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GARDEN STATE COALITION OF SCHOOLS/GSCS
EMAILNET 9-20-06
Special Session Joint Committees…
YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE - GSCS HOUSEKEEPING ITEMS
GSCS MEETINGS CALENDAR 2006-2007 (Also can be found on Homepage Sidebar link, click on Board Information).
Time and Date:
GSCS Meetings are scheduled for the last Wednesday of the month as follows. Please note that the new starting time is 3:30 pm (changed from 4 pm).
Location: East Brunswick Board of Education, 760 Route 18 North, East Brunswick, New Jersey (732 613 6705 Supt. Office.)
Meeting Dates
September 27; October 25 (To be held in Atlantic City at the Fall Workshop; time & location at the Convention Center TBA); November 29; January 31; February 28;March 28 (To be confirmed); April 25; May 30 (GSCS 16th Annual Breakfast Meeting – To be confirmed at a later date).
GSCS DUES 2006-2007 - If you have not yet paid your 2006-2007 Annual Dues, please do so as soon as possible. You can download a copy of the dues voucher at www.gscschools.org, found on Homepage Sidebar link, click on Board Information). Thank you.
GSCS URGES DAILY ‘LOOK-SEE’ OF GSCS WEBSITE at www.gscschools.org …IF YOU USE THE GSCS WEBSITE REGULARLY YOU WILL BE KEPT CURRENT ON THE IMPORTANT ISSUES THAT IMPACT GSCS MEMBERS. GSCS updates the website almost daily and you will always be able to be on top of the issues by using the GSCS website as a handy, quick-reference tool.
Please note: many districts update their computer ‘firewalls’ often. We find that some districts will then screen out GSCS emails. If you find that you do not receive communications from GSCS on a weekly basis (as is the norm) please check that our gscs2000@gmail.com is maintained as a ‘favorite’ re emails that are accepted by your district.
GSCS Quick Facts:
Next Board of Trustees Meeting is Wednesday, Sept. 27, at the
GSCS is very active in Trenton, with its focus on school funding formula issues, currently with particular eye on special education programs & related aid… continues meeting with key legislators working on these special session items…GSCS testified yesterday before the Joint Committee on Public Employee Benefit Reform, see testimony below…For detailed notes on the Joint Committee meeting yesterday on Public School Funding, also see below…
On the www.gscschools.org Homepage Today….
9-20-06 Coverage of the benefits & School Funding Jt Comm hearings 9-19-06
Educating disadvantaged kids always costs more, state is told -
Hands off pensions, workers tell panel - Herald News
N.J.'s public employees adamant: no benefit cuts They pack hearing on reforming taxes Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 09/20/06
Click on below to read GSCS combined testimony presented by Lynne Strickland and Dan Fishbein at the hearing. Note these testimonies offer detailed information on savings to districts using private carriers:
More...
9-19-06 GSCS Combined Testimony before Jt Comm-Public Employee Benefits Reform
GSCS testimony reports cost-saving gains under private carriers, members' approach to health benefits demonstrates millions can be removed from local taxes with additional flexibilities allowed ... State Health Benefits plan should be modernized.
More...
Parents: For information on the Special Session on Property Tax Reform
Go to "Property Tax Reform, Special Session, and School Funding" link on this GSCS website sidebar, left side of the home page.
New
http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/PropertyTaxSession/specialsessionpt.asp
9-18-06 News Articles re Special Session
Dry hearings color tax reform debate Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 09/18/06
Revision of funding hinges on special education issues, posted 9-13-06 Star Ledger
Hearing to air cost savings in public jobs 9-19 in
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Special Session on Property Tax Reform notes: 9-19-06
Princeton Public Affairs Group Inc. (Submitted as professional courtesy to GSCS)
Today, Sept. 19, 2006, the Joint Legislative Committee on Public School Funding Reform (JCSF), met to take testimony from invited guests Jay G. Chambers, Ph.D. and Professor John Yinger on methods to determine the cost of education.
The committee began with an announcement from Assemblyman Herb Conaway, co-chair of the (JCSF). Conaway stated that the two speakers at the hearing today are speaking remotely and that the speakers are experts in the field of public school funding, however, they do not have experience in
The first speaker was Professor John Yinger, Trustee Professor of Public Administration and Economics Director of the Education Finance and Accountability Program in the Center for Policy Research at the
He began with an overview of the method of “costing out,” which included what the recent research on the subject includes. He then gave a broad framework on the notion of costing out. As an example he described the way
Costing out is used to calculate the amount of money that is needed to meet the state standards of education. Before the method of costing out is used, the state must decide what the state standards are.
According to Yinger, costing out should be used for calculating the cost in three different areas of public school funding. First, the state should find out the cost of meeting the needs in a typical first year of using the state standards. Second, to calculate the amount of money that is needed in a district to attract high quality teachers for special districts. Finally the amount of money that is required for use in districts for schools that provide programs for children with special needs.
Yinger than described the three approaches that could be used with the costing out method. The first approach is called the successful school approach; second is referred to as the initial judgment approach; the final approach is called the cost function approach.
The other speaker that testified before the joint committee was Jay G. Chambers, Ph.D., Senior Research Fellow / Managing Director of the Education Finance Business Development Group in the Education Program at the American Institutes for Research. He began his testimony by stating that he was in disagreement with the previous speaker over the use of costing out.
Chambers first defined costing out, as slightly different that Yingers but included the economic definition used by all fields, not just the education field. Next he listed the three factors that affect the cost of education. Included as factors are price, which is how much more or less is needed to employ comparable resources; need, which includes students that are at risk, English language learners and special needs; and scale, which refers to schools that can not operate if they were required to have the same number of students as larger, more urbanized schools.
Next Chambers explained that funding needs to address adequacy. He stated that adequacy was achieved through setting goals and determining the cost of achieving such goals. The methods widely used in the education field to calculate a funding formula are the cost function method, the success schools approach, the professional judgment approach and the evidence based method.
Most of the questions asked by the committee were requesting the speakers to provide some suggestions or ideas for legislation the committee could introduce that would cut the costs of public school funding. The speakers both answered that their research was general and not specific to
The next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, September, 26 2006 at 1pm. This committee hearing will be the sixth fact finding meeting for the JCSF in order to reform the states public school funding formula.
