Democrats Sweeney and Prieto will pursue individual approaches to funding reform
Get ready to hear a lot more about school funding in New Jersey.
This week will start what could amount to nine separate public hearings in the next month about the state of school funding for New Jersey’s public schools, all driven by the somewhat fractured Democratic leadership of the Legislature.
The first is scheduled for today before the Joint Committee for the Public Schools, a hearing that has long been on the docket.
The next day will be the initial hearing before the Assembly’s education committee at 10 a.m. on Wednesday in the State House. Another is planned before a new Senate select committee next week, on January 27, at Kingsway Regional High School in Woolwich at 11 a.m. The next three have yet to be scheduled.
And this is all before Gov. Chris Christie unveils his state budget for fiscal 2017, in which a third of state spending will be aid to schools. It’s anyone’s guess as to what he will put forward.
Christie has been pushing to scuttle the state’s current formula-driven funding plan, instead providing the same amount of state aid per pupil for every district, no matter the need.
Ridgewood NJ, The 2017 Best School Districts ranking is based on rigorous analysis of key statistics and millions of reviews from students and parents using data from the U.S. Department of Education. Ranking factors include state test scores, college readiness, graduation rates, SAT/ACT scores, teacher quality, public school district ratings, and more.
Niche bills itself as a website that helps you discover the schools and neighborhoods that are right for you. We rigorously analyze dozens of public data sets and millions of reviews to produce comprehensive rankings, report cards, and profiles for every K-12 school, college, and neighborhood in the U.S.
Their ranking system assesses 10,364 U.S. public school districts. The same methodology is used to produce the Overall Niche Grade for each ranked school district as well as additional school districts. Statistics obtained from the U.S. Department of Education represent the most recent data available, usually from 2014–2016, as self-reported by the school districts.
They rated Tenafly Public Schools number 6,Fair Lawn School District 15th, Glen Rock Public School District 19th,
Pascack Valley Regional High School District 27, Mahwah Township Public Schools 28,Park Ridge Public Schools 33,Cresskill Public School District 35, and Paramus Public Schools 39.
Ridgewood NJ, so who’s Afraid of Betsy DeVos? “Mrs. Devos’s Most Important Qualification is that She Has the Courage of Her Convictions”, in an editorial the Wall Street Journal attempts to answer the critics and make the case to provide poor children with better educational opportunities. We know the unions don’t like it and neither do Democrat, lawmakers looking to stifle their constituents keeping them fat, dumb and happy. Who’s Afraid of Betsy DeVos?
The Wall Street Journal
Wall Street Journal Opinion
January 14th, 2017 Click Here to Read
Democrats are searching for a cabinet nominee to defeat, and it’s telling that progressive enemy number one is Betsy DeVos. Donald Trump’s choice to run the Education Department has committed the unpardonable sin of devoting much of her fortune to helping poor kids escape failing public schools.
Mrs. DeVos’s most important qualification is that she has the courage of her convictions.
The DeVoses have donated tens of millions of dollars to charity including a children’s hospital in Michigan and an international art competition in Grand Rapids. They’ve also given to Christian organizations, which the left cites as evidence of concealed bigotry. Yet education has been their main philanthropic cause.
During the 1990s, they patronized a private-school scholarship fund for low-income families and championed Michigan’s first charter school law. In 2000 they helped bankroll a voucher initiative, which was defeated by a union blitz. The DeVoses then turned to expanding charters, which have become Exhibit A in the progressive campaign against her.
Two studies from Stanford’s Center for Research on Education Outcomes (2013, 2015) found that students attending Michigan charters gained on average an additional two months of learning every year over their traditional school counterparts. Charter school students in Detroit gained three months.
The real reason unions fear Mrs. DeVos is that she’s a rare reformer who has defeated them politically. Prior to being tapped by Mr. Trump, she chaired the American Federation for Children (AFC), which has helped elect hundreds of legislators across the country who support private school choice.
AFC has built a broad coalition that includes black and Latino Democrats, undercutting the union conceit that vouchers are a GOP plot to destroy public schools. In 2000 four states had private-school choice programs with 29,000 kids. Today, 25 states have vouchers, tax-credit scholarships or education-savings accounts benefitting more than 400,000 students.
You know progressives have lost their moral bearings when they save their most ferocious assault for a woman who wants to provide poor children with the education they need to succeed in America.
Nicholas Pugliese , State House Bureau, @nickpugzPublished 6:42 p.m. ET Jan. 13, 2017 | Updated 2:59 a.m. ET Jan. 14, 2017
Senate President Stephen Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto lobbed news releases back and forth this week urging each other to get serious about reforming the state’s school funding formula.
In the meantime, they announced separate, uncoordinated Senate and Assembly hearings to collect testimony that would form the basis for legislation to fix the current system, which is widely acknowledged to give unequal treatment to students and taxpayers in different parts of the state. Assembly hearings begin Wednesday; Senate hearings begin Jan. 27.
Several years ago, a little boy I know set out to make and enter a project in the state fair. He gathered his supplies, came up with a design, and forged a hand-crafted knife – blade and all.
While his creation was quite impressive, the state fair was not amused and refused to let him enter his creation over fear about the type of message it would send.
Fortunately for this young boy, his parents continued to encourage his creativity and ingenuity even when the fair did not, and today he is in college about to graduate with a degree in mechanical engineering.
But what about all the other little boys (and girls) in the U.S. who don’t receive encouragement to use their imaginations and invent or create something? Are we hindering something which could be of great help to our children and nation?
It’s commonly believed today that “Everyone is entitled to their own opinion.”
What nonsense.
Where does this “entitlement” regarding opinions come from? Who has bestowed it?
The statement is a decidedly modern one. No person until very recently in history would have dreamed of saying something so silly. It’s usually attributed to the American financier Bernard M. Baruch (1870-1965). The full quote reads: “Every man has a right to his opinion, but no man has a right to be wrong in his facts.” (I’m really not sure why the former imaginary “right” wouldn’t also entitle one to be wrong in his or her facts.)
It’s one reason why we can’t rationally discuss things
Devin Foley | December 11, 2015
As we and many others have pointed out, many policy debates these days devolve quickly into emotionalism. Should we be surprised when too many American students lack the tools with which to engage in public discourse?
According to the Nation’s Report Card, produced by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) which is considered the gold-standard for evaluating the job schools are doing educating students, only a paltry percentage of high school seniors know their history.
Yes, only a meager 12% of high school seniors are considered “proficient” in U.S. history. If you’d like to examine the test, you can do so here. We’ll probably do some separate posts on it.
Meet The Producers, Mike Muldoon, Gail McCarthy Linda Aktar and Vivienne Muldoon. Photo credit Susan Knudsen
January 12,2017
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, RHS Jamboree’s World Tour 2017 takes off to a flying start with over a 120 cast and crew members including 40 NEWBIES plus returning Jamboree Alumni who all are working rigorously to put on a show this come February 8-11th. To place an AD, DONATE or purchase TICKETS please go to rhsjamboree.org We look forward to welcoming you onboard.
Ridgewood NJ, On Thursday, January 12, the Ridgewood High School Department of Fine and Applied Arts will present the second Maroon & White Music Recital and Art Exhibit for the 2016-17 school year. The second of five such events for this year, the concert will be held in the newly renovated RHS Learning Commons beginning at 3:45 p.m., followed immediately by a reception and gallery opening in the Carroll Art Gallery. Admission is free and open to the public.
The recital will feature four outstanding musicians, presenting a varied program. Following the concert, the January Maroon & White Art Exhibit will officially open in the Carroll Art Gallery. The exhibit will include original works by highly accomplished students in a variety of media.
The Maroon and White Recital Series began in 1964 as a means of highlighting outstanding Ridgewood High School musicians in a featured solo capacity. Over the past five decades, the series has expanded to include art exhibits as well as a recital featuring only dancers. Musicians and dancers are selected through competitive audition, while artists are chosen after an extensive portfolio revue. Past Maroon & White recitalists include Jonathan Spitz, principal cellist with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Elizabeth Ostling, associate principal flutist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the piano duo of Sarah and Susan Wang, renowned Broadway singer/dancer Ali Stroker, Stephanie Buesser, dancer with Ballet West, New York City choreographer Yael Nachajon, Broadway director Marc Bruni, jazz organist Jared Gold and many others. The list of past artists includes Lauren Roth of Lauren Roth Art, renowned illustrator Kyle McCullough, Giovanni Forlino, whose work can be seen on display at the Getty and Guggenheim museums, plus a host of professional freelance artists who work in a wide variety of visual art related fields.
Upcoming Maroon & White Recital/Exhibits will take place on February 2, March 9, April 6 (Dance) and April 27. All recitals are held in the RHS Learning Commons, with the exception of the dance recital, which takes place in the Little Theater. For more information, please contact the RHS Department of Fine and Applied Arts at 201-670-2800 x. 20542.
Half of young people have so many emotional problems they cannot focus at school, a study has found.
Some 48 per cent of youngsters said that they experienced problems during their school years that prevented them from concentrating on their academic work.
Of these, 46 per cent did not talk to anyone about their problems, mainly because they did not want other people to know that they were struggling.
Ridgewood NJ, 2017 Supplemental School Tax Billing – As per the Village residents’ November 2016 affirmative vote to approve a permanent $929,800 school tax Levy increase to support a full day kindergarten program for the school district, supplemental tax bills are required to reflect this increase. Questions can be directed to Dr. Alfredo Aguilar, the school district’s Business Manager at [email protected]
or 201/670-2700 x10503.
Both the supplemental school tax bills and the current tax bills are due on February 1st & May 1st 2017.
Ridgewood NJ, Simon Sinek on Millennial and Internet Addiction tries to answer the question ,”Whats wrong with Millennials”, this is something that has a lot of meaning, and this gives us a look into our lives and the errors that we make.
“So you take this group of people, and they graduate school, and they get a job, and they’re thrust into the real world, and in an instant they find out that they’re not special, their moms can’t get them a promotion, that you get nothing for coming in last, and by the way you can’t just have it ‘cause you want it. And in an instant their entire self-image is shattered.”
Its value isn’t readily apparent, which is probably why it has largely dropped out of curriculum in this country. Modern language study is more about which language will get you ahead in your career or help you vacation to other countries. Latin is not likely to help you with either.
Plus, it’s hard to learn.
So, why do people continue to study the language? That’s the question a journalist at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN set out to answer recently.
Based upon answers from a classics professor and students, here are 3 reasons from why people today might want to study Latin:
Ridgewood NJ, While Financial Planners have been advocating for smarter legislation on student loan programs for years, the news is finally spotlighting a concern over its impact on Social Security income if debts aren’t paid.
The Financial Planning Association of New Jersey (FPANJ) has long held advocacy positions in Trenton that have encouraged careful decision making with regard to student loan programs. However, the impacts haven’t been well publicized until recently, when the Wall Street Journal ran a piece on how Social Security checks can be reduced if debts for college aren’t paid.”Our efforts in public financial education – and in the Capitol – have included a message to stop the borrowing before it happens,” explained John Crosby, CFP® ,ChFC, CAS, CLTC, CRPC®, and Advocacy Chairperson for FPANJ. “The best solution to this issue is always to make an educated decision before you choose to borrow, where to borrow, and understand the types of student loans are available.”
The reality is that for student loans and other non-tax debts, the government can garnish wages or suspend tax refunds for anyon(e who fails to pay their student loans. They can take 15 percent of your Social Security check as long as the remaining balance doesn’t drop below $750. There is no statute of limitations on student loan debt, so it doesn’t matter how
long ago the debt occurred.
Crosby noted that lawmakers have an opportunity to protect Social Security in a bill (HR4988 Social Security Benefits Restoration Act) presented by Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-FL) in April of 2016. However, this bill is still awaiting a co-sponsor, along with similar proposals from 2015.
The best way to protect yourself is to become knowledgeable, said Crosby.
“Financial Literary programs can address this topic to help students and/or parents understand the importance of higher education and the financial responsibilities that come with it. Partnering with a Certified Financial Planner(TM) is the best course in understanding your options, whether you plan on paying for college or taking out loans.
“Often a candid discussion among a planner, parents and the student can help avoid serious financial consequences down the road. And really, that is what FPANJ and its members are here to do.”
If people don’t have a Financial Planner, Crosby recommended a tool found on the FPANJ website (FPANJ.org) at the top of the page. “Find A Local Planner” helps consumers look for a specialist in the area of college planning, and within their geographic area.
Ridgewood NJ, Bergen Record posts a misleading article on the Ridgewood Board of Education. The article claims in the article, New year, new leadership on Ridgewood BOE https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/bergen/ridgewood/2017/01/03/new-year-new-leadership-ridgewood-boe/96111336/, The puff piece claims , “The new year brought significant change to the Ridgewood Board of Education.” , significant changes when board members run unopposed and have run unopposed for several terms. Does anyone remember a Ridgewood BOE without Shiela Brogan? While this is not to pass judgment on the quality or competence of the Ridgewood BOE members there clearly is NO SIGNIFICANT CHANGE in the Ridgewood BOE nor has there been for years.
According to the BOE eblast , James A. Morgan and Jeanette S. Wilson were sworn in as Board members and Vincent Loncto was nominated and elected Board President. James Morgan and Jennie Smith Wilson were nominated for Vice President; James Morgan was elected.
The next Regular Public Meeting of the Ridgewood Board of Education will be held on Monday, January 23, 2017 at the Education Center, 49 Cottage Place, Floor 3 at 7:30 p.m. The meeting will be aired live on television, FiOS channel 33 and Optimum channel 77, and streamed via the “Link in Live” tab on the district website at www.ridgewood.k12.nj.us. Meeting webcasts are generally posted to the district website within 48 hours.
