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Star Ledger column ‘N.J. school districts begin seeking alumni donations to plug holes left by state aid cuts’
njspotlight ‘Larkins, Schools Development Authority, Grilled on Long-Overdue Construction’
Gannett ‘ABCs of stimulus: Few teachers' jobs saved by federal aid’
Star Ledger column ‘N.J. school districts begin seeking alumni donations to plug holes left by state aid cuts’
njspotlight ‘Larkins, Schools Development Authority, Grilled on Long-Overdue Construction’
Gannett ‘ABCs of stimulus: Few teachers' jobs saved by federal aid’
Star Ledger column ‘N.J. school districts begin seeking alumni donations to plug holes left by state aid cuts’
Published: Tuesday, October 12, 2010, 9:38 AM Updated: Tuesday, October 12, 2010, 9:39 AM
In all the recent talk about school funding, or lack thereof, one group is never mentioned.
Alumni. That scattered army of graduates, that, as years mount, look back on their high school days with increasing affection. Or something like it.
So, as the annual autumn dance of homecoming games and high school reunions, the Summit Education Foundation has launched the state’s first permanent endowment for a public school system.
It’s an ambitious campaign. The long-term goal is $15 million. The group want to have $5 million by the end of this academic year.
Crazy? Maybe, but after two years of courting private donors — known in fundraising circles as "the quiet phase" — the fund already has pledges of $3.5 million. The public phase was launched last week.
"I think people are coming to realize that tax dollars aren’t going to save the kinds of academic and arts program they want for their children," said Nora Radest of the SEF.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE:
• N.J. schools weighing best ways to spend $268M in federal funds
• N.J. school officials are cautious of spending federal funds
• Budget cuts force nonprofit after-school programs to charge fees
• N.J. schools see reductions in police presence due to budget problems
• Students have less, parents pay more as new school year begins in N.J.
• Sixty-one N.J.-funded special ed officials' salaries exceed proposed $175K cap
Truth is, suburban districts can no longer bank on state aid. Some wealthier towns got none this year, with the possibility of no more coming. Urban districts, too, were slashed. The state’s new 2.5 percent property tax cap will keep local school boards stingy. Operating costs are operating costs. Education costs more fluid. How much water can be squeezed out of the rag? The answer in many districts is "more."
This is where education foundations come in. Many towns have academic or sports funds, bankrolled by involved parents and local sponsors. The support is year-to-year, with whatever comes in.
What’s new is the idea of a permanent endowment, and that alumni can be rounded up to contribute. Just like universities. The irony, of course, is that most people spend 12 years in their public schools, as opposed to four in college, and are shaped by their hometowns.
Who says you can’t go home again? A big part never leaves, but public schools have not created a mechanism for tapping alumni.
"The infrastructure of fund-raising is more in practice at universities and private schools," said David Munshine of Graham-Pelton, a foundation consultant. "They keep up with alumni as soon as they leave the institution, engaging their affinity for gift-giving."
Alumni with such affinity — or something like it — for their public schools might not know about the foundation back in the old hometown, or figure taxes are taking care of all the bills.
"We see the alumni has a great untapped source," said Radest. "We have to get the word out to these classes."
Untapped is the right word.
The Montclair Fund for Educational Excellence is seen as one of the most successful education foundations in the country, but the alumni contributions are minimal.
"We have a handful of alumni who are very generous, but overall, our alumni contribution is low," said Robin Schlager, the associate director of the fund.
In the list of the thousand or so donors to MFEE, there is only one class gift, that from the Class of 2009.
This weekend, when Summit’s Class of ’75 gathers for its 35th reunion, it will launch a campaign drive for SEF.
"When we talked about a class gift, we said, ‘What are we going to do? Give them a bench or a tree? Build a wall?’ This makes more sense,’’ said Peter Laughlin.
Laughlin says his class will come up with a five-year plan and gift the SEF before its 40th reunion.
"We’ll raise whatever we can," he said. "We want to be a model for other classes."
njspotlight ‘Larkins, Schools Development Authority, Grilled on Long-Overdue Construction’
Legislators want to know why 50+ planned and promised projects have yet to be built
By John Mooney, October 16 in Education |Post a Comment
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The agency has an annual budget of $52 million dollars, with about 310 employees spread across the upper floors of the bank building and other locations. More notably, it has overseen more than $8 billion in school construction projects since its inception in 2000.
But yesterday the attention was turned to what the agency hasn’t completed. Legislators -- both Democrats and Republicans -- voiced their frustration over mounting complaints about the SDA’s continued hold on 52 projects planned and promised in some of the state’s neediest cities for much of the past decade.
Four schools in Jersey City, five in Newark where the average age is 85 years old, a new high school in Phillipsburg, where now half the students take classes in 31 temporary trailers.
'A Bipartisan Screw-up'
“This is a bipartisan screw-up,” said Assemblyman Patrick Diegnan (D-Middlesex), chairman of the Assembly Education Committee. “Not just Democrats or Republicans. It is just bizarre.”
And the Republicans this time largely agreed. Assemblyman Joseph Malone (R-Burlington) was more sympathetic to the ongoing review process, but he too was clear in his frustration that it shouldn’t be holding up projects clearly in need.
‘We need to get these schools built, people to work,” he said. “It’s just mind-boggling. It’s been four or five years.”
Pleading for Patience
Marc Larkins, the chief operating officer of the SDA, pleaded for patience from the legislators. He explained a process now in its fourth month: reviewing a 2008 capital plan of the 52 school projects for both their priority and appropriateness.
A former assistant federal prosecutor, Larkins was appointed by Gov. Chris Christie to clean up the long embattled agency and moved immediately to revisit the capital plan set by former Gov. Jon Corzine and the legislature.
He said a draft of that review would be completed in “a couple of weeks” and presentation of a revised plan would be ready early in the new year. He said there would likely be some additions and subtractions.
“Some here may not be on the list, and there are others out there not now included that will be included,” he said.
The Newark Wasteland
But Democrats, especially, questioned why the review was needed in the first place, after a similar needs assessment in 2008. And there were plenty of horror stories, like the entire neighborhood seized for a new school in Newark and now a vacant “wasteland,” said Assemblyman Ralph R. Caputo (D-Essex).
“I don’t know what we tell them anymore,” he said. “What excuse do we give?”
Larkins said he understood the frustration, but said it was the product of a flawed process in which the agency was in “rush to build” and did not follow best practices in design and construction.
He cited the lack of any standards for common components to a school, like a gymnasium or science lab, and he said the previous administrations made promises they could not keep.
“We’d like to present a plan we can actually deliver,” he said. “Right now, we don’t have that.”
But Diegnan did not let up, questioning what was happening at the agency when virtually all of its major projects were on hold. He quizzed Larkins on his payroll, which he estimated was about $40 million.
“So we are spending $40 million and have 49 projects where no action has been taken for 10 months?” Diegnan asked.
Don’t Quit Now
Following Larkins, several districts’ facilities officials testified that to quit any of these projects would be a mistake. The head of the Education Law Center, which led the Abbott v. Burke school equity litigation, said the SDA’s own records show $236 million already spent on these projects.
“I don’t know how we could possibly walk away from them now,” he said. “It would be a phenomenal waste of money.”
Officials in Phillipsburg said their new high school project -- at a total cost of $88 million -- has already been reviewed and revised several times. Following a groundbreaking in 2009 that still waits the real building, erosion on the planned site has grown so severe that holding ponds are breached and trenches are now 15 feet deep, officials said.
“We are pleading for our district,” George Chando, the assistant superintendent and the high school’s former principal. “For every district that deserves this, for what we are so close to having.”
Gannett ‘ABCs of stimulus: Few
teachers' jobs saved by
federal aid’
By RAJU CHEBIUM • WASHINGTON BUREAU •
October 15, 2010
Shore school officials, concerned that federal aid
intended to minimize teacher layoffs may be a one-
time gift, are reviewing how they would use the
money in the next school year.
The $268 million in total federal aid that New Jersey
received arrived too late to save all but a handful of
jobs this year, but it will pay for some classroom
hiring for the 2011-12 school year, officials say.
Many of New Jersey's approximately 600 school
districts got a share of the $268 million about three
weeks ago, along with advice from the state
Department of Education to hold onto the money
until next year.
"The decisions regarding layoffs needed to be made
in May and June," said Laura Morana,
superintendent of the 1,000-student Red Bank
public school district, whose share of the funding is
$83,000. "We got it (the money) three weeks ago. It
was too late."
The $10 billion that Congress and President Barack
Obama approved for schools in August, which
included $268 million for New Jersey, didn't end
education cutbacks. The latest national
unemployment report, which covers part of
September, showed that school districts across the
country cut 49,800 teaching and nonteaching jobs,
according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The package was supposed to prevent 160,000
layoffs nationwide.
Supporters contend that tens of thousands of
additional teachers would have been cut if the
money hadn't been approved. A total of 3,900 New
Jersey teaching jobs were to be saved.
New Jersey school districts report cutting staff and
taking other steps, like scaling back programs and
increasing class sizes to cope with budget cutbacks.
Schools suffered an $820 million cut in state aid
this year, and now face a collective shortfall of more
than $1 billion.
Morana said the Red Bank school district had to
eliminate three supervisory positions this year, but
was able to retain two teaching positions by
shuffling existing resources and by using money
saved from teacher retirements. Red Bank officials
haven't decided how to use their $83,000 share of
the federal aid, but Morana said she and other
school officials worry about what will happen when
Congress stops providing aid.
Brick Schools Superintendent Walter Hrycenko said
he is being cautious with the aid because he
believes there will be even further cuts in state aid
next year.
His district had reduced the number of full-time
faculty members by 51, from 927, after Gov. Chris
Christie slashed school aid.
The Brick district is using some of the money to
bring back some staff. The district rehired a high
school librarian, an in-class support teacher, a
kindergarten teacher and two other employees in
part-time positions.
Toms River Regional Schools spokeswoman Tammi
Millar said the district still is reviewing plans for the
additional $2.4 million in federal aid, while dealing
with a host of fiscal challenges, such as trying to
absorb last spring's loss of approximately $12.1
million in state aid. In addition, the district is facing
an extra $500,000 in unanticipated pension costs.
"Going forward we will take a very conservative
approach to utilizing these funds," she said.
Millar said there are nine fewer teaching positions
than last year. These were lost through retirement a
nd attrition since the district did not use layoffs.
"By moving around classes, we were able to
minimize the impact on class size," she said.
Administrators in the Freehold Regional High
School District are taking a wait-and-see approach
toward specific use of $1,763,514 in federal aid.
The district will apply the money toward its 2011-
12 budget, as recommended by the state, and will
use it for teachers or support personnel.
But whether that means hiring new staff or retaining
existing personnel will depend on how much state
aid the district is promised next year, said district
spokesman James Quirk.
Officials in some school districts, including those in
Freehold Regional, have expressed concern that the
state will give schools less funding because of the
aid from the federal government.
Freehold Regional eliminated 152.5 staff positions
for the 2010-11 school year. Eighty-six of those
were teacher and media specialist jobs. Quirk did
not know how many positions were lost through
retirements.
In Howell, the approximately 6,800-student,
kindergarten-to-eighth grade district has been
notified it is eligible for $1.14 million in the federal
money, said Superintendent of Schools Enid Golden.
The district does not have the money in hand, but it
would be reimbursed once the spending is in place,
Golden said.
"We have to spend it by September 2012," Golden
said.
The Howell Board of Education has not yet
determined how to use the money, which can be
applied to salaries, including those for teaching,
counseling and extracurricular activities, Golden
said.
Because of another fiscally tight school year
expected in 2011-12, Golden advised the board to
hold off on decisions. But that means the board
would have to decide how to spend the money by
early 2011, when the 2011-12 budget is worked
out.
The district has more than 600 professional
education staff, which includes teachers and
counselors, Golden said.
The number of teachers in Lakewood stayed roughly
the same, at 500 since last school year. A budgeted
reduction of 29 positions was offset by additional
preschool aid that allowed for more staff hiring,
said Robert Finger, the district's business
administrator.
Finger said the district will likely save the $853,378
it recently received in federal jobs funds in case
there are further state aid cuts for the 2011-12
school year.
Some other school districts also recalled a few
teachers they'd laid off over the summer, but how
many is unclear, according to Frank Belluscio,
spokesman for New Jersey School Boards
Association.
The state Education Department is gearing up for its
annual count of school personnel. The results aren't
expected for a few months.
Until that survey is done, it won't be clear how many
teachers are working in New Jersey public schools
now; 112,933 full-time teachers were employed
during the 2009-10 school year. In addition to
layoffs, a record 7,000 retirements shrunk the
teaching force across the state in 2009-10.
Contributing: staff writers Chelsea Michels, Zach
Patberg, Matthew McGrath, Kim Predham-Luedeke
and Joseph Sapia
