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'Education leaders focus on dropouts' Thursday, October 16, 2008 STAR LEDGER
'Both candidates want to keep Uncle Sam in the classroom Sunday, October 12 2008 STAR LEDGER
'I say we cannot stand idly by'
Corzine spells out financial relief for wide swath of N.J.
Friday, October 17, 2008 STAR LEDGER
'I say we cannot stand idly by' Corzine spells out financial relief for wide swath of N.J. Friday, October 17, 2008 BY CLAIRE HEININGER Star-Ledger Staff
With the state's economic footing and perhaps his own political fortunes in the balance, Gov. Jon Corzine offered a far-reaching plan yesterday to guard New Jersey against the worst of the global financial crisis.
Striking a somber but determined tone in a rare speech to the Legislature, Corzine pledged to provide relief for homeowners at risk of foreclosure, small businesses squeezed by the credit crunch, and seniors struggling to afford their property taxes. He outlined highway projects and clean-energy plans that could create thousands of jobs, and reforms to the state's tax policies and regulatory processes to sweeten the business climate. "While some may say our challenge is a problem greater than New Jersey, I say we cannot stand idly by," Corzine said. "It's our time to be courageous."
The Democratic governor called for putting $500 million of pension and other state-managed investment funds into community banks, to make more money available for lending to local businesses. He also asked for a new program that would give businesses with up to 500 employees $3,000 for each new full-time job they create and maintain for at least one year.
In all, the economic-stimulus package will cost the state about $150 million, not including the investment of pension funds. New Jersey also could benefit from more federal funding in the weeks ahead, possibly from the $700 billion bailout recently passed in Congress or from a proposed stimulus package, Corzine said. Some of the measures -- such as speeding up construction projects, providing foreclosure assistance and investing the pension funds -- will soon be implemented by the administration, Corzine said. Others require legislation, such as the $3,000-per-new-job plan and several changes to New Jersey's corporate tax formulas.
Legislative leaders pledged to speed passage of the package before the end of the year. "The sooner the better," said Senate President Richard Codey (D-Essex). "People are in desperate straits."
The governor's 25-minute address at the Statehouse came against a grim economic backdrop. Daily gyrations on Wall Street are threatening tens of thousands of New Jersey jobs and undermining consumer confidence. Dropping state revenues mean New Jersey is headed for a $400 million shortfall, Corzine said, requiring budget cuts and possibly "more drastic steps." Still, the audience interrupted Corzine's speech five times for applause -- five more than during his budget speech in February.
The former Goldman Sachs chairman quoted Thomas Edison as he urged lawmakers to "do what is right" so New Jersey will emerge "stronger and more prosperous." Afterward, business and community groups reacted with guarded enthusiasm, while Democratic lawmakers heaped praise on Corzine's performance.
"He did exactly what he needed to do: show New Jerseyans he understands the crisis," said Assemblyman Joseph Cryan (D-Union), state Democratic Party chairman and a cheerleader for Corzine's re-election bid in 2009. "They elected him in part based on the fact that he was from Wall Street, and today he obviously delivered."
Republicans were underwhelmed, needling Corzine for approving toll hikes on the New Jersey Turnpike and Garden State Parkway and saying he dragged his feet on business-friendly reforms. "Up until today, the governor ignored many of these priorities," said Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean Jr. (R-Union), who called the plan "incomplete."
Political observers said Corzine's performance yesterday -- and his follow-through in muscling the plan through the Legislature and selling it to the public -- could be his best chance at improving his poll numbers as he gears up for re-election next year.
"This is what people want to hear: 'How are you going to help me?'" said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute. "He's got a lot of selling ahead of him. He's got the opportunity back again in an area that really gets his blood going."
FOUR CONCERNS The plan took shape over the past few weeks, as Corzine tried to "scrub the universe" for ideas from business leaders, academics, legislators and citizens, said his chief of staff, Bradley Abelow.
It is divided into four broad categories: immediate basic assistance for food, shelter, heat and property taxes; short-term job creation and economic stimulus; long-term enhancement of the state's business climate; and a way to pay for the proposals.
Noting New Jersey is losing 50,000 homes to foreclosure each year, Corzine said already-committed federal funding and $40 million in new state funding will go toward stabilizing neighborhoods.
Staci Berger, advocacy director for the Housing and Community Development Network of New Jersey, said the plans are encouraging but more is needed. "These steps, while laudable, do not address the root cause of the problem, take a comprehensive approach to solving it, or prevent new problems," she said. "The subprime foreclosure crisis is growing and affecting every community in the state."
James Silkensen, president of the New Jersey League of Community Bankers, said the pension and state investment-fund deposits "could certainly be very helpful" in lending. That effort will open about 30 smaller banks to state deposits, officials said. Banks that get the deposits will be monitored to make sure they are using the cash flow to make loans to New Jersey businesses.
Corzine also proposed expanding the Senior Freeze program -- which caps property taxes for many elderly and disabled homeowners.
Right now the freeze is given to those who earn $53,000 or less. Corzine would offer it to those with incomes up to $80,000.
Staff writers Dunstan McNichol and Tom Hester contributed to this report.
STAR LEDGER, Both candidates want to keep Uncle Sam in the classroom
Sunday October 12, by John Mooney
When it comes to schools and presidential politics, it wasn't too many elections ago when candidates argued whether to even have a federal Department of Education.
That idea seems remarkable now in the age of No Child Left Behind, as Washington has swept its way into local schools with new tests and standards, and President Bush has cast himself as the nation's "educator-in-chief."
Either John McCain or Barack Obama will inherit that title in less than three months, and each offers a slightly different approach to everything from vouchers to preschool to funding.
Yet for all the fine points separating them, neither candidate breaks much from the new reality of the powerful federal role in public education, especially the controversial No Child Left Behind Act.
"Think back even just three elections ago with Bill Clinton and Bob Dole, and the debate was really about over whether there should be any federal role in education at all," said Patrick McGuinn, an assistant professor of political science at Drew University.
"Now it is not about whether the federal government should have a role, but about what that role should be," he said.
So even in Chatham, a suburban district that receives less than 1 percent of its funding from the federal government, educators acknowledge the president's influence in their classrooms has been significant.
After leading a lively discussion on the election in his Advanced Placement government class, teacher Jim Menguerian recently talked about how all the testing driven by the No Child Left Behind Act has infiltrated his high-performing district -- not necessarily to the good.
"As the federal government, they are always looking for one-size-fits-all solutions," Menguerian said, "but education just doesn't work that way."
A few miles east, the new school chief in Newark had fewer qualms about the federal government's role. Nearly 10 percent of the district's budget comes from federal funding, and No Child Left Behind exerts a strong influence. But more than a third of the students still don't graduate. Superintendent Clifford Janey said it's time the federal government expand its role, not retreat from it.
"To me, education should be treated as a national security issue," he said.
POLICY PRIORITIES
So far, neither McCain nor Obama has given much air-time to education in their campaigns, with the war in Iraq and the economy driving the debate. Still, they have provided road maps for where they would take federal policy, not always along predictable lines.
McCain, the Republican senator from Arizona, has focused on school choice and competition, a familiar Republican refrain. He has pressed for private school vouchers and charter schools as vital options to families in so-called failing schools.
One signal has been his pick of former Arizona school superintendent Lisa Graham Keegan to be his point person on education, choosing a woman who was a huge proponent of charter schools in that state. Arizona has more than 450 charter schools, a quarter of all its public schools and a 10th of all charter schools in the nation. New Jersey has just shy of 70 charters.
Obama, the Democratic senator from Illinois, has followed his own party's orthodoxy in wanting to expand preschools and boost federal education spending, even quoting a rough price tag of another $18 billion.
But he has broken from his party's traditional backers to loudly support charter schools and even alternative ways of paying teachers, including the use of merit pay to help attract and retain teachers.
Also supported by McCain, merit pay is not always popular with the teachers unions that have lined up behind Obama, including the New Jersey Education Association. But union leaders say that's a small pill to take.
"Even on merit pay, there is a contrast between the two candidates," said Steven Baker, an NJEA spokesman. "McCain's idea is based largely on test scores, while Obama says it should be part of bargaining and based on multiple measures."
Despite detailed positions on some issues, neither candidate has said much about the elephant in the classroom -- No Child Left Behind.
In what some consider President Bush's signature domestic initiative, the law has shaken up the public school establishment with its requirements for annual testing and accountability measures. That goes for New Jersey, where close to 1,000 schools have failed to hit the law's targets for student achievement.
With the law up for reauthorization -- actually a year overdue -- No Child could be one of the next president's first domestic challenges.
So far, McCain has been more supportive of keeping the law as it is, while Obama said he would provide more federal money and support to low-performing schools. Obama also supports softening the law's roughest edges, introducing the possibility of using different ways to measure student achievement rather than basing it purely on testing.
But both have been short on specifics, and some say that is intentional.
"Everybody realizes changes need to be made, but the key question is how much flexibility will be given to states," said McGuinn, the Drew professor. "Thus far, both have done a delicate dance. ... They don't want to get nailed down for fear of antagonizing someone."
How much voters care is debatable. Among the under-20 set, education policy wasn't raised in the discussion at Chatham High School. Four or five students will be voting for the first time on Nov. 4, including senior Shannon Kelly, who will celebrate her 18th birthday that day.
"It's finally a chance for my voice to be heard," she said afterward. "You hear a lot of 17 year olds frustrated that they won't get the chance."
Senior Dan Parziale also will vote for the first time, and after watching Wall Street crumble in recent weeks, the economy is the big issue he's following. He's heard about No Child Left Behind but said he doesn't have strong opinions on it.
"Occasionally we'll hear teachers talk about it," he said. "And usually in the negative."
Education leaders focus on dropouts
Thursday, October 16, 2008
BY JOHN MOONEY AND KASI ADDISON
Star-Ledger Staff
With one in five New Jersey high school students dropping out -- and maybe twice that in some urban districts -- Gov. Jon Corzine and other top officials launched a campaign yesterday to help devise some solutions.
But the challenge of solving what many say is a nationwide crisis was evident later in the day, as the state Board of Education continued to deliberate on the Corzine administration's plan to simultaneously increase the rigor of high schools.
The plan calls for additional academic requirements and testing for high school students, including in biology and advanced algebra, to be phased in over the next eight years.
The board's president, Josephine E. Hernandez, asked whether that was enough time for schools to meet the expectations -- not just for students, but teachers as well.
"Quite frankly, many of us on the board grapple with not wanting to leave anyone behind and disenfranchising too many students," she said.
The comment clearly spelled out the balancing act Corzine and key education officials face as they seek to raise standards in a state where large numbers of students struggle to meet current requirements.
The state board session, held in a conference room at Rutgers-Newark, followed a far larger and elaborate presentation on the campus where Corzine and other luminaries announced a year-long New Jersey High School Graduation Campaign.
It will include regional conferences across the state to discuss prevention strategies and collect feedback, culminating with a statewide summit in the fall of 2009.
A similar campaign is planned for every state under the America's Promise Alliance, an organization spearheaded by former U.S. secretary of state Colin Powell and his wife, Alma.
Yesterday, officials rattled off statistics in an effort to get at the real cost of the estimated 19,000 students who drop out of school: $4.9 billion in lost lifetime earnings, $258 million in annual health care costs, and others.
"The costs are dramatic," said Corzine. "'And the social costs only grow exponentially when we fail."
Alma Powell, who attended the event, added a few more numbers: "Every 26 seconds, a young person drops out of school, 70,000 of them a year ... Before the end of the day, 3,000 more students will have dropped out."
The extent of the dropout problem in New Jersey is open to debate. The state boasts the highest graduation rate in the country by one national measure, with more than 80 percent of freshmen said to receive a diploma in four years.
But more comprehensive measures are being phased in, and the state's new student database -- which assigned every child a number and attempts to track their progress -- is intended to provide a truer number.
Few dispute that the numbers are far starker in the state's largest cities: Newark officials, for instance, announced last month that only 63 percent of the city's students graduated in 2007.
Newark's new superintendent, Clifford Janey, yesterday spoke before the state board about its proposal for more rigorous graduation requirements and praised the plan as a strong first step. He is putting together his own plans for high school reform and expects to unveil them early in 2009.
Janey said he did not think the new requirements would necessarily worsen the dropout problem, arguing that students would rise to the challenge.
But he provided his own sobering numbers: Among the Newark graduates moving on to Essex Community College, 96 percent need to take remedial classes and only 20 percent receive their associate's degree.
Janey said one of the biggest challenges will be finding the teachers to meet the new requirements, especially in math, science and special education.
"There needs to be a set of expectations to assist schools on the supply side of the equation," he said. "There isn't enough of these teachers in the pipeline now."
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