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GOP Gubernatorial candidate Joseph R. Rullo Pushes School Choice

Rullo 12 news
April 22,2017
the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, GOP Gubernatorial candidate Joseph R. Rullo gave us some thoughts on public education policy ,”The NJ Abbott school districts need to be held accountable for wasteful spending and all districts need to work together to reduce cost. This will reduce the impact of inevitable changes in funding formulas with state aid. After all school districts cut wasteful spending, we need to implement fair funding formulas for property tax relief.  One example is all school districts can drastically reduce costs by combined purchasing power. Another example is drastically reducing the number of Superintendents and redundant assistant Superintendents.  High cost business administrators should also be reduced.”

Rullo , went on ,”Since the start of No Child Left Behind and continued under Race to the Top, NJ parents and students have been saddled with the Common Core Standards. Parents feel like they can’t help their children with their homework because it is something they have never learned before and the children are left floundering in schools with too many children and not enough teachers to explain things to them. The State then decided to force the PARCC (Partnership for Readiness for College and Careers) test on our children. This has resulted in schools and teachers focusing their teaching efforts, not on learning, but on test results. This is wrong and only hurts our children who deserve a comprehensive learning program not a regimen of tests.”

Rullo said as Governor I will end PARCC testing completely and direct the Department of Education to draw up new, independent education standards that will return NJ to the top of the best educated Students in the Country.

With the Trump budget increasing spending on school choice and the Secretary of Education pushing choice as well as local control Rullo is a big supporter of school choice and home schooling.

Rulo added , “Students come out of High School and don’t know how to balance a checkbook, write a resume or know anything about personal credit. Common Core needs to become Common Sense. Teachers need to be allowed to teach and not recite facts mandated from Washington, or some Corporation making money from our tax dollars. We need to provide better opportunities for students who decide to enter the workforce directly from high school with expanded vocational schools. The future of New Jersey depends on it!”

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Christie Administration Releases the 2017 Taxpayers’ Guide to Education Spending

RHS

file photo by Boyd Loving

April 22,2017

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Trenton NJ ,The Department of Education today released the 2017 Taxpayers’ Guide to Education Spending.
“The annual spending guide is a tool designed to provide transparency to New Jerseyans about how schools spend their taxpayer dollars to educate students,” said Acting Education Commissioner Kimberley Harrington.

The Taxpayers’ Guide to Education Spending includes two types of total expenditures for school districts’ annual budgets:

Total Spending Per Pupil – Comprises all district expenditures, including costs paid by the state on behalf of districts, as well as fees and tuition paid for out-of-district programs; and
Budgetary Cost Per Pupil – Comprises costs borne by the school district, excluding costs that aren’t comparable among school districts, such as transportation and facilities costs.

For the 2015-16 school year, the average Total Spending Per Pupil in the state, which includes pension payments made by the state and other ancillary costs that vary by district, is $20,385. This is 3.8 percentage points higher than the prior year’s average of $19,641.

The Budgetary Cost Per Pupil, which does not include pension payments made by the state and other district-specific costs, increased by 1.4 percentage points, from $14,736 in the 2014-15 school year to $14,939 in 2015-16.

The Taxpayers’ Guide to Education Spending can be found online
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N.J.’s median teacher salary is up; see what every district pays

Ridgewood Teachers

By Adam Clark and Carla Astudillo | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on April 20, 2017 at 4:03 PM, updated April 20, 2017 at 4:38 PM

TRENTON — The median salary among New Jersey teachers is $66,117 this school year, about a 2.4 percent increase from last year, according to new state data.

The statistic reflects a wide range of teacher salaries that vary from district to district based on regional cost of living, grade levels offered in the district, faculty experience and other factors.

Northern Valley, a regional high school district in an affluent part of Bergen County, has the highest median teacher salary, $105,650. That’s more than twice the $43,911 median salary in East Newark Borough, a tiny K-8 district in a low-income area.

Use the tool at the bottom of this story to lookup any district or charter school and compare it to other districts.

https://www.nj.com/education/2017/04/nj_teacher_pay_see_the_median_salary_in_every_dist.html#comparison

 

RIDGEWOOD VILLAGE

MEDIAN TEACHER SALARY

’16 – ’17’  15 – ’16
$75,903  $78,318

CHANGE: -$2,415

GLEN ROCK BORO

MEDIAN TEACHER SALARY

’16 – ’17  ’15 – ’16
$69,658  $66,850

CHANGE: +$2,808

HO HO KUS BORO

MEDIAN TEACHER SALARY

’16 – ’17 ’15 – ’16
$78,901 $75,265

CHANGE: +$3,636

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Lead Found in the Water at Willard and George Washington Middle School in Ridgewood

willard school

April 19,2017

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, lead tests done at both Willard school and George Washington Middle School produced only one non compliant drinking fountain in each school.

Following the NJ DEP instructions the Ridgewood School System tested 25 samples at Willard with only one fountain containing non compliant lead levels and at George Washington Middle School the Ridgewood School System took 27 samples and all but one were compliant.

Readers are already questioning the results . According to the CDC High levels of lead in tap water can cause health effects if the lead in the water enters the bloodstream and causes an elevated blood lead level.

Most studies show that exposure to lead-contaminated water alone would not be likely to elevate blood lead levels in most adults, even exposure to water with a lead content close to the EPA action level for lead of 15 parts per billion (ppb). Risk will vary, however, depending on the individual, the circumstances, and the amount of water consumed. For example, infants who drink formula prepared with lead-contaminated water may be at a higher risk because of the large volume of water they consume relative to their body size.

The pipes at these schools are probably 50+ years old. Questions remain as to weather the school ever tested these faucets before? Are the elevated lead levels only a recent occurrence and if so how long were the students subject to these elevated lead levels ?

The other issues that puzzles parents is how can it be just one faucet? And why was this not tested earlier? Why did the school system have to  wait for the state to develop rules to test every faucet if they knew that old plumbing can cause problem and the risks of lead poising are very well known ?
As taxpayers we are often reminded that safety is a top priority for our students but that priority  seems to often get pushed to a back burner when it does not involve raising taxes .
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Reader says The school crossing at Linwood towards BF NEEDS an additional Crossing Guard

Ridgewood crossing guards 2

file photo by Boyd Loving

The school crossing at Linwood towards BF NEEDS an additional Crossing Guard
during rush hours morning and afternoon.Thats an intersection
that needs a wider right turning lane from BF street up Linwood towards town.Left turns there are also very tight. That corner needs a review.Current crossing Guard does a great job but is outgunned..

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Reader asks Anyone want to correlate School Budget to SAT scores and see how poorly we are really doing?

sat-test-2

Excluding the specialized high schools, the top 20 list is:

——————————————–
===== Below 1325 combined SAT =====
1) (1322) Millburn
2) (1321) West Windsor-Plainsboro South
3) (1317) West Windsor-Plainsboro North
4) (1313) Montgomery
5) (1307) Tenafly
——————————————–
6) (1302) Princeton
===== Below 1300 combined SAT =====
7) (1283) Bernards Township (Ridge HS)
8) (1281) Jersey City (Dr. Ronald McNair HS)
9) (1276) Northern Valley – Demarest===== Below 1275 combined SAT =====
10) (1273) Edison (John P Stevens HS)
——————————————–
11) (1262) Ridgewood
===== Below 1250 combined SAT =====
12) (1243) Allendale – Northern Highlands
13) (1236) Livingston
14) (1233) Haddonfield
15) (1227) Chatham
——————————————–
16) (1225) East Brunswick
===== Below 1225 combined SAT =====
17) (1223) West Morris Mendham
18) (1221) Pennington (Hopewell Valley Central HS)
19) (1221) Marlboro
20) (1221) New Providence
21) (1221) Westfield
——————————————–
.
.
Anyone want to correlate School Budget to SAT scores and see how poorly we are really doing?

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AS POLS DAWDLE OVER SCHOOL FUNDING, HERE ARE THE NUMBERS AT STAKE

RHS_BEST_theridgewoodblog

JOHN MOONEY | APRIL 18, 2017

Depending on whose math you follow, districts could be in line for $1 billion to $2 billion

In his final year in office, Gov. Chris Christie set a deadline of early June for reaching a compromise with the Legislature about school funding — and offered to sit down with lawmakers to hammer out a compromise.

But halfway through his 100-day challenge, little has happened — at least publicly. In the meantime, the administration has been forced to release details about the $1 billion or more at stake for districts in the debate.

https://www.njspotlight.com/stories/17/04/18/as-pols-dawdle-over-school-funding-here-are-the-numbers-at-stake/

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Rutherford, Ridgewood awarded Safe Routes grants

ridgewood crossing guards

Meghan Grant , Staff Writer5:51 p.m. ET April 17, 2017

Rutherford will receive $368,000 and Ridgewood $400,000 in funding intended to make bicycling and walking to school safer for local children. The Department of Transportation announced its Safe Routes to School grant recipients last week.

Intended to encourage children, including those with disabilities, to walk and bicycle to school as a transportation alternative, the grants program facilitates the planning, development and implementation of projects that improve safety, reduce traffic and improve air quality through decreased fuel consumption around schools.

https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/bergen/rutherford/2017/04/17/rutherford-ridgewood-awarded-safe-routes-grants/100342234/

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Ridgewood Scores 24th for NJ High School best SAT scores

RHS_theridgewoodblog

The 51 N.J. high schools with the best SAT scores

Updated April 18, 2017
Posted April 18, 2017

By Adam Clark | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

TRENTON — The average SAT score among New Jersey’s public high schools was a 1,075 out of 1,600 last school year, but plenty of schools posted significantly more impressive scores.

Statewide, 19 high schools achieved an average score higher than 1,300, including five with an average score above 1,400, according to state data.

Specialized schools with selective enrollment and run by county vocational districts once again dominate the list of highest average scores, taking home the top 12 spots.

Here are the 51 New Jersey high schools with the highest SAT scores. The list begins with number 49 because of a three-way tie.

24. Ridgewood High School: 1,262

Location: Ridgewood, Bergen County

Reading score: 628

Math score: 634

42. Glen Rock High School: 1,210 (tie)

Location: Glen Rock, Bergen County

Reading score: 604

Math score: 606

 

 

https://www.nj.com/education/2017/04/nj_best_sat_test_scores_2016_high_schools.html?ath=9c46bfc08d76232bb5a5e00eeaf0bfa2#cmpid=nsltr_stryheadline

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OPINION: WHY I SUPPORT BETSY DEVOS

Betsy DeVos as Secretary of the Department of Education

DICK ZIMMER | APRIL 17, 2017

The issue is school choice. The opposition is the teachers unions

Shortly after Betsy DeVos was sworn into office as U.S. Secretary of Education, I was invited, as a trustee of Excellent Education for Everyone (E3), to meet with her at the Department of Education. I accepted the invitation with pleasure.

When I posted a picture of myself with DeVos on Facebook, it got some likes from conservative friends and some acerbic comments from others, including my sister, who asked me, “When did you start drinking the Kook-Aid?” I replied to her that I’ve supported school choice for decades and was the only member of the New Jersey Congressional delegation to vote for the first school-choice floor amendment in 1994.

Dick Zimmer and U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos

I am a product of New Jersey public schools, K–12, as are my parents and my children, but ever since I read Milton Friedman’s proposal for school vouchers in “Capitalism and Freedom” as a college freshman, I have been convinced that parents should be allowed to have the government pay for the school they choose for their children, whether it be traditional public, public charter, private, or religious.

There is no reason why all parents shouldn’t be given this choice, but the stakes are particularly high for the poorest families in the inner cities, including those in New Jersey where, despite tens of billions of dollars of supplemental state funding, traditional public schools have abjectly failed to prepare several generations of children for college or a career.

https://www.njspotlight.com/stories/17/04/16/opinion-why-i-support-betsy-devos/

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The 20 Bergen County schools that send the most kids to 4-year colleges

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#5 Ridgewood High School sent 94.2 percent of its students to four-year colleges. The high school has more than 1,700 students

Updated April 13, 2017

Posted April 13, 2017

By Sara Jerde | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

New Jersey’s Department of Education released performance reports Tuesday for schools based on the 2015-16 school year. The information included a range of details from the schools, including test scores and class sizes.

Don’t miss our SAT comparison tool, which enables you to compare the SAT scores of any public high school in the state.

In the state’s most populated county, Bergen, most schools that submitted data to the state had a higher percentage of students go to four-year colleges than the statewide average of 66.1 percent.

Here are the 20 public high schools that submitted school-wide data to the state that produces the most students who head to four-year colleges.

https://www.nj.com/bergen/index.ssf/2017/04/the_20_bergen_county_schools_that_send_the_most_kids_to_4-year_colleges.html#incart_river_index

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Why N.J. teacher attendance data doesn’t add up

Ridgewood Teachers

By Adam Clark | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on April 09, 2017 at 7:00 AM, updated April 09, 2017 at 9:47 AM

TRENTON — None of Piscataway Township’s teachers took a sick day last year, faculty at one Sussex County school were absent for nearly half of the year, and teachers at another school showed up only 10 percent of the time.

Those unlikely scenarios all played out last school year, at least according to data released in the state’s school report cards.

New Jersey for the first time last week released statistics for how often teachers and support staff miss school, showing that the vast majority of teachers are in the classroom more than 90 percent of the time.

But the faculty attendance rates, released amid a national push to judge schools on more than just test scores, also include a series of implausible statistics and misleading mistakes, school officials say.

https://www.nj.com/education/2017/04/69_nj_schools_claim_no_teachers_took_sick_days_las.html#incart_2box_nj-homepage-featured

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New Jersey teen gets into Stanford after writing #BlackLivesMatter 100 times on application

New Jersey teen,Stanford , hillary

Editors note : it used to be academics ,good grades , a strong essay, some extra curricular  

This New Jersey student’s unconventional approach to applying for college paid off for him.

On his Stanford University application, Ziad Ahmed was posed the question “What matters to you, and why?”

The 18-year-old activist from Princeton, New Jersey, decided to use the opportunity to write “#BlackLivesMatter” 100 times.

To his surprise, the answer caught the attention of the California school’s admissions office and Ahmed received his acceptance letter on Friday.

“I didn’t think I would get admitted to Stanford at all, but it’s quite refreshing to see that they view my unapologetic activism as an asset rather than a liability,” Ahmed told Mic.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/04/05/new-jersey-teen-gets-into-stanford-after-writing-blacklivesmatter-100-times-on-application.html

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New Jersey Department of Education Issues School Report Card

RHS_theridgewoodblog

April 5,2017

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, The New Jersey Department of Education ( NJDOE) has posted its School Performance Report for the 2015-16 school year.

As in previous years, the report allows visitors to view the academic performance of any district or any school by grade level. The report also includes a broad array of information not included in past years.

According to the NJDOE website :The New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE) presents the 2015-16 School Performance Reports. These reports are designed to inform parents, educators and communities about how well a school is performing and preparing its students for college and careers. In particular, the School Performance Reports seek to:

Focus attention on metrics that are indicative of college and career readiness.

Benchmark a school’s performance against other schools that are educating similar students, against district and state-wide outcomes, and against state targets to illuminate and build upon a school’s strengths and identify areas for improvement.

Improve educational outcomes for students by providing both longitudinal and growth data so that progress can be measured as part of an individual school’s efforts to engage in continuous improvement.

The latest report provides data on faculty attendance, absenteeism, PSAT and ACT performance in addition to SAT scores, advanced placement and international baccalaureate counts, and the percentage of students concentrating in approved career and technical education programs.

However the report no longer provides “peer school comparisons,” however, which compared each school’s data to a group of similar schools.

For Ridgewood High School “Academic Achievement” : School wide Performance 72% of students met or exceeded expectations in English Language Arts Literacy Met or Exceeded Expectations putting RHS in the 91% Statewide Percentile.In Mathematics 71%  of students met or exceeded expectations putting RHS in the 99% Statewide Percentile.

For College and Career Readiness Indicators , Percent of Students Participating in PSAT , RHS 64.4% vs Statewide 95.5% .
Percent of Students Participating in SAT ,RHS 42.4% vs Statewide 58.0% .
Percent of Students Participating in ACT ,RHS 58.4% vs Statewide 27.6%.

See the full report at https://rc.doe.state.nj.us/

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TONIGHT 2017-18 $105 MILLION RIDGEWOOD SCHOOL BUDGET PRESENTATION EVENT

High_School_Flood_theridgewoodblog

file photo by Boyd Loving

2017-18 SCHOOL BUDGET PRESENTATION EVENT
April 5 2017 7:30 PM to April 6 2017 7:30 PM
Location Benjamin Franklin Middle School, George Washington Middle School

April 5,2017

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, At the March 6 Board of Education meeting, Business Administrator Dr. Alfredo Aguilar presented the preliminary 2017-2018 budget, which is based on a .97% local tax levy increase. The total preliminary budget is $105,565,593, which would mean a $184.39 annual tax increase on the average assessed Ridgewood home of $696,093.

Click here to view the preliminary budget presentation as a PDF.

Following discussion, the Board approved the following resolution for Adoption of the 2017-2018 Preliminary Proposed Budget for Submission to the Executive County Superintendent of Schools:

BE IT RESOLVED, by the Ridgewood Board of Education, to approve the 2017-2018 school district preliminary proposed budget, as follows, for submission to the Executive County Superintendent of Schools:

There should be raised for the General Fund Tax Levy $91,519,173 for the ensuing School Year: (2017-2018).

Budget Tax Levy
General Fund $ 100,503,229 $ 91,519,173
Special Revenue Fund $     1,378,767 $                 0
Debt Service Fund $     3,683,597 $   3,265,784
Total Budget $ 105,565,593 $ 94,784,957