September 06, 2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Trenton NJ, As many New Jersey students head back to school today, Governor Christie visited Grover Cleveland Middle School in Caldwell to act upon seven bills focused on improving education in the state.
“Over the last six years, my administration has prided itself on engaging in education reform to make sure our schools are safer, more effective, and facilitating the success of our students,” said Governor Christie. “Providing and ensuring a high quality education for every student in every corner of this state is a firm commitment of mine and it is why I continue to support and bolster education in the Garden State.”
For the last two months, Governor Christie has traveled the state talking about his Fairness Formula, which would change the school funding formula to provide equal funding of $6,599 per enrolled student, while continuing aid for special needs students and at the same time providing much-needed property tax relief to municipalities.
The Governor’s fiscal year 2017 budget spends more than $13.3 billion on education, an increase of $548 million from fiscal 2016, continuing a six-year commitment to providing the highest amount of school aid in New Jersey history.
The state’s high school graduation rate continues to increase. In 2015, the rate was 89.7 percent, up from 88.6 percent in 2014, the fourth straight year that the statewide high school graduation rate increased and the third consecutive year in which it grew by at least a full percentage point.
Other education accomplishments include reforming teacher tenure rules, greatly expanding charter schools, and establishing Renaissance schools under the Urban Hope Act.
The bills the Governor acted on today include measures to enhance school security and early intervention in situations where students exhibit behavioral or learning problems, and that will ensure that substance abuse instruction for students encompasses the latest research and best practices. Governor Christie has also signed two bills focused on higher education, to increase transparency and enable public colleges and universities to save money by engaging in cooperative purchasing agreements. Specifically, the Governor took the following action on the following pending legislation:
BILL SIGNINGS:
S-2081/A-3790 (Ruiz, Turner/Vainieri Huttle, Wimberly) – Limits expulsions and suspensions for students in preschool through grade 2 with certain exceptions; requires early detection and prevention programs for behavioral issues in preschool through grade 2
A-2292/S-372 (Vainieri Huttle, Benson, McKnight, Gusciora, Lampitt, Wimberly/Codey, Allen) – Requires review of Core Curriculum Content Standards to ensure guidance for substance abuse instruction provided to public school students incorporates most recent evidence-based standards and practices
A-2563/S-1753 (Jasey, Singleton, Wimberly, Danielsen/Turner) – Directs institutions of higher education and proprietary degree-granting institutions to provide Higher Education Student Assistance Authority with graduation and transfer rates of State tuition aid grant recipients
A-2566/S-496 (Jasey, Wimberly/Ruiz, Turner) – Establishes Response to Intervention initiative in DOE to support and encourage school districts in implementation of Response to Intervention framework
A-2689/S-754 (Schaer, Prieto, Lagana, Lampitt, Vainieri Huttle, Eustace, S. Kean, Auth, Quijano, Wimberly/Beach, Gordon) – “Secure Schools for All Children Act”; establishes State aid program for security services, equipment, or technology to ensure safe and secure school environment for nonpublic school students
A-3405/S-1822 (Coughlin, Schaer, Jasey, Benson/Sarlo, Cunningham) – Permits certain public institutions of higher education to make purchases and contract for services as participating contracting units in cooperative pricing systems and through use of nationally-recognized and accepted cooperative purchasing agreements
BILL VETOED:
S-86/A-3629 (A.R. Bucco, Sweeney/A.M. Bucco, Rible, Singleton, Caride, Moriarty, Schepisi, Wimberly) – CONDITIONAL – Establishes Class Three special law enforcement officers to provide security in public and nonpublic schools and county colleges
