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NJ Spotlight--Sweeney Calls State House Summit on School-Funding Plan, But Where is NJEA?
Christie cancels suburban town hall meeting on his school-funding scheme to be at Trump’s side
When it comes to the theater of school funding, Gov. Chris Christie has opted for two approaches, promoting his plan for equal funding either in big venues or intimate kitchen-table conversations, always with a receptive audience.
State Senate President Steve Sweeney has gone for a roundtable feel, pulling together educators and experts for a more academic discussion around the room.
Such choreographed strategies -- with matching websites -- have come to mark what has become an unprecedented public sparring over school funding by arguably the state’s two most powerful politicians, one Republican, one Democrat.
John Mooney | July 12, 2016
Trenton Times--Sad state when few in N.J. want to teach | Editorial
It was one of the most depressing headlines we've read lately – and also one of the scariest.
"Who wants to be a teacher? Not many in N.J., study says."
The accompanying story, summarizing findings from the ACT college entrance exam organization, noted that the number of high school students who want to become teachers is diminishing dramatically, both nationwide and in the Garden State.
Just 4 percent of nearly 2 million high school seniors who took the ACT last year said they hoped to enter the teaching field. New Jersey's numbers were similar.
As the pool of talented young people available to guide tomorrow's generation into the future becomes depleted, we face a drastic shortage of teachers not far down the road. Moreover, the study continued, this ominous trend comes as the demand for teachers is expected to increase 14 percent by 2021.
Times of Trenton Editorial Board| on July 12, 2016 at 6:10 AM, updated July 12, 2016 at 7:32 AM
Star Ledger--Christie school aid plan 'the antithesis of fairness,' group says
TRENTON — Representatives of New Jersey's major education organizations slammed Gov. Chris Christie's proposal to overhaul school funding on Monday and pledged to support an opposing plan from State Senate President Stephen Sweeney.
At at forum in Trenton, the New Jersey School Boards Association, New Jersey Principals and Supervisors Association, New Jersey PTA and several other groups advocated for Sweeney's plan, which he says would give every district 100 percent of the aid owed under the state's funding formula.
"The plan that the governor put forward is the antithesis of fairness," said Patricia Wright, executive director of the New Jersey Principals and Supervisors Association. "We feel that it is using the enticement of reduced property taxes but on the backs of a thorough and efficient education for every student."
Sweeney's plan, which would revise the state's existing funding formula rather than replace it, is the more responsible of the two proposals, said Michael Vrancik, governmental relations director for the New Jersey School Boards Association.
http://www.nj.com/education/2016/07/christie_sweeney_nj_school_funding.html#incart_river_index
Adam Clark | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com| July 11, 2016 at 3:42 PM, updated July 11, 2016 at 5:11 PM
