Christie's Educationgate

Governor Chris Christie is trying to put the final nail in the coffin of New Jersey's public schools. It's time for an investigation into what's going on in Trenton and follow the money. Educationgate isn't far behind Bridegate. We can only hope. While everyone is up in arms over the great sucking sound that is TPP, few having been paying attention to the great sucking sound as money is siphoned away from public schools crumbling under the weight of punitive testing and accountability. Christie should be brought to justice for his latest move to starve public education and the poorest and most vulnerable children in his state. The pot is boiling and the frogs are jumping. Expect more damage to New Jersey while this failed governor wreaks more havoc.  GOVERNOR CHRISTIE WANTS TO HOLD CHARTERS HARMLESS, BUT NOT DISTRICT SCHOOLS According to the non-partisan Office of Legislative Services (OLS), Governor Chris Christie is asking the Legislature to hold charter schools harmless from the negative impact of his proposal to flat fund public education in FY16. This budgetary maneuver, if approved, will mean 83 school districts must send an extra $37.5 million to charter schools across the state. Under the Governor's proposal, charter schools would be funded at the 2016 or 2014 per pupil level, whichever is highest, plus enrollment growth over 2015. This change guarantees charters at least as much per-pupil funding as they had two years ago plus enrollment growth, even though district budgets are frozen at last year's level with no increase to cover higher costs, new mandates or more students. In nine districts, this change results in a loss of over $500,000 from their budgets. The Newark district must pay out a staggering $25 million more to hold charters harmless, or 66.5% of the statewide total. The proposed extra funding to Newark's charters is a major factor in the $40 million shortfall in the operating budgets of the 56 district-operated schools. The analysis of the Governor's proposal was performed by OLS in its April 2015 review of the NJ Department of Education's spending plan in the Administration's recommended FY16 State Budget. [See page 23 of the OLS Analysis of the New Jersey Budget: Department of Education.] Under the Charter School Program Act (Act), districts must transfer funding to charter schools in an amount equal to 90% of the sum of the district's prior year local revenue and projected year state aid, divided by the district's weighted enrollment to account for the additional costs of educating at-risk students and English language learners (ELL). The Governor is projecting no increase in state aid for districts, even for increasing enrollments. Many districts will have less funding on a per pupil basis than in prior years, resulting in less per pupil funding for charters if calculated under the Act's formula. To hold charters harmless from the impact of flat state aid, the Governor wants the Legislature to change the Act's formula for calculating district payments from projected year state aid to either the projected year or the 2014 aid level, whichever provides the higher per pupil amount. District budgets are reeling under the Governor's staunch opposition to any aid increase in 2015-16, the seventh straight year of flat or reduced funding under the School Funding Reform Act, New Jersey's weighted funding formula. Those high poverty districts most impacted by holding charters harmless - Newark, Trenton, Paterson, Camden and others - are all bracing for another round of deep cuts in teachers, support staff and other essential resources in schools operated by the districts. "The Governor's charter hold harmless is a double whammy for students in district-run schools, especially those in Newark," said David Sciarra, ELC Executive Director. "The Governor provides no funding increase to support the education of district students, but then instructs districts to transfer more of their limited funds to charters to make sure they don't suffer the same cuts districts are now implementing in their schools." "It is patently unfair to protect charter school budgets while hurting students in district schools," he added. "The solution is for the Legislature to reject the Governor's hold harmless proposal and instead increase state school aid for all students in 2015-16. Legislators must meet the needs of students in all public schools, whether operated by districts or chartered by the State." Education Law Center Press Contact: Sharon Krengel Policy and Outreach Director skrengel@edlawcenter.org 973-624-1815, x 24         www.edlawcenter.org | Contact Us | Privacy Policy Copyright © 2015 Education Law Center. All Rights Reserved. To unsubscribe from future mailings click here.

 

 

 

 

 

Sharon Krengel

Policy & Outreach Director

Education Law Center

60 Park Place, Suite 300

Newark, NJ 07102

973-624-1815, x24

973-624-7339 (fax)

skrengel@edlawcenter.org

www.edlawcenter.org

Mass Student Walkout Newark NJ-Friday, May 22nd at 12pm

#QOTD: NJ BOE President drops bombshell!

Note: This was originally posted at my site after Wednesday's NJ State BOE meeting. 

What could top an unprecedented number of people testifying at today's NJ State Board of Ed meeting? What could top the number of parents who, on a brutally cold January day, pulled their kids out of school so they could accompany them? What could top the overwhelming call for the state to ditch—or at least greatly scale back—PARCC testing?

This: 

"We know we can't force any kid to put their hands on a keyboard."

That quote came from NJ State BOE President Mark Biedron after testimony wrapped in his hearing room and an impromptu Q&A about standardized testing ensued. Susan Cauldwell of Save Our Schools New Jersey was in the room and captured it word-for-word.

Biedron is from my neighborhood: Hunterdon County. He is a Christie appointee, but he doesn't come with that stereotypical pedigree. He owns a private school, The Willow School, in neighboring Somerset County, and is very much an environmentalist. 

Soon after he was appointed to the board, he came to my school and met with my local president and me for about 90 minutes to talk about education policy, including the latest 'reforms'. While we didn't agree on everything, I found him to be deeply passionate about education, but not in that 'reformy' kind of way. There did seem to be a middle ground. 

Last year when the New Jersey Education Association delivered thousands of member letters to the board about the flaws in the new evaluation system, he told me that he intended to read every one of them. I believed him. When state legislators didn't show up for our county legislative dinners, he did. I was thankful for that.

So, when he was appointed President of the NJ State Board of Ed in 2014, I was hopeful. Today, I am more so. 

There has been so much confusion and misinformation coming from the state department of education regarding PARCC testing requirements. Seemingly every week there's a new announcement, a new policy or a new graduation requirement. To those of us who hang around the BOE, this isn't surprising. It's almost like they do it on purpose to keep everyone guessing—or they just don't know what they're doing (my money's on the latter). But for the tens of thousands of parents out there who are suddenly very much concerned about what's coming down the pike in March and May, this is real cause for anxiety.

For Biedron to say this in public is huge. Print it out and attach it to your opt-out letter. This is a game-changer.

NJ Legislature Waking Up to Damage of Common Core and High Stakes Testing

This didn't happen by osmosis. It happened because parents, teachers, administrators and citizens in New Jersey have been lobbying their local representatives to end the damage being done to their

children by high stakes testing that is abusive and punitive for teachers, schools and communities.

The people of New Jersey have had enough of Governor Christie and Common Core Standards tied to multiple choice, computerized high stakes testing that is turning the state's public schools into soulless test prep factories as more and more experienced teachers run for the hills and suburban parents are even up in arms.

Save Our Schools New Jersey (SOS NJ), (not to be confused for Save Our Schools March, two separate and distinct organizations), has its members calling state senators to move this bill forward.
It's called political action.

Help, save us! None of the teachers I know want to continue spending 7 and 8 hours on their Sundays writing lesson plans tied to the Common Core or be evaluated by a student's score on a meaningless multiple choice test. It's a sick, dysfunctional system on the verge of collapse.
Teachers, parents and students in NJ are at their breaking point.

In the new normal of austerity, job losses, and political corruption in Trenton, New Jerseyans are
waiting for the end of  Governor Chris Christie's political career. He rode into town by bullying teachers and decimating funding for public education while touting the mantra of no excuses. Funny how a few years makes a difference. High stakes testing, accountability for teachers, merit pay for higher test scores, for profit charter schools, vouchers, and value added measurements, just don't seem to have the same allure when people are struggling to pay their bills and buy food. Meanwhile, New Jersey's bond rating has gone down the tubes along with the state's quality of life, except for the 1% of course.

Looks like it's time to start holding the Governor accountable for his destructive policies and get some new leaders in Trenton who aren't crooks and a bullies. Stay tuned. :)

Imagine that.

ASSEMBLY VOTES TO PUT BRAKES ON IMPACT OF COMMON CORE AND NEW STUDENT TESTING

JOHN MOONEY | JUNE 18, 2014

Measure would set up task force, could delay the consequences of new standards and associated tests by as much as two years

Credit: Amanda Brown

Assemblywoman Mila Jasey (D-Essex)

A bill to slow the impact of the new Common Core State Standards and accompanying student testing won big -- and bipartisan -- approval from the state Assembly this week.

Now the question is: What happens next?

The measure won a 72-4 victory in the lower chamber on Monday, with two abstentions.

Led by state Assemblywoman Mila Jasey (D-Essex) and a dozen other prime sponsors, the bill would create a task force to review the impact of the new Common Core standards and the accompanying Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) testing.

Most importantly, it would delay the use of the new tests to measure schools and teachers until the task force's review was complete. The bill doesn’t put a precise time frame on the review, but it could be up to two years.

While the Assembly’s vote was by far the furthest the state legislature has moved on such a measure since the state adopted the new standards in 2010 and committed to the PARCC testing, it is unclear how much farther it will proceed.

State Sen. Jeff Van Drew (D-Cape May) last week filed a companion bill in the Senate and has voiced some optimism about its prospects. But so far, the Senate education committee has only posted the bill for discussion -- not for vote.

The discussion is slated for the committee’s next meeting on Thursday.

State Sen. Teresa Ruiz (D-Essex) yesterday said she is pursuing other paths to what could be similar end, including changes in state regulations that would not require legislative approval. Ruiz has also posted a second bill for discussion Thursday that would create a separate task force to review the state’s growing testing regimen, although without the teeth of the Van Drew bill to delay the consequences of that testing.

Van Drew yesterday said he would also support Ruiz’s second bill and hoped that the discussion on his bill on Thursday would move the issue ahead.

“I know the Senator has some concerns, and I am open-minded on this,” he said. “I know (the bill) has some problems, but I will say this has gone further than I ever expected. When I started, I was a lone wolf on this.”

School associations and advocates are watching the late-session jockeying closely, with the chief lobbyist for the New Jersey Education Association, the teachers union, saying she would support any move -- be it legislation or regulation -- that would slow the implementation of the new testing and its use in evaluating teachers.

“I don’t see anything in this bill that the department can’t accomplish on its own through regulation,” said Ginger Gold Schnitzer, the NJEA’s director of government relations. “But it hasn’t happened yet.”

Discussing the bill on Thursday, she said, “may allow for a little more time to see if people can work together on this.”

Schnitzer said she would be amenable to delaying Common Core and PARCC through regulation, as well as legislation. “”We are pushing both paths,” she said.

Jasey last night said she had hoped that Ruiz would put the bill up for full vote, since the committee hearing may be the last of the session before summer.

“I’m disappointed she is not putting it up for vote out of committee, especially in light" of yesterday's victory in the Assembly.

“I had expected to pass with bipartisan support, but certainly not that overwhelming,” Jasey said of the vote. “It reflects the anxiety level across the state.”

She also cited rising pressures outside the state as well, including a recent statement from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation -- one of the early backers of the new standards and testing nationwide -- to hold off on using the new tests for evaluating teachers.

The Christie administration, led by acting state Education Commissioner David Hespe, has stood by the existing timeline so far, and said that changing the rules now could imperil the state’s federal waiver from the No Child Left Behind Act.

Hespe has specifically said he would also like to wait and see the early results of the new PARCC exams -- which this spring underwent field-testing in more than 1,000 districts -- and the new statewide teacher evaluation system before judging the impact.

Here is the URGENT message in my inbox today, time to make some phone calls.

Urgent!
Thanks to your calls and emails, A3081 - the anti-high stakes standardized testing bill - overwhelmingly passed the New Jersey Assembly last week (72 yes; 4 no; 2 abstentions).
Now, we need your help to move it through the New Jersey Senate! 

Please take these two quick actions:
1) Call New Jersey Senate President Steve Sweeney before 9 am this Thursday and ask him to post S2154, the Senate version of this bill, for a full Senate vote on June 26th!

The Senate Majority office number is (609) 847-3700.  You may leave a message if you call after hours.

2) Click here to ask your Senator to support S2154! 
To turn this legislation into law, the Senate needs to approve it before the end of June, when the legislature adjourns for the summer.
Otherwise, our children, our teachers and our public schools will be subject to all the punishments associated with the new PARCC standardized test, starting this fall.

A3081/S2154 would stop the punishments and create a task force of experts to explore alternative ways of assessing students.
The expert task force also would examine the new teacher evaluation system, implementation of the Common Core standards, and the PARCC test.
We are part of a broad, bi-partisan coalition that strongly supports A3081/S2154 because this legislation would protect our children, our teachers, and our public schools!

See Comments