Quality Public Education for All New Jersey Students

 

 
     1-12-10 Moving on...'Budget plan a wrinkle for districts'
     1-11-10 Transition News
     1-5-10 GSCS: Update on January 4 Lame Duck Session
     1-6-10 Race to the Top Plans on the move, not without conflict
     12-27-09 'New Jersey competes for education reform stimulus money' (aka 'Race to the Top' funds)
     12-23-09 Gannett article provides details on Gov. Corzine's proposal to use additional surplus in place of state aid
     12-23-09 GSCS: Governor Corzine targets excess school surplus to replace state aid payments starting in Feb '10 - lame duck legislation anticipated
     10-20-09 REMINDER: Commissioner Davy to be at 10-28 GSCS meeting in Atlantic City
     9-13-09 As an issue for N.J.(Gubernatorial election), schools are in'
     7-22-09 'State gives extra aid for schools an extraordinary boost'
     6-19-09 a.m. GSCS 'Quick' FYI - State Budget Vote delayed to Thursday, June 25
     6-16-09 News from Trenton on State Budget in Senate and Assembly Budget Committees yesterday
     APPROPRIATIONS ACT FY2009-1020 as introduced
     A4100-S2010 Appropriations Act 'Scoresheet' and Language Changes released
     6-10-09 Education Week on Abbott Decision
     6-9-09 COMMENTARY on Supreme Court Abbott school funding decisio
     5-27-09 GSCS 18th ANNUAL MEETING - All INVITED GUESTS HAVE CONFIRMED, INCLUDING GOVERNOR CORZINE
     5-19-09 Treasurer David Rousseau announces additional round of cuts to Gov's proposed State Budget FY2009-2010
     4-5-09 The Record, Sunday April 5, Front Page Opinion
     3-29-09 Record Editorial on Judge Doyne recommendations
     3-16-09 EMAILNET
     3-11-09 CORZINE BUDGET ADDRESS: STATE FUNDING FOR SCHOOLS A LITTLE MORE NOT LESS - FEDERAL TITLE 1 & IDEA INCREASES YET TO BE COUNTED - STATE SCHOOL AID FIGURES ON DEPT OF ED WEBSITE 1:30 TODAY - RELATED ARTICLES, MORE...
     3-10-09 GOVERNOR TO DELIVER STATE BUDGET MESSAGE TODAY - SCHOOL AID FIGURES TO BE RELEASED BY THURSDAY LATEST
     2-24-09 State Budget & Stimulus News of Note
     2-19-09 Federal stimulus - information re: Education funding in 'State Fiscal Stabilization' part of the package
     1-16-09 Today's news notes state budget waiting on Obama stimulus package
     1-11-09 'Corzine State of State speech to put economy front & center'
     12-28-08 NY Times 'Pension Fight Signals What Lies Ahead'
     12-29-08 NJ to new leaders - Fund our schools
     12-23-08 Governor faces hard choices in the New Year
     12-21-08 GSCS EMAILNET - Excerpts
     11-18-08 Ledger Online & 11-19 Star Ledger headline news
     11-18-08 Supreme Court decides in favor of Abbott districts re new school funding law
     11-5-08 Gov. Corzine U.S. Treasury Secretary?
     11-5-08 Governor Corzine candidate for Secretary of U.S. Treasury per Ledger report
     Conversation with the Commissioner in Atlantic City
     Education Commissioner Lucille Davy at GSCS Open Mtg 10-29 in A.C.
     9-24-08 Supreme Court hearing on constitutionality of School Funding Reform Act
     8-29-08 'Newly hired teachers benefit from Corzine delay'
     12-3-07 As details become clearer on the new funding plan, GSCS will report on its emerging position
     11-20-07 RELEASE OF NEW SCHOOL FUNDING FORMULA LIKELY TO BE DELAYED UNTIL AFTER THE THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY
     11-16-07 Governor Corzine's remarks on school funding to League of Municipalities
     11-8-07 Governor & Legislative leadership agree to take up - and pass - funding formula in Lame Duck
     10-23 Media reports & Trenton responses to date re GSCS Press Conf
     9-29-07 The New York Times - Patience with Corzine Wears Thin
     10-10-07 Key Questions for Legislative Candidates
     10-12-07 Coach Corzine's tactic to win the game? Punt
     In the news - Corzine on school aid formula & good news for urban schools
     9-13-07Corzine adds school aid to the lame-duck agenda
     8-10-07 'Standing 'O' greets Corzine as he hosts town hall mtg'
     8-1-07 'Paterson isn't ready to gain control' & 7-29 'The Numbers still don't add up'
     4-4-07 News articles, editorial & Op-Ed on bill signings for A1 and A4
     3-25-07 New York Times on NJ Comparative Spending Guide, more on Gov putting off signing A1, Tax Caps & Rebate bill
     3-22-07 THINGS CHANGE...Governor Corzine delays A1 becoming law
     3-21-07 The Tax Cap-Credit bill, A1, can become law by Friday without Governor's signature
     3-1-07 Emerging Devil showing up in the details
     2-23-07 News Articles re Gov's Budget Proposal
     2-22-07 GSCS EMAILNET re Gov's Budget Message
     2-22-07 Governor Corzine's Budget Message today
     2-16 to 2-19 New Articles of Note
     2-14-07 GSCS letter to Gov Corzine & Commr of Education Davy - Request for State Aid FY0708
     2-12-07 State School Aid - needed to offset property taxes now
     2-9-07 GSCS EMAILNET MEMBER FYI on Trenton legislation Action
     2-8-07 News artiles-editorial re Gov's annoucnement that there will not be a new school funding formula for FY0708
     2-7-07 School funding, school audits - need for new formula underscored
     2-6-07 Trenton Update - S19 Super Supt passes Senate; Tax Cap bill stalled; No funding formula in FY0708
     2-1-07 Turnpike for sale, Gov - need funding formula, more
     1-30-07 'Is Property Tax Plan Legal?'
     1-30-07 Tax Caps bill, A1, passes Assembly late last night
     1-25-07 GSCS: No School Aid = No Real Tax Relief...again
     1-24-07 Quinnipiac Poll & School Construction woes for Corzine
     1-21-07 Gannett article on 'property tax credit, annual cap vote due'
     Trenton Update Jan 9-Jan 15, Gov's State of the State, more
     1-8-07 Articles & Editorial talk about 'missing pieces' of tax reform proposal and note consequences
     1-7-06 GSCS & HARD CAPS & IMPORTANT PIECES OF THE PUZZLE STILL MISSING
     GSCS RESOLUTION FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS 2007
     1-5-07 Small-town officials protest consolidation
     1-2-07 GSCS New Year's Resolution
     12-19-06 Feedback - articles on school funding hearings yesterday
     12-18-06 Sunday editorials - take of Property Tax session
     12-15-06 EMAILNET Bills Held!
     12-11-06 Trenton is in disarray - read news clip
     12-8 & 12-9 News clips on Trenton machinations...
     11-19-06 Sunday Press Articles & Commentaries
     11-16-06 Governor Corzine's speech on Property Tax Address to League of Municipalities
     11-10-06 NJ education chief vows urban support
     11-11-06 EMAILNET Special Session Legislative Committees report Nov. 14 or 15
     11-9-06 Public hearing on school consolidation tonight, 7 pm, at Freehold Borough Chambers, 51 Main St
     11-9-06 Public hearing on school consolidation tonight, 7 pm, in Freehold
     11-6-06 The need for special education funding to stay as a 'categorical' aid based on each students disability is real
     11-4-06 Senate President & Assembly Speaker 'no new taxes'
     10-25-06 Details on Corzine Administration's new funding formula starting to emerge
     10-5-06 EMAILNET
     10-5-06 Conversation on school funding, consolidation continues
     School Construction: Third Report to Governor by Interagency Working Group
     9-15-06 Star Ledger & AP - 3.25B suggested for school construction
     9-15-06 Star Ledger - 3.25B suggested for school construction
     August 2006 on - GSCS NOTEBOARD ON SPECIAL SESSION Committee meetings
     7-29-06 School Funding formula draws mixed reactions
     7-28-06 Gov to legislature: make history, cut taxes
     7-27-06 Trenton begins its move to address property taxes
     7-16-06 Lead economists address NJ's economy downswing
     7-12-06 Column on State Budget legislator items
     7-14-06 EMAILNET
     7-12-06 It's Official - Governor appoints Lucille Davy as Education Commissioner
     7-11-06 Talk of Special Session on Property Tax Reform
     7-9&10-06 State Budget news articles -wrap up & news analyses
     7-9-06 Sunday New York Times
     7-8-06 FY07 Budget approved - 19.5 in spec ed grants stays in
     7-7-06 EMAILNET - AGREEMENT ON STATE BUDGET REACHED, impt 'details' still being finalized
     7-7-06 AGREEMENT ON STAE BUDGET REACHED, impt 'details' still being finalized
     7-3-06 Roberts, Codey & Corzine still not on same page
     6-30-06 State Budget news - as the dissonance must be resolved
     6-29-06 Mirroring the elements, State Budget looking like a 'natural disaster'
     6-15-06 Star Ledger, Gannet articles- Abbott advocates demand school reform at educ. dept
     6-12-06 EMAILNET - Extraordinary Special Education student aid; FY07 Budget 'crunch' is on; news clips
     6-6-06 Legislative Leaders announce initial plans for property tax reform
     5-16-06 EMAILNET Action in Trenton
     5-10-06 A Lot is going on - Major News fromTrenton
     Gubernatorial Candidates' Education Plans announced September 05
     Governor Corzine takes steps towards major policy initiatives.
     4-8-07 Corzine Administration files brief with Supreme Court re Abbott funding
     4-7-07 The Record
     3-29-06 EMAILNET State Budget FY07 Hearings Update
     3-28-06 GSCS testimony before Assembly Budget Comm today
     3-24-06 EMAILNET FYI Update on Gov Corzine's Budget FY07
     3-23-06 Corzine says some Abbotts can raise taxes
     3-16-06 Gannett Press: Corzine wants to raise taxes, slash $2B
     Governor's Budget message 1 pm 3-21-06
     3-15-06 News articles on FY07
     3-10-06 Star Ledger 'Time is ripe for poorer districts to contribute.
     3-9-06 Governor speaks to S1701 at town meeting
     3-7-06 More articles on the Gov's Budget Summit and School Board members fo to Trenton
     3-7-06 Articles on Gov's Budget Summit and School Board members off to Trenton
     12-14-05 Asbury ParkPress Editorial 'Re-assess the ABC's of School Funding' notes the Governor's role is critical in making positive change occur
     Gubernatorial, Assembly District by District, County and Municipal voting breakdowns-results & formats for November 8 elections
     2-2-06 GSCS HEADS UP re probable delay of Governor's Budget Message
     Governor Corzine's Transition Team Reports
     1-19-06 EMAILNET Quick Facts, On the Homepage Today
     1-19-06 News Articles Trenton Times, The Record, Star Ledger
     1-18-06 Star Ledger
     Governor Corzine- Inaugural Address
     1-15-06 The Record 2 Sunday Articles anticipating top issues confronting the Corzine administration
     1-11-06 Star Ledger - Corzine Casts Wide Net for Cabinet
     12-14-05 Asbury ParkPress Editorial 'Re-assess the ABC's of School Funding'
     12-5-05 Governor-elect Corzine selects policy advisory groups
     11-20-05 Sunday Star Ledger 'Corzine's risky promise to taxpayers
     11-11-05 Trenton Times Corzine puts property taxes at the top of his agenda
     11-9-05 The Record - Governor Elect can't claim a mandate
     November 9 The Trenton Times - Corzine Triumphs
     9-9-05 Trenton Times,Corzine Education Agenda
2-1-07 Turnpike for sale, Gov - need funding formula, more
Hey buddy, wanna lease a big road? Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 02/1/07 GANNETT STATE BUREAU.....

Corzine: New school funding formula needed in 2 months 1/31/2007, 10:06 p.m. ET The Associated Press

Hey buddy, wanna lease a big road?
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 02/1/07

BY GREGORY J. VOLPE
GANNETT STATE BUREAU

TRENTON — State officials could be shopping the New Jersey Turnpike, Garden State Parkway and the PNC Bank Arts Center this year under legislation to be introduced next week by state Sen. Raymond Lesniak, D-Union.

The measure, the strongest step yet toward handing over control of the state's major toll roads, would not mandate a lease but authorizes state Treasurer Bradley Abelow to solicit bids for a 75-year-lease of the three state assets. It would also allow the New Jersey Turnpike Authority to bid.

The deal could provide the state $10 billion to $15 billion for debt reduction, while the new lessee would profit from the roads' toll revenues, which could be increased every year — a clause that drew sharp criticism from fellow lawmakers.

"This bill will be a certain non-starter in the General Assembly unless it contains stronger protections against prospective runaway toll increases," Assembly Majority Leader Bonnie Watson Coleman, D-Mercer, said.

Lesniak and a public policy group that has been leery of an asset sale, however, said the hikes are capped by inflation figures and predictable — a key difference from other states that have seen drastic toll hikes since leasing their roads.

"People can plan their budgets," Lesniak said. "It's a limited, small, incremental increase that they can handle."

Abigail Field, a lobbyist for the New Jersey Public Interest Research Group, which had feared unfettered toll increases among other issues in a potential deal, said this was good protection for New Jersey drivers.

"Lesniak's bill not only limits it to inflation, but it also says if you're making money off of these ancillary activities, you have to use that money to reduce tolls, you just can't pocket it," Field said.

Administration officials did not indicate Wednesday whether they will support the measure. In last month's State of the State, Gov. Jon S. Corzine said these sort of deals represent the "greatest potential" to pay down debt, but officials are still studying whether a deal, such as the one Lesniak proposes, will make sense.

"Privatization is neither good, nor bad," said Abelow, the treasurer, who hadn't yet reviewed Lesniak's bill. "... The question is what do we do and how do we do it."

Abelow later added, "We're not afraid to reach the conclusion that things are fine the way they are."

Senate President Richard J. Codey, D-Essex, issued a similar response: "We shouldn't reject out of hand any ideas that could lead to a $15 billion reduction in our debt obligations."

Lesniak said he would not strike a deal unless proceeds went to reduce state debt and a lease were for at least $10 billion. That minimum amount would represent an $800 million reduction in the state's annual debt payments at a time when debt eats more than $2 billion, or about 7 to 8 percent of the state's roughly $30 billion budget.

Reducing debt would give lawmakers more flexibility to spend on things like property tax relief, preserving open space and education.

"It's a major change in the way government operates," Lesniak said. "I think we have to take a look at major changes in the way government operates because what we've been doing in the past is not working."

The proposal will likely meet reluctance among unions, whose toll and road maintainence members would have their jobs protected for the first six years of the deal.

"While we're encouraged by the six-year safeguard, what happens after that?" said Kevin Frechette, a contract lobbyist for the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers Local 196. "These are folks who have dedicated their lives to these jobs. They're supporting families, paying for mortgages and paying for their kids' education."

Several lawmakers panned the notion of giving up state assets.

"It's not free money," said Assemblyman John Wisniewski, D-Middlesex, chairman of the transportation committee. "It's money that has to be paid back. And it gets paid back by the people of this state who use our transportation infrastructure. It gets paid back over an extraordinarily long time."

Some Republicans used the proposal to announce their own pieces of legislation that would ban the sale of state assets to foreign-owned companies or governments and another that would require a vote by the public on asset sales worth more than $100 million.

Next Monday, the Senate Tourism and Wagering Committee will hold a hearing on the potential sale or lease of another state asset, the New Jersey Lottery.

Gregory J. Volpe: gvolpe@gannett.com

Corzine: New school funding formula needed in 2 months 1/31/2007, 10:06 p.m. ET By TOM HESTER JR. The Associated Press TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — The state will need to have a widely accepted new public school funding formula in place within two months if it's to be used for next school year, Gov. Jon S. Corzine said Wednesday night. Corzine's administration has been working to devise a new school funding formula as part of ongoing efforts to cut the state's highest-in-the-nation property taxes, but the plan remains incomplete and officials are uncertain when it might be ready. The plan is viewed as vital to tax reform efforts, since about 55 percent of property taxes collected in the state go to schools and the state also provides significant financial aid. Corzine and lawmakers hoped to have a plan ready by now. "If we cannot get a school funding formula through the Legislature and on my desk that has wide support in the next six to eight weeks, we're going to have to back away from the time schedule and come up with Plan B, which would be an interim situation," Corzine said, taking calls on New Jersey Network public television. It seems unlikely a school funding plan that hasn't been introduced yet can get approved within two months, since lawmakers are expected to scrutinize the plan, particularly to see how it would impact their own districts. Corzine said the state could use the framework of the new plan to fund schools next fiscal year. "We're thinking about that as a proposition," Corzine said. While incomplete, the plan is expected to be based largely on the number of special needs children in each school district rather than community wealth. The state currently provides heavy funding help to 31 poor, urban schools and hasn't increased aid to most other districts for five years. That has forced suburban and rural districts to rely increasingly on property taxes that are twice the national average and have been increasing 7 percent per year. "We're trying our level-best to try to come up something that improves achievement, improves performance, sustains our great school system, which produces good output, but makes sure we do that on a fair basis," Corzine said. The governor is slated to unveil his budget plan for next fiscal year on Feb. 27. That plan typically gives schools an idea of how to plan for the next school year, but school officials and legislators have expressed concern in recent weeks that the lack of a new formula has made planning difficult. "We're going to do it right," Corzine said, "not fast." School reforms cut back in Senate Elections to stay put under third revision Thursday, February 01, 2007 BY DUNSTAN McNICHOL Star-Ledger Staff State senators nearing the end of their seven-month effort to rein in property taxes have stripped down a plan to require greater accountability by local school officials. The new bill (S19) abandons plans to move school board elections to November and gives local officials the chance to appeal budget cuts imposed by a newly created executive county superintendent. The bill was introduced yesterday and is scheduled for final Senate consideration on Monday. It is the third version of this reform bill to be proposed in the Senate since December. Two previous versions have been bottled up by the Senate Democratic caucus, where some members -- who also hold local government jobs -- have opposed the broad oversight powers the bill gives the new executive county superintendents. The proposed bill is among the last elements of a package of tax reform measures working their way through the Legislature. Along with the revised school finance bill, senators on Monday are scheduled to consider final legislative approval of a $2 billion tax credit and property tax cap bill (S20), plus a controversial plan to eliminate pension benefits for future elected officials and bar officials elected after next February from holding more than one office (S17). Since convening a special session last summer to devise ways to rein in local government spending and property taxes, the Legislature has grappled with dozens of versions of reform measures. Most, like S19, have emerged weaker than when first introduced. Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts, who proposed the reforms included in S19 months before the Legislature's special session began, said he could accept the scaled-down version awaiting Senate consideration as long as it ends up creating the new county superintendent's post. "The centerpiece of this bill has always been creating newly empowered county superintendents so they can be agents of change and really allow us to save money," Roberts said. "That's preserved in the legislation, and I think that's the element I consider most important." Under the revised bill, the new executive county superintendents will still have authority to comb through local school budgets and trim out excessive administrative spending. A new provision in the bill would let local officials appeal those budget changes to the state education commissioner, who would have 15 days to overrule the county superintendent. The new Senate version of the reform bill also abandons earlier attempts to move school and fire district elections to November, a change supporters said would increase participation in school board elections and budget votes. Dunstan McNichol may be reached at (609) 989-0341 or dmcnichol@starledger.com.