to convert all of the state's more than 600 districts into K-12 systems.
The consolidation challenge is to create K-12 systems of about 5,000 students per district in a way that will appeal to all of the affected parties. All final plans will have to go before the voters in each affected district, and under current law, if just one district in a proposed consolidation votes the plan down, it fails.
Atlantic County Executive Superintendent Thomas Dowd met with school and city officials in June to review the plans, and his final proposals include some changes. Dowd said the plans are just recommendations that need more study.
"We really need the feasibility studies to provide information on how the proposals work with diversity, facilities, capacity and the educational environment," he said.
Absecon Superintendent James Giaquinto said residents there are just becoming acquainted with the process, and with more than one option available, he will wait until the feasibility study is done before taking a more active role.
"We will have more information then, and the final say does rest with the voters," he said.
Consolidation proposals for Cape May, Cumberland and Ocean counties were not available Monday.
E-mail Diane D'Amico:
Atlantic County proposals
The following Atlantic County proposals have been submitted to the New Jersey Department of Education to be considered for feasibility studies.
Proposed study 1: Egg Harbor City, Galloway Township, Hamilton Township, Mullica Township, Port Republic, Absecon, Green Bank, Greater Egg Harbor Regional High School.
Option 1: Three K-12 districts: Absegami High School with Galloway Township; Oakcrest High School with Hamilton Township; and Cedar Creek High School with Egg Harbor City, Green Bank, Mullica Township and Port Republic.
Option 2: The same as option 1, but adds Absecon to the Cedar Creek High School district.
Option 3: The same as option 1, but adds Absecon to the Galloway/Absegami district.
(Options 2 and 3 depend on the severance of the sending/receiving relationship between Pleasantville and Absecon.)
Proposed study 2: Mainland Regional, Linwood, Northfield, Somers Point.
Proposed study 3: Buena Regional, Estell Manor, Weymouth Township.
Proposed study 4: Atlantic City, Brigantine, Margate, Ventnor, Longport.
Posted in Press on Tuesday, July 28, 2009 3:05 am