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Thursday, September 27, 2007 Corzine back in public eye Talks on varied topics week after surgery BY DEBORAH HOWLETT Star-Ledger Staff Gov. Jon Corzine said yesterday Democrats are not immune from voter anger over corruption, defended the pace of his initiatives and noted he is feeling fine a week after surgery. "I'm not able to do the things that I was able to do before I got injured," Corzine said in a wide- ranging news conference from the garden of Drumthwacket, the governor's mansion in Princeton. "The fact is that we're working every day." In his first public appearance since leaving a Camden hospital following surgery to remove excess bone growth from the left thigh bone he broke in a near-fatal car crash five months ago, Corzine warned Democrats they should not feel "insulated" from voter backlash over corruption scandals. The governor was responding to a question about a Quinnipiac Poll this week that showed while nine in ten New Jersey voters saw corrup tion as a serious issue, 54 percent said they weren't more likely to vote for the minority Republican Party. "This Democrat doesn't feel in sulated," Corzine said. "I don't feel insulated. Anybody who feels insu lated from the fact that the environment continues to grow new people who would abuse the system is wrong." Corzine said he is working every day on his policy agenda. "It's like this leg," he said. "Every day I'm doing something to strengthen it, but I'm not out run ning 100 yard dashes." He cited school finance as an example of progress, saying while the 4.5 percent increase in school budgets may be more than the goal of keeping them to 4 percent, it is the lowest percentage increase in nearly a decade. "Is it 4 percent? No. But it is better and it is a step in the right direction," Corzine said. The governor also spoke out on what has become a familiar theme for him in recent weeks: the likeli hood that President Bush would veto a bill to expand health insurance for children. He said if Bush vetoes a measure to provide more dollars for the State Children's Health Insurance Program, "this comes right home." He said the state would have to pick up $65 million to $70 million of the cost. "I find it to be morally reprehensible to turn children loose from this program," Corzine said. Deborah Howlett may be reached at dhowlett@starledger.com or (609) 989-0273. Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 09/28/07 What's left to discuss? Gov. Corzine said this week his administration is in the final stages of developing a new school funding formula. But as with his "asset monetization" plans, he's holding back on the details until after the November elections. He also said recently he doesn't want the Legislature to debate ethics reforms until after the elections, saying he doesn't want that to be used as a "political football." Apparently, all he wants Democratic legislators to do in October is brag about the rebate checks that likely will disappear next year, the watered-down ethics reforms and the meager steps that have been taken to reduce waste and inefficiency in government. Holding out on his plans is an affront to taxpayers, who deserve all of the available information on key issues as they are being fleshed out. Corzine said Wednesday that a policy debate on the proposed school funding formula — originally expected earlier this year — will occur sometime after the November elections. Corzine is well aware that at least 29 new faces will be found in the state Senate and Assembly next year. The outgoing incumbents need not fear retribution from voters. And Democratic lawmakers seeking re-election will be relieved of the burden of having to defend any unpopular proposals on three controversial issues — monetization, school funding and ethics reform. Changes to the school funding formula deserve full public debate. That debate should take place before an election — not after, in a lame-duck session. Corzine should release any proposals or plans — in whatever form they are available — for examination by legislators, the candidates and the taxpayers. Now, not after the elections. Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 09/27/07 POLICY DEBATE: Certain items and policies loom as Election Day nears Corzine sets the tone for school funding discussion in next budget CURRENT FORMULA: Hasn't been followed in years; budget woes blamed BY JONATHAN TAMARI TRENTON — Gov. Corzine said Wednesday he hopes to have a new school funding formula ready for debate before discussions begin on a new state budget. That timing would likely set the stage for a policy debate sometime after November's election on an issue that could have a far-reaching impact on education and property taxes. Corzine said the complex formula, which had been expected earlier this year, is nearing the point where it can be proposed. "You need to have a responsible — both fiscally, but more importantly educationally — derived formula," Corzine said, adding that the issue defies easy solutions. The state's school funding law hasn't been followed in years, due largely to budget crunches, leaving most schools with stagnant aid for five years, until a slight increase in support earlier this year. Without regular increases, most districts have had to rely on property tax hikes to make up for rising costs. Several lawmakers had hoped the formula would have been part of the Legislature's effort to reduce property taxes in 2006 and early 2007, but the Department of Education said it needed more time to work on the long-festering issue. "We're close to having something that I feel we can use in the budgets forthcoming, or at least propose," Corzine said. A debate after the election would likely come during the so-called "lame duck" session of the Legislature, when lawmakers may face less pressure from a looming public vote and the prospect of political attacks. Corzine also noted that school budgets rose by only 4.4 percent this year, the lowest, he said, since 1998. In recent years school tax hikes have exceeded 6 percent. Corzine pointed to increased state aid and a new cap on tax levies as two of the keys to the change. In a wide-ranging news conference, Corzine said Democrats should not feel insulated from corruption charges, despite a Quinnipiac University poll showing that a majority of voters said they are not more likely to vote Republican despite a string of Democratic arrests this year. "This Democrat hasn't been insulated," Corzine said in response to a question. "I think anybody that feels insulated from the fact that the environment continues to grow new would-be people who would abuse the system, is wrong." Jonathan Tamari: jtamari@gannett.com Smart decisions on improving schools Friday, September 28, 2007 BY TOM MORAN Star-Ledger Staff Superintendent Nathan Parker is feeling proud this week, as if he's part of something big, almost miraculous. "We've done something unique in New Jersey," he says. "We are on the cusp of overcoming some of the long-term effects of racism." That's a big statement. But Parker has probably earned the right to be that bold. In the last four years, he's turned around the schools in Orange, making this poor, largely African-American district a model. Be fore that he worked on the other side of the planet -- as superintendent in Upper Saddle River, a wealthy white enclave in Bergen County. So he is the kind of guy we should listen to carefully when the discussion turns to education and race. And he believes the news this week, from the latest round of national tests, is something special. The tests show that New Jersey is making huge strides in closing the racial gap in school performance. In the last two years, reading scores for African-American fourth- graders jumped from 21st place in the nation to fourth place. Latinos have moved up from 15th to fifth. Those are the most impressive gains in America. The reason, most everyone agrees, is that New Jersey has been pushing full-bore on early reading skills in the state's poorest districts. These strategies included smaller classes, more teacher training, frequent evaluations and tuto rials when needed. And this crop of fourth-graders is also much more likely to have attended high-quality preschools. We did this the old-fashioned way, in other words, with lots of money and lots of sweat. So forgive Parker if he gets a bit epic. The man is pumped. But he is also worried. Because the Legislature is preparing to re vamp the way the state funds education, with an eye to providing more help to middle-class suburbs. Those districts do need help. They are caught in a familiar squeeze -- not poor enough to qualify for the extra aid that poor cities like Orange receive, but not rich enough to build great school systems on their own. Parker's fear is that Trenton will help those districts by siphoning money away from the poor districts like Orange, known as Abbott districts. "That would be a disaster," he says. The Abbott money has allowed him to reduce class sizes, to hire better teachers at competitive salaries, to offer them more training, to place reading specialists in the classroom, and to replace and repair his decaying school buildings. Without the money, he says, his test scores would not be rising so fast, or so steadily. The problem for Parker, and for other successful districts, is that the worst Abbott schools are mak ing the whole program look bad. Jersey City has wasted money on international travel. Camden has bought expensive flowers and catering for board meetings. Asbury Park, perhaps the worst offender, spends nearly $22,000 a year per student and has only widespread failure to show for it. "Some districts are performing at a very high level, but some are doing just terribly," says Education Commissioner Lucille Davy. So the challenge for Davy, and for Gov. Jon Corzine, will be to protect the status quo in places like Orange, while forcing change in places like Asbury Park. And here is where the good news part of this story ends with a thud. Because our Department of Education has never had the capacity, or maybe the drive, to properly oversee the Abbott districts. The bowels of this bureaucracy are rotten. Gordon MacInnes oversaw the Abbott programs from 2002 until earlier this year, and is one of the heroes behind these gains. But, he says, he lacked the staff to effectively spread the success in places like Orange. And when he did find a good person to hire, the salaries were so low that he often lost them. "They would get hired by districts for 25 percent higher salaries," MacInnes says. A recent audit of the department confirmed the obvious -- it was deemed understaffed, and its employees underpaid and undertrained. So Parker has one worry buz zing in the back of his mind: What if the state undercuts him just as Orange and other urban districts are gaining traction? Still, he is a happy fellow this week. He knows that children who can't read at grade level by the fourth grade rarely catch up. So when he looks at these statistics, he sees beyond the numbers and realizes that what schools in New Jersey are doing is giving thou sands more poor children a shot at a successful life. And that is why he likes his job. Because it matters so much. And because it's starting to work. "There is a real opportunity to make history," Parker says. "My advice to the Legislature would be this: Don't mess with it." Tom Moran may be reached at tmoran@starledger.com or (973) 392-1823.
GANNETT STATE BUREAU
Good report card a good start
Friday, September 28, 2007
The good news about New Jersey's scores on the national school report card is the evidence of hard-won progress in narrowing educational gaps among black, Hispanic and lower-income students.
New Jersey's fourth-graders ranked among the top four nationally for both reading and math on the 2007 National Assessment of Educational Progress report. That ranking was driven by significant improvement in the scores of minority groups, compared to their performance in previous years, something few other states could match.
Scores on state tests reflect a similar trend. It may be that New Jersey is beginning to see the long-hoped-for wave of educational change radiating from the extra state funding given to the districts where minority students are concentrated. That money has come through the ongoing state Supreme Court battle known as the Abbott case. State-sponsored preschool and a concentration on early literacy as the key to learning are no doubt reflected in those fourth-grade results.
The smaller gains seen in New Jersey's eighth-grade NAEP scores raise valid concerns about older kids who did not get that early preparation. Educators also must make sure that the skills and interests now being nurtured in the early years are not frustrated as students move through their school careers. There is still much to do.
New Jersey's learning gaps are narrower but still far too wide. Compared to 2005, when only 42 percent of black and 49 percent of Hispanic fourth-graders tested at the basic skill level in reading, 57 percent of black and 61 percent of Hispanic youngsters now hit that mark. That compares, however, to 86 percent of white fourth-graders at the basic skill level, and 52 percent of the white students testing "proficient." Only 22 percent of the black and 23 percent of Hispanic fourth-graders are deemed proficient.
That progress is not enough to guarantee that all New Jersey kids have a shot at the kind of education that prepares them to become self-sufficient members of the work force and interested and informed members of society. New Jersey's prosperity depends upon hitting that goal.
New Jersey's lawmakers will soon weigh the need for sufficient school funding against the demands of a strained state budget and the clamor for reduced taxes, the need to sustain progress in the Abbott districts while helping other communities with their educational problems.
The progress New Jersey's children are showing should not be a signal to cut back, but proof of the need to keep providing what is required do better.
Resources must be applied with diligent oversight and accountability -- something that was not part of the Abbott equation from the beginning. What might those test scores be now if it had been?
