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GARDEN STATE COALITION OF SCHOOLS
GSCS EMAILNET 6-4-09
GSCS Quick Facts:
· Next Board of Trustees meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, July 13, 9:30 a.m. at the East Brunswick Board of Education.
· In support of a unitary formula that brings all New Jersey districts together under one umbrella, and looking to loosen the “constitutional straightjacket” that evolved over the years regarding school funding, the Supreme Court decision rendered May 28, 20009 found the School funding formula (the School Funding Reform Act 2008/SFRA) constitutional for former Abbott Districts. The opportunity is now ripe for combined strength of districts united by one formula to additionally empower education advocacy.
· Regionalization plans evoking loud criticism around the state.
· GSCS Annual Meeting with capacity crowd in attendance. GSCS thanks all those efforts made this program a great success which included presentations, panel and audience Q&A’s with Governor Corzine, Commissioner Davy, Assembly Education Chairman Joe Cryan, and Assembly Education Committee members Mila Jasey and David Wolfe. Many thanks to our guests and GSCS members both, for their time and frank conversation on critical issues facing education today. A separate report on the Annual Meeting will follow soon.
· Statehouse reports it is anticipating a final vote on State Budget FY’10 by 6-22-09.
· Still no word on how the Governor and the Treasurer will require districts to return $35M in debt service aid – already in school budgets for 2009-2010 – to state coffers. GSCS is pressing this question.
On the Homepage at www.gscschools.org
[To follow the GSCS homepage ‘More’ links, per standard web method, you must place your cursor over ‘More’ and then hold down your computer ‘Control’ (Ctrl) button while left-clicking at the same time, i.e., ‘Crtl + Click’.]
6-4-09 Dept of Educ Revised Hearings Schedule for Fiscal Accountability, Efficiency, and Budgeting Procedures proposed for readoption, with amendments
Hearings to be held this June, starting on June 9 at Parsippany. Click on More here for details, how to register, etc. More...
6-4-09 'Plans to merge school regions raise worries in Atlantic County'
Press of Atlantic City MAYS LANDING — School and city officials from throughout Atlantic County got their first look Wednesday night at what school regionalization may look like, and it was immediately clear that no plan is going to be easy or universally popular................ SEE ALSO 6-1-09 ASBURY PARK PRESS Editorial: "Cryan, chairman of the Assembly Education Committee, got an earful from parents at a forum in Spring Lake [May 26, 2009]. They made it clear that regardless of what a study concluded about a proposed merger of the Avon, Belmar, Lake Como, Brielle, Manasquan, Sea Girt, Spring Lake and Spring Lake Heights school districts, voters would reject it. More...
6-4-09 Assembly Education Meeting Scheduled for Monday, 6-8-09
The Assembly Education Committee will meet on Monday, June 8, 2009 at 2:00 PM in Committee Room 11, 4th Floor, State House Annex, Trenton, New Jersey......The committee will conduct a roundtable discussion with invited participants on the Statewide assessment program.....The following bill will be considered: A-2702 Diegnan/Lampitt/Voss "Requires schools to notify certain students of potential eligibility for NJ Stars Program" More...
6-2-09 The Record, Editorial 'Preschool Postponed' More...
Joint Committee on the Public Schools hearing on June 3 at Statehouse
Joint Committee on the Public Schools Wednesday, June 03, 2009 - 11:00 AM Meeting - State House Annex, Committee Room 12 Invited presenters will be speaking about New Jersey's Mathematic Standards. GSCS was there observing this meeting – while it was clear from the Commissioner’s presentation that the state is progressing towards a December 2009 deadline, there is still controversy among Math education advocates on the best way to proceed in the development of the overall substance and process required.
6-1-09 News of Note
June 1, 2009 Asbury Park Press Editorial - 'Merger studies waste of money'............................................. The Record - 'Budget crunch delays preschool expansion' June 1, 2009 , NorthJersey.com..................................................... The Trenton Times, 'Suburban owns laud school aid decision,
Star Ledger, 'Movie challenges Jersey's education establishment' 5-30-09 More...
6-1-09 Excerpts from 5-28-09 Supreme Court decision on Abbott More...
5-28-09 Supreme Court decision Constitutionality of the SFRA (School Funding Reform Act 2008) re Abbott Districts More...
5-29-09 News reports on yesterday's Supreme Court Decision
The Star Ledger, The Record, North Jersey News,Philadelphia Inquirer, Press of Atlantic City, Gloucester County Times, Associated Press...articles & editorials More...
5-28-09 GSCS memo to Board of Trustees includes 'syllabus' summary of today's Supreme Court decision
Go to the Supreme Court website at http://www.judiciary.state.nj.us/opinions/supreme/M-969-07%20Abbott%20v%20Burke.pdf to see the pdf of the syllabus and the full decision (138 pages). The State 'won' in the decision. The Court granted the State's motion that the SFRA is constitutional and denied the Education Law Center's motion "seeking an order preserving and continuing the status quo concerning enforcement of the Court’s prior remedial orders addressing funding to Abbott districts..." More...
5-28-09 Supreme Court sides with the State: SFRA is constitutional
Court ends Abbott program Thursday, May 28, 2009 NorthJersey.com, The Record, Herald News
"...Justices ruled that Governor Corzine's new school funding formula, which will still send the lion's share of state aid to the 31 Abbott districts, meets constitutional muster. In doing so, they agreed with the Corzine administration's argument: that a new funding formula fairly shares state aid among all 600 of New Jersey's school districts because it targets extra money to any district with high numbers of poor students.....The court also ruled that "supplemental funding," a special funding source available only to Abbott districts, should end. That was a clear win for the Corzine administration..."
'N.J. Supreme Court backs Gov. Jon Corzine's revised school-funding plan' - The Star-Ledger "The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled today that a revised school aid formula can succeed the landmark Abbott school funding case that has sent billions of dollars to the state's poorest communities during the past 30 years. In its unanimous ruling, the court said that the state's plan for school aid, the School Funding Reform Act that lawmakers adopted last year at the behest of Gov. Jon Corzine, is "a constitutionally adequate scheme." "There is no absolute guranatee that (the revised funding plan) will achieve the results desired by all," the opinion states. "...The political branches of government, however, are entitled to take reasoned steps, even if the outcome cannot be assured, to address the pressing social, economic and educational challenges confronting our state..."
Assoc. Press - 'N.J. court approves major shift in school funding' "...Thursday's 5-0 ruling is the closest the court has come in 39 years of litigation to saying the state has found a way to provide a proper education for all children without special treatment for urban schools..."
More...
5-28-09 'Governor Touts Budget Proposal and Record on Property Taxes'
May 28, 2009 - Millennium Radio "...In remarks to educators and school board members, Governor Jon S. Corzine on Wednesday touted his 2009 budget proposal and his record on property taxes, saying that his prior budgets have helped slow the rate of growth of municipal tax rates by increasing state funding for education.
"Classroom funding this year will actually be up against the formula about $150 million," Corzine said at the annual meeting of the Garden State Coalition of Schools. He called his proposal to increase school funding despite a multi-billion dollar deficit in a recession "herculean..." More...
