Quality Public Education for All New Jersey Students

 

 
     5-1-12 REVISED GRADUATION RATES per County-District, AS RELEASED 120501
     5-1-12 Department of Education Release explains policy rationals for new rate methodology, federal requirements for revision of gradnuation rates
     4-11,12-12 p.m - Governor's Press Release re Priority, Focus and Rewards Schools Final list...PolitickerNJ and NJ Spotlight articles
     November Elections for Schools - Department of Education FAQ's
     List of PRIORITY, FOCUS and REWARDS SCHOOLS per DOE Application on ESEA (NCLB) Waiver
     Education Transformation Task Force Initial Report...45 recommendations for starters
     7-14-11 DOE Guidance on Local Options for using Additional State School Aid in FY'12 State Budget.PDF
     7-14-11 State GUIDANCE re: Using Additional State Aid as Property Tax Relief in this FY'12 Budget year.PDF
     FY'12 State School Aid District-by-District Listing, per Appropriations Act, released 110711
     7-12-11 pm District by District Listing of State Aid for FY'12 - Guidelines to be released later this week (xls)
     Democrat Budget Proposal per S4000, for Fiscal Year 2011-2012
     Additional School Aid [if the school funding formula,SFRA, were fully funded for all districts] per Millionaires' Tax bill S2969
     4-29-11 BOOMERANG! Near 80 per cent of School Budgets Passed in Wednesday'sSchool Elections
     4-7-11 Gov. Christie - 'Addressing New Jersey's Most Pressing Education Challenges'
     GSCS - Local District Listing : Local Funds Transferred to Charter Schools 2001-2010
     GSCS Bar Chart: Statewide Special Education cost percent compared to Regular & Other Instructional cost percent 2004-2011
     Link to Teacher Evaluation Task Force Report
     1-24-11 GSCSS Testimony before Assembly Education Committee: Charter School Reform
     1-13-11 Supreme Court Appoints Special Master for remand Hearing
     7-21-10 List of bills in Governor's 'Toolkit'
     Office on Legislative Services Analysis of Department of Educaiton - State Budget for FY'11
     4-21-10 DOE posts election results
     4-15-10 Education Week - Education Secretary recommends federal funds to 'preserve' education jobs
     3-23-10 GSCS Testimony presented to Senate Budget Committee on State Budget FY'11
     GSCS - Formula Aid Loss and Percent Loss by District - Statewide
     GSCS - Formula Aid Loss under 50%, by County
     GSCS - Formula Aid Loss of 50% or more, by County
     State Aid 2010 Reserve Calculation and Appeal Procedures
     School Aid Withheld Spreadsheet
     1-13-10 Christie's New Commissioner of Education to be announced today - 12:30 Statehouse Press Conference
     1-13-10 New Commissioner of Education to be announced today - 12:30 Statehouse Press Conference
     STATE BOARD of EDUCATION 2009-2010 MEETINGS SCHEDULE
     10-2-09 News of Note
     10-1-09 Education Week on Acheivement Gap narrowing; Algebra Testing
     ARRA funding guidelines& NJ accountability summary - links from Federal Government
     August 2009 Information on Federal Stimulus funding supporting school districts Fiscal Year 2009-2010
     7-22-09 'State gives extra aid for schools an extraordinary boost'
     7-16-08 Schools Testing measures adopted; Test scoring upgraded - harder to pass
     6-26-09 Executive Director to GSCS Trustees; Wrap Up Report - State Budget and Assembly bills this week
     6-18-09 NJ toughens high school graduation requirements
     6-10-09 Education Week on Abbott Decision
     6-9-09 COMMENTARY on Supreme Court Abbott school funding decisio
     5-09 GSCS ASKS - Education funding questions- school districts need answers
     5-19-09 Treasurer David Rousseau announces additional round of cuts to Gov's proposed State Budget FY2009-2010
     5-14-09 GSCS Heads Up - State Aid payments to be delayed into next Fiscal Year
     4-23-09 The public shows its support for public education in passing nearly 75% of school budgets statewide
     4-22-09 Statewide County by County Results FY0910 School Budget Elections
     4-22-09 Statewide District by District Results FY0910 School Budget Elections
     4-22-09 Department of Education releases recap of school budget vote, 73.5 passage rate
     4-21-09 Today is School Board Election Day - Remember to Vote
     090416 DOE RELEASE - Fed'l StimulusTITLE 1 ALLOCATIONS
     090416 DOE RELEASE - Fed'l Stimulus IDEA ALLOCATIONS
     3-25-09 Judge Doyne makes recommendation to Supreme Court on Abbott v School Funding Reform Act
     3-26 & 27-09 Abbott recommendation back to Supreme Court: - editorials & articles
     3-09 School Facilities Grant Program - Regular Operating Districts: Allocations & Analysis Round One
     Title 1 funding charts - Same as immediately below, but in PDF form: Latest Title 1 'preliminary' funding under the ARRA 3-09
     2-23-09 'There's no formula for fairness in school aid case'
     NJ District listing, Title One & IDEA under federal stimulus law
     11-25-08 Perspective piece criticizes recent Supreme Court Abbott decision
     9-24-08 Supreme Court hearing on constitutionality of School Funding Reform Act
     SAVE THE DATE - OCT. 7TH
     NJ League of Municipalities & NJ Dept of Education Education Forum Invitation
     6-4-08 Education Week Releases 'Diplomas Count' report & data
     Estimated 2008-2009 State Aid by County & District
     Annual School Budget Election Results by County Percentage of Budgets Approved, 1994-2007
     Compares Total Per Pupil State Aid (minus adjustments) under new formula - '06'07 to '08'09
     11-20-07 RELEASE OF NEW SCHOOL FUNDING FORMULA LIKELY TO BE DELAYED UNTIL AFTER THE THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY
     11-13-07 Speaker Roberts & Assembly Democrats Affordable Housing Proposal
     GSCS School Funding Paper 'Funding NJ's Schools...Finding a Workable Solution' distributed 10-22-07 at Press Conf in Trenton
     UPDATED - Possible Spec. Educ. Aid Loss to districts (based on current aid per current, yet outdated by 6 years, CEIFA distribution) if state chooses to 'wealth-equalize' this aid in a future formula
     10-23-07 NJSBA write up on GSCS Press Conf. re 'Funding NJ Schools...Finding a Workable Solution'
     GSCS School Funding Paper distributed 10-22-07 at Press Conf in Trenton
     10-23 Media reports & Trenton responses to date re GSCS Press Conf
     Spec. Educ. Aid Loss to districts (based on current aid per current, yet outdated by 6 years, CEIFA distribution) if state chooses to 'wealth-equalize' this aid in a future formula
     9-20-07 New Jersey School Boards Assoc. Releases its Report on Special Education
     Background Paper: Public School Funding in Massachusetts 7-07
     7-31-07 EMAILNET Status of School Funding Formula, more
     Tax Foundation 'Background Paper' Appropriation by Litigation
     8-7-07 'State rebuilds school construction program'
     7-26-07 Council on Local Mandates reverses DOE spec ed regulation
     7-26-07 Education Law Center on school funding reform via is subgroup report
     Excel Spreadsheet on New DFG's based on 2000 census
     STATEWIDE DATA and more: Charts, Reports
     Important School Funding Data Reports
     5-21-07 In Connecticut '2 School Aid Plans Have a Similar Theme'
     APRIL '07 MOODY's OUTLOOK ON SCHOOLS -NEGATIVE
     3-26-07 Education Week 'Quality Counts 2006' on NJ School Policy
     3-25-07 New York Times on NJ Comparative Spending Guide, more on Gov putting off signing A1, Tax Caps & Rebate bill
     2-27-07 Department of Education Power Point on State Aid for FY07-08 compared to FY 06-07
     2-14-07 GSCS letter to Gov Corzine & Commr of Education Davy - Request for State Aid FY0708
     2-7-07 Department of Education Releases 2006 School Report Cards
     2-7-07 School funding, school audits - need for new formula underscored
     Scheduled for Monday 1-22-07& website to study on cost to local taxpayers when school funding formula ingored by state
     11-15-06 The Special Session Jt Committee Reports
     11-11-06 'GSCS is working hard on the behalf of hundreds of school communities across the state'
     11-10-06 NJ education chief vows urban support
     11-6-06 The need for special education funding to stay as a 'categorical' aid based on each students disability is real
     Nov 2006 Special Aid loss to districts if aid were based on current ability-to-pay formula
     10-21-06 Education Data Study Released - how the news is being reported
     10-30-06 NY Times
     9-5-06 GSCS Testimony on cost saving meaures in Trenton
     Some Abbott funding history see May 27 1998 - Education Week article on Abbott V court decision
     School Budget Elections 2006 Summary Data
     6-12-06 EMAILNET - Extraordinary Special Education student aid; FY07 Budget 'crunch' is on; news clips
     Assembly Speaker Roberts proposes 'CORE' plan for schools & towns
     GSCS Charts show pressure on school funding
     FUNDING HISTORY- some articles
     3-28-06 State Budget FY07 - GSCS testimony before Assembly Budget Comm
     Funding Coalition submits paper 'Beginning Discussions on School Funding Reform'
     Governor Corzine takes steps towards major policy initiatives.
     3-28-06 NY Times re Texas school finance case
     3-24-06 EMAILNET FYI Update on Gov Corzine's Budget FY07
     3-23-06 EMAILNET Corzine says some Abbotts can raise taxes
     3-24-06 Schools learn who wins, loses in Corzine budget
     2-10-06 Star Ledger editorial re void of credible & useful data at Department of Education
     Dept Ed Directive 7-6-05: School Construction Sec 15 Grant Funding for more than 450 districts questionable
     EMAILNET 2-1-06 GSCS Advocacy FY07 Budget; On the Homepage Today
     2003 GSCS letter to legislators
     1-26-06 New York Times article re public schools fundraising for private support
     1-25-06 Star Ledger 'School District's Woes Point to Rising Tax Resistance'
     GSCS Testimony 2003 on Suggestions for School Funding - issues similar to 2005-6
     1-19-06 EMAILNET Quick Facts, On the Homepage Today
     EMAILNET 1-5-06 quick facts & State Board school funding Legal Committee decision
     Philadelphia Inquirer 6-16-05 Commissioner Librera Release Abbott Designation Report
     December 2005 Harvard Famiily Research Project Links
     Education Week article May 1998 Re Abbott Ruling 'High Court Ends School Funding Issues May 1998
     Standard & Poors Release Achievement Gap Study 8-23-05
     10-5-05 PRESS BRIEFING ON SCHOOL AID & FUNDING SPONSORED by Ad Hoc School Finance Discussion Group, GSCS is participant...10-6-05 ASbury Park Press (Gannett) & Press of Atlantic City articles
     Statehouse Press Briefing October 5, 2005 Notes & Handouts - Update on NJ School Finance
     Debt Service v State Share 0 to 40 Districts Before and After S200
     How State Figures Sending Districts' Per Pupil Cost
     GSCS School Funding and S1701 Power Point - February 2005
     DOE Announces NCLB-Designated Districts In Need of Improvement
     Rutgers-Eagleton Insitute analysis of property taxes-education funding issues
     Designation of Abbott Districts Criteria and Process
     NJ Department of Education District Factor Groups (DFG) for School Districts
     Standard & Poors National and State and School Data and Analyses
     Standard & Poors Releases Achievement Gap Study 8-23-05
Assembly Speaker Roberts proposes 'CORE' plan for schools & towns
The plan(pending formal introduction and referral) is scheduled for discussion at the Assembly Education Committee meeting on Monday May 15. The bill is not yet available in print and GSCS remains reserved about its position until in depth analysis is possible. ROBERTS UNVEILS 'CORE' REFORM PLAN [excerpt from Assm Dem office press release] Multi-Prong Package Would Remove Obstacles to Service Sharing, Tie Aid to Efficiency, Create 'Super' County School Superintendents, Consolidate School & Fire Elections

The legislative initiative is entitled the CORE Reform Plan - "C" for clearing hurdles to shared services, "O" for overriding waste in schools, "R" for reining in pension abuses, and "E" for empowering citizens.

For Release:
May 10, 2006

Contact:
Joe Donnelly
(609) 292-7065


ROBERTS UNVEILS 'CORE' REFORM PLAN
Multi-Prong Package Would Remove Obstacles to Service Sharing, Tie Aid to Efficiency, Create 'Super' County School Superintendents, Consolidate School & Fire Elections

(TRENTON) - Assembly Speaker Joseph J. Roberts, Jr. today announced a package of bills aimed at shaking up the status quo by giving citizens and local officials new tools to cut waste and duplication in government.

The legislative initiative is entitled the CORE Reform Plan - "C" for clearing hurdles to shared services, "O" for overriding waste in schools, "R" for reining in pension abuses, and "E" for empowering citizens.

"This plan is based on a simple tenet: We need to begin to get rid of the avalanche of overlap, waste, and abuse that serve as obstacles in the fight to down New Jersey's property taxes," said Roberts (D-Camden). "These measures will help ensure that when we identify new means of property tax relief - as we must - the money won't vanish into our current backwards and bloated structure."

Roberts announced the plan at a State House press conference with Majority Leader Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Mercer), Assembly Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nellie Pou (D-Passaic), and Assemblyman Upendra Chivukula (D-Somerset), whose home county has a strong record on encouraging regionalization and shared services.

Watson Coleman and Pou will play key roles in the implementation of some of the plan's elements.

Watson Coleman will chair a new, bipartisan School Aid Reform and Accountability Task Force that is charged with recommending a new public school funding formula for the state. The task force would consist of seven legislators and six public members, and would begin work this month and conduct hearings and meetings through the summer so that it can present recommendations in September.

"Despite the admirable efforts of educators, administrators, and other public education advocates, our state's school funding system fosters inequity instead of excellence," said Watson Coleman. "The fact is that we don't fund education as effectively as we should, and when we do provide money it doesn't get used as efficiently as it should."

Pou's assignment is to oversee an Assembly Appropriations Committee examination of abuses and questionable practices that are eroding the integrity of the public pension funds that are supposed to provide secure retirements for career state, county and local employees.

Citing the instances of school administrator pension abuses uncovered earlier this year by the State Commission of Investigation, Pou said her committee would pursue recommendations to prevent pension abuses. She said the changes would be aimed at preventing political appointees, elected officials and various others from exploiting the state's benefits system through pension padding, tacking and other maneuvers that might best be described as legalized thievery.

Pou said her committee also would work through the summer.

"Our public employee retirement system was set up to ensure that the hard-working men and women who provide nuts-and-bolts government services are provided for in their retirements," said Pou. "We must return the system to the career employees by constructing new safeguards to impede individuals who view the pension system as a license to steal."

The plan's other significant elements include:

  • Streamline the state's labyrinth of laws governing regionalization and shared services: Currently the state has 337 confusing, contradictory and counterproductive statutes spread over a variety of code books.

  • Remove civil service barriers that obstruct service sharing by local governments: Currently, if a non-civil-service community wants to enter into a cost-saving service-sharing agreement with a neighboring community that operated under civil service rules, the non-civil service municipality would need to switch to a civil service operation.

  • Tie local aid to efficiency: This would create a "stick" approach to state aid distribution by disqualifying inefficient municipal operations for money from the state's Legislative Initiative Municipal Block Grant program.

  • Create "super" county school superintendents: This is an ideal year to pursue this because the contracts of 15 of the 21 county superintendents will expire this year. This measure would give county superintendents broad authority to eliminate administrative waste and overhead, including direct authority over approval of local school budgets and the ability to eliminate unnecessary state mandates and non-operating school districts.

  • Move school board elections to November: New Jersey should join the majority of other states that allow November school board elections. Electronic voting machines can display separate partisan and non-partisan ballots. Meanwhile, school budget votes would be eliminated except in instances where a district sought to exceed state spending caps. County superintendents would have greater power to cut administrative costs in all school budgets.

  • Move fire district elections to November: Fire districts currently attract less than 2 percent of registered voters.

  • Mandate "truth in budgeting" reforms: Measure would implement disclosure recommendations recently put forth by the SCI. Require municipal and school budgets to be displayed on Web sites in user-friendly formats; require contractual details governing salary and benefits to be made available in easy-to-understand format for public inspection.

  • Direct democracy on shared services: Empower citizens to identify and implement opportunities for shared services by allowing municipal governing bodies to put forth binding referendums through which voters could authorize shared service agreements with multiple communities.

Roberts said the reform package is the culmination of months of intensive work, including research on the history of local units in New Jersey, a thorough review of existing laws, meetings with a wide array of groups, and input from mayors, school officials, academics, experts and lawmakers and staff from both sides of the political aisle.

"The plan is designed to shake up the status quo and give our residents and local officials new tools and strategies to cut waste, create efficiencies, and drive down local costs," said Roberts.

The Speaker said the plan would strike at the structural problems that drive up costs of government at the local level in New Jersey.

"This plan is not the Property Tax Elimination Act of 2006 and it is not an unrealistic effort to force consolidations and mandate local mergers," said Roberts. "This is a significant building block to fix a variety of the laws and systems that drive up costs in this state. Rest assured this won't be the last word on property taxes by any stretch of the imagination."

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Click here to download information on the CORE Reform Plan.