Tag: #AmplifyChoice

Posted on

Governor Chris Christie’s School Funding Fairness Formula Catches the Eye of the Ridgewood Board of Education

Ridgewood_BOE_theridgewoodblog

September 28,2016

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood Nj,  Governor Chris Christie School Funding Fairness Formula Catches the Eye of the Ridgewood Board of Education. In the latest RPS news letter Board President Sheila Brogan devoted a significant amount of space to the Christie Fairness formula and the failure of the Abbott School districts .

Sheila Brogan’s Legislative Report September 2016

Lately, there has been much discussion in Trenton about state funding for school districts.  Governor Christie has asked the courts to give the state relief from the School Funding Reform Act of 2008 (SFRA) and to allow the NJDOE Commissioner relief from statutory and contractual impediments that negatively impact on the thorough and efficient education required by the state constitution.  The State Auditor has issued a report listing the flaws in how state aid is distributed to school districts.   Senator Sweeney has proposed that a 6-member commission be established to study the state school funding issues and propose recommendations and legislation.

The first link below will bring you to the Abbott Memorandum, filed for Governor Christie, asking the NJ Supreme Court for relief from the current funding formula.  It is 95 pages, but worth the read.

Some of the issues discussed in the memorandum are —

#1 More funding does not equal higher student achievement in the School Development Authority (SDA) districts (formally the Abbott districts).  The SDA districts have 22.8% of all NJ students and they receive 59% of the pre-K through grade 12 school aid.

#2 The most important factor for quality education is  effective teachers.  Districts must be allowed to have systems in place to attract and retain effective teachers.  Statutory and contractual impediments to this must be eliminated.  Essentially, the memorandum calls for eliminating LIFO (last in, first out) when there is a reduction in force (RIF) of the teaching staff.  The memorandum also calls for streamlining the process of removing tenure teachers who are ineffective.  It requests that the court allows the Commissioner to override contractual impediments in teacher contracts that negatively impact on student achievement.

In another document released last week, the State Auditor listed flaws in the way the state distributes school aid.  There were four recommendations:

#1. School funding should be distributed based on current district data — for example —  current enrollment and district demographics.  The state is not using current data.  Eighty percent of districts are receiving less aid than what they should receive under the current state aid formula, School Funding Reform Act of 2008 (SFRA).

#2.  Special Education funding is not being distributed on the actual number of special education students in a district.  Under the 2008 state aid formula, the state  started using the census model to distribute money using the assumption that every district had a14.78% special education classification rate.  Some districts have higher classification rates.  According to the report in 2015, 234 districts, and in 2016, 258 districts, had actual classification rates  that were more than10% higher than the state’s rate used for funding. This funding is not tied to actual need.

#3.  Pre-school aid should be adjusted for actual enrollment.  According to the report, in 2016, 30 districts over estimated enrollment and overpayments to these districts from the state amounted to $32.9 million

#4.  The per pupil cost for preschool ranges from $2,036 to $27,663 and this disparity leads to imbalances in funding.  It should be noted that districts receiving pre-school funding can offer half day or full day programs creating disparity in the educational experiences and opportunities offered these students.

This report is linked below.

Finally, Senate President Sweeney and Senator Ruiz introduced a concurrent resolution, SCR119, to  establish the State School Aid Funding Fairness Commission consisting of six members who would be appointed by the Senate President (2 members ,one of whom would represent the NJEA), Speaker of the General Assembly (2 members, one of whom would represent a NJ education professional association), Senate Minority leader (1 member), and General Assembly Minority Leader (1 member).  The Senate approved SC119 on Thursday.  The Commission would be charged to study the following issues:

#1.  the impact of School Funding Reform Act of 2008 (SFRA) adjustment aid and state aid growth limitation provisions;

#2. the tax levy growth limitation and the ability for school districts to adequately fund operating expenses;

#3. the per pupil administrative cost limits and its impact on district staffing and operations;

#4.  determining local fair share amounts and how property tax abatements impact fair share; and

#5.  the ability for districts that are at or above adequacy budget to lower their tax levy if given additional state aid

The report must be issued no later than June 30, 2017 with its findings, recommendations, and proposed legislation. The legislation would be introduced in the Senate and the Assembly.  It would not be referred to committees.  The proposed legislation would be given three readings and must be approved  or rejected by the Senate and the Assembly  without changes or amendments.

Over the next 5 years, $500 million would be added to the state budget for school districts to give districts 100% of the aid as determined by SFRA.

The process for the commission will include three public hearings to gather input and then three hearings after the report is issued to elicit public input on the findings, recommendations, and proposed legislation.

It now goes to the Assembly for consideration.

https://www.nj.gov/governor/news/news/552016/pdf/20160915e_Abbott_Memorandum.pdf

https://www.njleg.state.nj.us/legislativepub/auditor/340115.pdf

Posted on

N.J. school aid formula is flawed for pre-K, special ed, audit says

home alone

By Adam Clark | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on September 22, 2016 at 1:45 PM

TRENTON — As New Jersey politicians debate changing the state’s formula for funding public schools, a new state audit has highlighted some specific flaws in the current system.

The report, released Wednesday by State Auditor Stephen Eells, shows that schools are both underfunded and overfunded in some respects based on the current model.

Among the problems identified are outdated data, inaccurate pre-K enrollments and an inadequate system for funding special education.

Here’s a look at three of the major findings from the review of school funding and the auditor’s suggestions for addressing the issues:

https://www.nj.com/education/2016/09/nj_school_aid_is_flawed_for_pre-k_special_ed_audit.html?utm_content=New%20Campaign&utm_campaign=Observer_NJ_Politics&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=New%20Jersey%20Politics#incart_river_index

Posted on

Donald Trump Vows to be an Advocate for School Choice

Trump #AmplifyChoice

September 22,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood Blog

Ridgewood NJ, On September 8th GOP Presidential Candidate Donald J. Trump unveiled four proposals to increase School Choice, and increase student performance.To achieve this long-term goal of school choice, Mr. Trump plans to make this a shared national mission; to bring hope to every child in every city in this land.

Trump said ,”As your president I will be the nation’s biggest cheerleader for school choice,” , speaking from the Cleveland Arts and Social Sciences Academy charter school. “I understand many stale old politicians will resist, but it’s time for our country to start thinking big and correct once again.Trump went on to say that expanding school choice would help minority students who are currently trapped in “failing government schools.”

Trump’s running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, weighed in on the proposal, giving it a big thumbs-up.

“The school choice proposals unveiled today by Mr. Trump are a bold set of policies that will increase accountability and lead to better results for our nation’s children,” he said. “These policies prove once again that Mr. Trump is the only person running for president who has the leadership required to make America great again.”

According to Trump ,the Trump team’s first budget will immediately add an additional federal investment of $20 billion towards school choice. This will be done by reprioritizing existing federal dollars. Specifically, Mr. Trump’s plan will use $20 billion of existing federal dollars to establish a block grant for the 11 million school age kids living in poverty. Individual states will be given the option as to how these funds will be used.

Trump’s proposal included as President,he would establish the national goal of providing school choice to every American child living in poverty. That means that we want every disadvantaged child to be able to choose the local public, private, charter or magnet school that is best for them and their family. Each state will develop its own formula, but the dollars should follow the student.

Going even further by saying Trump would use his presidency to be an advocate for school choice, using the pulpit of the presidency to campaign for choice in all 50 states and will call upon the American people to elect officials at the city, state and federal level who support school choice.

Then Trump challenged the status quo even more by supporting merit-pay for teachers, so that great teachers are rewarded instead of the failed tenure system that currently exists, which rewards bad teachers and punishes good ones.

Posted on

Atlantic City Gambles on School Choice

gambling-addiction
August 28,2016

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Atlantic City NJ, with a state takeover in the air Atlantic City has had its share of bad fortunes lately and this November, when voters in A.C. head to the polls, they’ll not only decide whether to gamble on the state-wide casino gaming referendum but also vote on a pair of city-specific school choice ballot questions.
RESOLUTION TO PLACE NON-BINDING REFERENDUM QUESTIONS REGARDING SCHOOL VOUCHERS AND TAX CREDITS WHEREAS, 

The City Council of Atlantic City is empowered with the authority to submit nonbinding referendum questions to the public in order to ascertain the sentiment of legal voters; and NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Council of the City of Atlantic City hereby submits the following questions to be printed upon the official ballots to be used at the next ensuing General Election as follows: “Shall the State of New Jersey designate the City to begin offering vouchers to families with children ages 6-16 so they can select the school they want their children to attend?” “Shall the State of New Jersey designate the City of Atlantic City to begin offering property tax credits to families with children ages 6-16 who choose to home school?”

The non binding Atlantic City school resolution was passed unanimously by the Democrat controlled governing body . The resolution is the creation of home schooled freshman GOP Councilman Jesse Kurtz, who is also a teachers union (NJEA) member .

Amazingly if the proposal is enacted, Atlantic City would become the first municipality in New Jersey to provide school vouchers. There is currently no law in New Jersey that would allow the city to give out vouchers to parents.

Kutz told the Atlantic City Impact a local paper ,”The vouchers would be redeemable at both private and public schools, pending space, and could save the city money if more students choose to attend private schools, Kurtz said. Students leaving the Atlantic City School District for private schools would reduce the district’s budget, therefore lowering the city’s budget as council tries to stave off a state takeover”

According to their website the Atlantic City teachers union the Atlantic City Education Association
(ACEA) clearly sees school choice as a threat ,and assures its members it “is vigorously fighting against these proposals.”

The Urban Institute a Washington DC think tank takes a different tact , “Evidence indicates that school choice programs can improve the educational and life outcomes of low-income students, but not all programs are equally effective. Charter schools such as KIPP and the Harlem Children’s Zone Promise Academy have large positive effects on the academic achievement of their (mostly disadvantaged) students.”

The Institute goes on to say , “School choice policy, like most education policy, is largely made at the state and local levels. But the federal government could allow states to enact funding systems where federal, state, and local dollars follow students to the public schools of their choice”.

Atlantic City’s gamble on the future of educational opportunities now rests on residents taking the first step and showing up on election day and making the choice for choice . Success of Atlantic City’s school choice and voucher initiative will be determined by parents , students and local administrators who can then craft educational policy that works best for the students of Atlantic City.
Posted on

Governor Christie The Fairness Formula will Lower Property Taxes and Force Education Reform

School Choice by ArtChick

file photo by ArtChick

August 25,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, Earlier this summer, Governor Christie proposed a solution to New Jersey’s two most pressing issues; the failure of urban education and high property taxes.

In 1985 Abbott Districts were created as a result of the first ruling of Abbott v. Burke, a case filed by the Education Law Center. The ruling asserted that public primary and secondary education in poor communities throughout the state was unconstitutionally substandard.

The Abbott II ruling in 1990 had the most far-reaching effects, ordering the state to fund the (then) 28 Abbott districts at the average level of the state’s wealthiest districts.

The low-income districts began to receive the extra aid .The Abbott ruling led to the current school funding formula crisis allowing failing school districts to spend as much as $33,699 per pupil in tax dollars, while high‐performing school districts spend less than half of that per student.

In what could be one of the largest failures in social engineering ,leading to excessive spending by a select few and chronically failing school districts,who have received billions more in state taxpayer dollars over the past three decades than hundreds of successful school districts.

According to the Mercatus Center at George Mason University,”While it is difficult to compare academic achievement across time periods, evidence indicates that Abbott money has had little effect on improving student performance. ”

Mercatus Center went on , “The lackluster performance of these schools is also related to the fractured relationship between beneficiaries and providers. Abbott districts receive the majority of their funding from state aid rather than local tax revenues. The incentive to make optimal use of this funding and to monitor school performance is minimal. In addition, taxpayers in districts receiving state aid may not be benefiting from lower property taxes, because officials in local government prefer to work the increased revenue into their budgets, rather than returning it to taxpayers via a municipal tax cut.”

That’s where Governor Christie steps in with his Fairness Formula. The Fairness Formula will provide equal education funding for every pupil throughout the state, valuing every child equally. Under the Fairness Formula, all public school districts would receive $6,599 for every enrolled student, plus continued funding for special education. This will give every child an equal chance at success.

With this new formula, 75% of all New Jersey districts would get more state aid than they do today. The biggest driver of New Jersey’s nation‐high property taxes is the ineffective and unfair state school funding formula. The Fairness Formula will not only be equal for students it may also provide hundreds or even thousands of dollars in annual property tax savings for New Jerseyans in most communities.   The potential property tax savings that would be realized under the Fairness Formula is a strong benefit to New Jersey’s economy as a whole. Business owners are burdened by New Jersey’s highest in the nation property taxes and chased to more affordable states due to New Jersey’s many other non‐competitive taxes that have been enacted by Democrats.

A byproduct of the Fairness Formula is a renewed interest in alternative options for educational choice.

Recently Atlantic City passed a resolution unanimously by the Democrat-dominated body for a non-binding referendum in time for the November ballot : REGARDING SCHOOL VOUCHERS AND TAX CREDITS.

WHEREAS, The City Council of Atlantic City is empowered with the authority to submit nonbinding referendum questions to the public in order to ascertain the sentiment of legal voters; and NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Council of the City of Atlantic City hereby submits the following questions to be printed upon the official ballots to be used at the next ensuing General Election as follows: “Shall the State of New Jersey designate the City to begin offering vouchers to families with children ages 6-16 so they can select the school they want their children to attend?” “Shall the State of New Jersey designate the City of Atlantic City to begin offering property tax credits to families with children ages 6-16 who choose to homeschool?

The revolutionary resolution was created by freshman GOP Councilman Jesse Kurtz, who is himself an NJEA member, New Jersey’s largest teachers union.

According to Matthew Chingos of the Urban Institute ,”School choice policies aim to break the link between where children live and where they go to school. They seek to interrupt the cycle of poverty by providing low-income children with access to high-quality educational options that will boost their chances of long-term success. Choice programs come in several flavors, including charter schools, which are publicly funded but independently operated; private school vouchers, which cover all or part of private school tuition; and open enrollment plans (sometimes called public school vouchers) that allow parents to send their child to any public school in the district. When done right, school choice programs can be powerful tools in the fight against poverty.”

Posted on

Your Zip Code Should Not Determine Your Success in New Jersey

kids- ArtChick

file photo by ArtChick

August 14,2016

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, the Franklin Center, a non-profit, public-interest media and public policy organization invited the Ridgewood blog to attend  their “Amplify School Choice” conference in Denver.

The conference took place all day Thursday, August 11 through noon on Friday, August 12 at the SpringHill Suites in downtown Denver. Over 50 of America’s top bloggers and citizen journalists attended the event .

While we are advantaged with quality schools in Ridgewood , it is simply not true for so many parents and so many young people in New Jersey . We have all read about chronically under preforming schools  all over New Jersey . The reality is your zip determines your educational opportunities and success.

The fact is urban education, despite 30 years of New Jersey Supreme Court required intervention by the state, is still failing students and their parents at an alarming rate.  The theory from the Supreme Court was that money would solve the problem.

“But as we have all become aware is , “The Abbott school experiment is a colossal failure because it is based on the theory that throwing money at a problem fixes it. Problems facing urban schools are cultural and socio-economic. When people in power face up to that, we can make progress.
There’s not a lot of political profiles in courage because it is easier to toss tax money or make excuses than to say until underlying causes are dealt with, it won’t get any better, just more expensive with more kids’ lives wasted. A few politicians do get it.  (Ingle, Gannett)
https://www.app.com/article/20110821/NJCOLUMNIST06/308210033/-1/NJCOLUMNIST/BOB-INGLE-Nutter-delivers-a-message-to-youth”

Not only have the policy been a abysmal failure but the cost to non “Abbott School” tax payers has been astronomical.

Governor Chris Christie pointed out recently the , ” New Jersey spends the 3rd most in the nation per pupil on K-12 education.  For the upcoming fiscal year we spend 13.3 billion dollars on aid to K-12 education.  How do we spend it?  $9.1 billion goes back to school districts in direct aid.  $3.25 billion is to pay for the pensions and health benefits for retired teachers.   $936 million goes to pay the debt on schools, mostly in urban districts, to build new schools.  $13.3 billion—and that does not count the money paid in local property taxes.

Who gets the $9.1 billion? Well, that begins to tell the story.  By order of the Supreme Court, and coerced acquiescence by the elected branches of government, this coming year $5.1 billion goes to the 31 urban or SDA districts.  $4 billion goes to the remaining 546 districts.  That’s right.  58% of the aid from the state’s taxpayers goes to 5% of the state’s school districts. 42% of the aid goes to the remaining 95% of our districts. This is absurd.  This is unfair.  This is not working.  And it hasn’t been working for 30 years.”

This is why Govenour Chris Christie has proposed giving all school districts same amount of aid, and provide some towns like Ridgewood property tax relief.

It is clearly time for some new ideas , and new student centered education policies . Here are a few we discussed at  the  “Amplify School Choice” conference in Denver.

School choice: a wide array of programs offering students and their families alternatives to publicly provided schools, to which students are generally assigned by the location of their family residence.

Open Enrollment : the process by which parents/guardians residing in a district may enroll their children into any school district in New Jersey.

Charter Schools:  a publicly funded independent school established by teachers, parents, or community groups under the terms of a charter with a local or national authority.

Home Schooling : A “must read” for new homeschoolers! In New Jersey, the Legislature under the compulsory education law (N.J.S.A. 18A:38-25) has permitted children to receive “equivalent instruction elsewhere than at school,” including the home.