Quality Public Education for All New Jersey Students

 

GSCS Accomplishments

  • Over 14 successful years as a leading advocate for public support of public education for all children
  • Successfully lobbied against the “Administrative Penalty,” instituted in the 1990s, that forced the reduction of guidance counselors, nurses and school librarians
  • Won numerous amendments to the current school funding law (CEIFA), enacted in 1996, to assure that quality education would not be leveled down and that school budgets would not be destabilized
  • Publicly recognized by legislators as providing key background information that helped in the passage of the School Facilities Funding Act of 2000 for all districts
  • Presenter of statewide and regional educational forums bringing together public policy experts, state legislators, school administrators and parents to discuss issues surrounding how NJ finances education
  • Compiling statewide data on educational issues, the most recent a web survey on the public’s understanding of how educational costs impact tax bills and public willingness to financially support education
  • Promoting the need for and then serving on the Mandate Review Commission established by the Governor to examine how eliminating unfunded state mandates can benefit public schools
  • Successfully initiated and lobbied for the additional $37 million for local districts included in NJ’s FY04 Budget Appropriations Act for Extraordinary Aid for Special Education Students with costs above $40,000
  • Worked with the Association for the Children of NJ to see that a new $15 million gubernatorial-ACNJ grant initiative, Early Learning Launch Initiative (ELLI), reaches all districts, including upper income districts

(last updated 2004-2005)