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NJ Spotlight - WITH EIGHT-BILL PACKAGE IN TRENTON, VO-TECH SCHOOLS FINALLY GET SOME RESPECT
Legislation would increase funding and ease regulations for career-focused programs
Associated Press - Christie to offer budget adjustments this week
Star Ledger - About 300 workers may lose jobs in Newark schools through layoffs, retirements
NJ Spotlight - WITH EIGHT-BILL PACKAGE IN TRENTON, VO-TECH SCHOOLS FINALLY GET SOME RESPECT
JOHN MOONEY | MAY 20, 2014
Legislation would increase funding and ease regulations for career-focused programs
Sometimes treated like the stepchildren of the public school system, New Jersey’s vocational and technical programs got a political boost yesterday, as the state’s top Democrats announced a package of bills that would loosen the purse strings and ease the rules on career-centered programs.
Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto (D-Hudson) yesterday said he would introduce eight bills this week that aim to promote vo-tech programs and their missions, some with funding, others with encouragement.
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The latter is, of course, easier than the former, and Prieto said he would press to include some money for districts that are sometimes left out of state-funding calculations.
One bill would provide facilities funding for the state’s vo-tech districts. Another would start to restore funding for adult high schools and postsecondary programs that were badly cut over the last five years. The adult high school program had a peak in state funding of close to $20 million a decade ago, since slashed to zero.
“There is so much talk about college readiness that I think career readiness is losing out,” Prieto said yesterday. “We need to make sure that people even know it’s out there, that parents know that there are alternatives.”
When asked whether new funds could be found in the coming fiscal 2015 state budget, as lawmakers grapple with a $800 million deficit this year, Prieto did not rule it out.
“Budgets are about setting priorities, and we need to make sure this is a priority,” the Speaker said in an interview.
The legislative package, announced with Prieto standing alongside Assembly education chairman Patrick Diegnan (D-Middlesex) at a midday press conference, won the quick backing of state Senate President Steve Sweeney (D-Gloucester).
“Our state’s vocational schools have long been overlooked when discussions about comprehensive education reform have taken place,” Sweeney said in a statement. "That must end."
“Today’s students are not being provided the opportunities through technical and vocational schools that they should be,” he said. ”As a result, our workforce training and readiness have suffered.”
The state’s vocational and technical districts have been pressing hard for attention lately as state funding has dwindled for all districts over the past five years. The districts remain among the higher-spending overall, thanks to their county oversight and funding, but they have been skipped over on some aid categories they view as critical.
Earlier this year, the districts struck up a new partnership with the state’s business community, called the New Jersey Employer Coalition for Technical Education, with vows from both sides that they would work more closely together to serve each other’s needs with collaborations, internships, and other opportunities.
That message was prevalent yesterday, as the president of the New Jersey Business and Industries Association spoke in favor of the bills.
“We are very supportive of the efforts by Speaker Prieto and Chairman Diegnan,” said Melanie Willoughby, acting president of NJBIA. “Our goal is to make sure that businesses today have the entry-level employees who are prepared for the modern world of work and that workplaces have a pipeline of highly skilled workers.”
The loss of funding for adult education and postsecondary programs has left the districts especially smarting.
“That was an aid stream eliminated under [the state’s funding formula], and the result is that most programs have closed or are a lot less than they once were,” said Judy Savage, executive director of the New Jersey Council of County Vocational-Technical Schools.
The eight bills are intended to achieve a range of goals:
· Require New Jersey’s school performance reports to include specific indicators of student career readiness;
· Require preparation programs for teachers and school counselors to include coursework to support improved student career readiness;
· Authorize the Economic Development Authority to issue an additional $50 million in bonds to provide grants for county vocational school district facilities projects;
· Establish four-year county vocational school district facilities partnership grant program;
· Require all school districts and public colleges to enter into dual enrollment agreements to provide college-level instruction to high school students;
· Provide regulatory leeway for county vocational school districts’ programs held in industry settings and other offsite locations;
· Deliver additional state aid to districts with enrollment increases of more than 10 percent; and
· Supply state aid for adult education programs.
Associated Press - Christie to offer budget adjustments this week
May 19, 2014, 1:27 PM Last updated: Monday, May 19, 2014, 7:09 PM
Associated Press
TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie is expected to announce the administration's proposals for closing an $800 million budget shortage this week, possibly before the state treasurer appears before the Assembly Budget Committee on Wednesday.
Treasurer Andrew Sidamon-Eristoff said school aid, student and higher education assistance and employee benefits are all on the table. Nursing homes and hospitals could also be hit.
Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto said Monday the Legislature is waiting to hear from the administration on how it intends to close the gap.
Prieto said he also is concerned that Christie's proposed budget for 2015 contains just over $300 million in surplus, which is less than 1 percent of the total.
The administration announced it was missing revenue targets for the current fiscal year after seeing April tax returns.
Three Wall Street bond rating agencies recently downgraded New Jersey's credit rating, making it more expensive for the state to borrow money.
The latest agency to do so, Moody's, said the downgrade is because of revenue shortfalls and reliance on one-time budget solutions that don't fix the state's finances in the long-term.
Star Ledger - About 300 workers may lose jobs in Newark schools through layoffs, retirements
By Peggy McGlone/The Star-Ledger
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on May 19, 2014 at 7:38 PM, updated May 19, 2014 at 7:39 PM
Newark school officials are considering laying off more than 100 employees in the central office, according to union and school officials. In addition, district officials will cut teacher ranks through retirements and by not renewing about 100 non-tenured teachers who work on annual contracts, officials said.
Also, as part of the restructuring, school officials said, as many as 55 parent liaisons who work in the schools will be laid off but the district said many may be rehired.
The potential cuts were announced at several meetings Friday and are part of the state-operated district’s attempt to close a $42 million budget gap, School Advisory Board chairman Rashon Hasan said.
"When we have a budget deficit, everyone has to do their share," Hasan said. "The Central Office staff was disproportionate. A lot of money has been pumped into the central office and not seen in the classroom."
Last month, a preliminary budget from Superintendent Cami Anderson raised the possibility of 400 layoffs.
The plan is an effort to cut the budget without laying off teachers, said Vanessa Rodriguez, chief talent officer for Newark Public Schools.
"We don’t want to lay off teachers and we are working very hard through the tools at our disposal — most importantly, the effective implementation of the provisions of the contract — in order to not be in that position this year," she said.
"This is not just a one year problem, however, and we need to ensure we have the ability to address the long-term fiscal sustainability of the district," Rodriguez added.
A district spokeswoman would not confirm the exact number of retirements, layoffs and contracts not being renewed because the plan is not yet final.
Hasan said there would be at least 50 retirements.
But officials said the central office cuts, if needed, will be made across the board, from several different job positions, and will include per diem and temporary workers as well as other non-union employees.
The notifications given to central office employees and parent liaisons are part of the legal process the district must begin if layoffs occur. They don’t mean all of the jobs will be lost. Final decisions will be made around June 24.
"We don’t want to lay off teachers and we are working very hard through the tools at our disposal"
In addition, district officials said the cuts to 55 parent liaison positions are part of a restructuring that will see the district re-hire many of these employees. The union workers, who connect families and school officials, earn around $25,000-$33,000, according to public records.
"We feel the position is critical to our schools, and this restructuring is evidence of how much we value this work," Rodriguez said, noting that a high percentage of these employees live in Newark. "The job description doesn’t capture everything they do and we see this as an opportunity to address that disconnect."
Hasan said the move will actually help stabilize the positions because they would not longer be subject to civil service bumping rules.
"From a union standpoint it’s not good because they lose (members)," he said. "But there has to be sacrifice from all parts. We all have to give a little, take a little."
Newark Teachers Union president Joseph DelGrosso described the layoffs as retribution. The union endorsed Mayor-elect Ras Baraka, a Newark high school principal who repeatedly called for Superintendent Cami Anderson’s ouster.
"I guess it’s payback," DelGrosso said.
DelGrosso said the union will fight the cuts.
"We will have our meetings with the parties, from the mayor-elect to the commissioner (acting Commissioner of Education David Hespe)," he said.
Hasan said this plan means Anderson would not need the waiver she sought from Department of Education that would allow her to layoff teachers without regard to seniority. No decision on that request has been made, a spokesman for the Department of Education said.
