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NJ Spotlight--OLS Projects New Jersey Taxes Will Be $223M Short
Growing concern that state budget will suffer from ‘Trump effect’ and that Christie administration’s revenue forecasts will not be met
A booming stock market usually bodes well for New Jersey’s budget but, despite a recent Wall Street hot streak, there’s some growing concern about whether a new round of spending cuts will be needed before the state closes its fiscal year in a few months.
Gov. Chris Christie’s administration right now is holding firm to its latest revenue forecast for fiscal year 2017, but new projections released this week by the nonpartisan Office of Legislative Services suggest that tax collections could come up short by as much as $223 million when the fiscal year ends on June 30.
http://www.njspotlight.com/stories/17/04/06/ols-projects-new-jersey-taxes-will-be-223m-short/
John Reitmeyer | April 7, 2017
NJ Spotlight--Interactive Map: Present or Absent — Teachers and Students at NJ’s Schools
Chronic absenteeism remains a problem at too many schools, but faculty earn an A for attendance
For years, people have been able to see student absence rates on New Jersey’s school report cards. Now it’s the teachers’ turn.
Although the absence data contained on the state Department of Education’s School Performance Reports is reported differently for students and teachers, it appears that staff attendance should get an A grade, for the most part.
This was the first time that the DOE reported faculty attendance — the percentage of days that the staff attended school — on the report cards, which were released earlier this week. The state did not report an average. Some of the data, which is self-reported by school officials, appears to be inaccurate: for instance, all the Newark schools reported a 0 percent faculty attendance rate. The median, or midpoint, of the numbers that appear valid was 97 percent for the past school year.
Search an interactive database of student and staff attendance for your school.
Excluding some 100 schools that appear to have incorrect data, faculty attendance rates ranged from 54 percent at the Marian E. McKeown Elementary School in Hampton in Sussex County to perfect attendance at 63 schools throughout the state. Fewer than 2 percent of more than 2,200 schools in the state had rates of less than 90 percent.
For students, the state again reported rates of chronic absenteeism – defined as being absent on 10 percent or more of the days during which the student was enrolled — as well as the percentages of students who were absent, both excused and unexcused, for different groupings of days.
Colleen O'Dea | April 7, 2017
Jersey Journal--Jersey City will share tax abatement revenue with schools
JERSEY CITY -- Jersey City public schools will get a portion of the revenue the city receives from long-term tax abatements under an executive order issued by Mayor Steve Fulop yesterday.
Ten percent of the annual service charges collected from long-term tax breaks -- otherwise known as payments in lieu of taxes -- will be directed to the public-school district. The executive order applies to all future market-rate residential, hotel, commercial and industrial tax abatements.
Fulop's move comes as a growing chorus of critics locally and statewide have slammed the city for not dedicating some PILOT revenue for school funding, which Fulop promised to do when he was running for mayor. Unlike normal property tax revenue, which is split between the city, county and school district, the city keeps almost all the revenue it receives from PILOT agreements, sharing a sliver with the county.
Terrence T. McDonald | The Jersey Journal| April 06, 2017 at 11:27 AM, updated April 06, 2017 at 5:03 PM
Education Week--Survey: Teachers Talk Politics to Students, Despite Divisive Atmosphere
Teachers not shying away from political talk
Months after the 2016 presidential election, a majority of educators say that national politics have created a sharp divide among students, leaving teachers grappling with how to handle classroom conversations about controversial issues.
But most said they aren’t shying away from politics, despite the topic’s contentious nature.
That’s according to a survey conducted in February by the Education Week Research Center. More than 830 K-12 teachers and other school-based instructional staff members who are registered users of Education Week’s edweek.org website responded to an email invitation for a survey about their experiences teaching about controversial topics in a time of division.
By Madeline Will|April 4, 2017
