Quality Public Education for All New Jersey Students

 

Property Taxes, School Funding issues
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EMAILNET 5-18-07 School Funding Formula Needed Now

GARDEN STATE COALITION OF SCHOOLS/GSCS

EMAILNET  5-18-07

gscs2000@gmail.com                                                              www.gscschools.org                       

School Funding Formula Conversation…….continues with Department of Education and State Legislators …. A series of meetings has been set for legislators and GSCS encourages their participation…Gov Corzine and some key legislators remain committed to December 2007 deadline for new formula to become law…

 

On the GSCS homepage today at   www.gscschools.org  :

 

5-16-07 Education Week 'Frustration Builds in NJ Funding Debate'


'Districts increase push for revised aid formula, amid continuing delays...'

 

"...Gov. Jon S. Corzine, a Democrat, hoped to have a new funding formula in place for the 2007-08 school year, but that has been delayed until 2008-09 while policymakers and advocates debate the figures and factors that should shape the aid framework. In the meantime, frustration is mounting in the districts..... “We need a school funding formula and we need it, like, yesterday,” said Lynne Strickland, the executive director of the Garden State Coalition of Schools..."
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SIGN UP REMINDER! For GSCS ANNUAL BREAKFAST MEETING MAY 23
GARDEN STATE COALITION OF SCHOOLS INVITES PARENTS, MEMBERS & FRIENDS TO: GSCS SIXTEENTH ANNUAL BREAKFAST MEETING MAY 23 (Click on More below for registration & voucher)

• WHEN: Date & Time: Wednesday, May 23, 9:00 –1 1:30 a.m.

• WHERE: Forsgate Country Club Monroe Twp, NJ (just of Exit 8A, NJ Turnpike) Directions - http://forsgatecc.com/index.cfm?menu=3811&openitem=381

• WHAT: Sit Down Breakfast; Critical Issues Focus - The need for a new school funding formula and Trenton political stressors & competing needs…

• KEYNOTE Speaker: Dr. David Rebovich, Political Analyst, Commentator, Public Affairs Columnist & Managing Director, Rider Univ. Inst. for Political Science. He has written over 800 articles for THE TRENTON TIMES, THE TRENTONIAN and THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER; currently for the popular political website, PoliticsNJ.com, NEW JERSEY LAWYER, and CAMPAIGNS & ELECTIONS Magazine. A past recipient of the NJ Press Association’s award for outstanding weekly column writing, Dr. Rebovich also serves on CQPolitics.com’s Board of Advisors that provides analysis of national political developments.

• KEY LEGISLATORS’ LEADERSHIP PANEL: Confirmed - Senator Barbara Buono (D- 18th district/Metuchen) – Senate Budget & Appropriations Committee, Senate Conference Chair; and Senator Tom Kean (R- 21st District/Westfield), Senate Minority Whip, Joint Committee on Public Schools, Judiciary; Assemblyman David Wolfe (R-10th District) Education; Jt Comm Public School Funding reform, Jt Comm Public Schools… See this website for further updates….
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5-15-07 Grad students tackle school funding issues
STAR LEDGER - 'More than an academic question' "...Still, he came away with a fine appreciation for how the debate affects real people, and he made no excuses for lawmakers who fail to get the system reformed.

"The more they lollygag, the more the people and children will suffer," Lewis said..."More...

New York Times spring 07 articles on special education costs, enrollments; local property taxes
The lead article notes that special education costs in New Jersey are now at $4.7B, according to the Department of Education. GSCs notes that state aid for special education has been set at approx. $950M and held flat in recent years.  More...

Special Education - proposed 'burden of proof' legislation, Spec Educ Review Commission Report
Read here on recent special education issues, costs, and proposed legislation in Trenton re burden of proof concerns & related GSCS testimony...The Special Education Review Commission Report, on which GSCS had a seat, is also attached in full here.  More...

5-3-07 News Reports on Corzine Cabinet's Red Bank Town Meeting last night
GSCS was there and notes that the majority of questions addressed to Governor Corzine's Cabinet members had an education funding focus...the need for a fair and equitable funding formula for all districts to be put in place ASAP was repeatedly emphasized. Here are some excerpts from articles included in full/click on MORE...

Star Ledger – “…Abelow fielded questions about the property tax rebates coming for most New Jersey homeowners and the difficulty schools and municipalities face with the new 4 percent cap on the annual growth of tax levies…”..... “…Davy handled a number of questions regarding school funding, particularly regarding the disparity between poor and middle-class school districts under the Abbott court decision. She guaranteed a teacher from a nearby Abbott school district that class sizes would not exceed 40 students. She later said she could not make the same guarantee to a parent from Freehold, one of several wearing yellow T-shirts imprinted with "Save Our Schools.”…”

Asbury Park Press – “…Education Commissioner Lucille E. Davy seemed to be most in demand. Several parents from Freehold, wearing yellow "Save our schools" T-shirts, asked her why the district didn't receive enough funding to keep from cutting seven teachers and five support staff. …The answer Davy had to most of their questions was that a new funding formula is being drafted, which should put school districts on a more even footing. But that wasn't what Freehold parent Stacy Laberdee of Lenoir Avenue wanted to hear. "We've been treading water, and now we can't tread water any longer," Laberdee said afterward. "I don't feel like they gave us any assurance."…”
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