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TGIF 7/23/04
Dr. Walter Mahler, President
Lynne Strickland, Executive Director
Betsy Ginsburg, GSPN Writer
Phone 609 394 2828 Fax 609 396 7620 Website ‘www.gscschools.org’ email ‘gscs@ebnet.org’
I hope summer means that some of you are taking time to slow down and savor life. The issues are still with us, and the school year will be full of challenges. Rest up while you can!
Vigorous Discussion at July Board Meeting
- Minutes of the July 14, 2004 meeting of the GSCS Board (with special guest, Richard Rosenberg, Deputy DOE Commissioner for Finance) will accompany the upcoming E-mailnet from Lynne. The meeting focus was on S701 the new school funding law that GSCS opposes on a number of counts: the bill was fastracked through the legislature at the last moment and did not have any viable opportunity for legislative and public scrutiny. The result is bad, unworkable legislation that will lead to diminished quality in education programs and reduced staffing and larger class sizes.
Highlights of the meeting are as follows:
- According to Richard Rosenberg, S1701 was developed as a way to provide a "time out" on school spending
- The legislation was developed with input from DOE personnel, but the final version was "not quite in sync" with the DOE recommendations.
Five major components of the new regulations are as follows:
- Surplus fund balances in excess of 3% must be returned to the taxpayers for property tax relief in 2004-2005. Balances in excess of 2% must be returned to taxpayers in 2005-2006.
- Transfers of funds within the budget are restricted
- Increases in administrative spending will be capped at 2.5% in 2004-2005 and 2005-2006.
- Overall spending increases will be capped at 2.5% or the CPI (whichever is higher) for 2005-2006
- Local Control is removed and replaced by
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- The DOE requests that in the upcoming school year districts should send written notice of problems and hardships to the DOE as they happen. The DOE will keep a log of these communications and use them to bolster the case for modifying the new regulations.
- The Abbott districts will be held to the new cap, surplus fund balance and other restrictions.
- The DOE is taking steps to foster Abbott accountability
- The DOE is also working on programs to encourage and reward efficiency and effectiveness in non-Abbott districts
The GSCS plans to create positive change by:
- Growing grassroots support
- Improving e-mail lists
- Creating organized, effective communications kits for members, including "soundbites" that can be used in "Letters to the Editor" and promulgated through other local and state media outlets
- Making a GSCS video that member districts can broadcast
- Creating two working groups (one for superintendents, one for parents/Board members) to flesh out the above strategies
TGIF ALERT
I generally forward Lynne’s E-mailnets to everyone who receives the TGIF. It has come to my attention that this means that some people receive two copies of the E-mailnet. If you are one of those people, let me know. I will create a separate list of TGIF people who do not wish to have the E-mailnet forwarded to them. After all, our e-mailboxes are full enough as it is without duplicates gumming things up.
NAMES, NAMES AND MORE NAMES!
If you know of anyone—parents, Board members, municipal officials or other interested parties—who might want to receive the TGIF, send me their e-mail addresses (or give them my e-mail address and have them do it themselves). We are working hard to broaden our reach.
