Trenton NJ, according to Michael Lilley in the article New Jersey Public Unions, Ascendant https://www.city-journal.org/html/new-jersey-public-unions-ascendant-15568.html ,
“New Jersey’s public-pension system currently holds less than 38 percent of what the state owes its retirees, which amounts to a $135 billion shortfall. Adding to this unfunded liability, the state also owes retirees $67 billion for future health-care payments, and has set aside no money for that obligation. That’s a combined tab of $202 billion. The entire state budget, by contrast, is $35 billion. To fund its obligations properly, the state would have to put aside $4.8 billion a year, or almost 15 percent of the budget; those costs are expected to grow to $11.3 billion by 2027. Unreformed, the cost of these benefits is unsustainable. During his campaign, Murphy promised to fix the pension system by fully funding it, though he wouldn’t give specifics.”
A very ugly reality for the governor elect , but even uglier for taxpayers is the fact that ,” Murphy’s problem, however, is that his biggest allies, especially the teachers’ union, contributed mightily to the pension mess over the years by winning plush benefits, acquiescing to accounting gimmicks that made the system look well-funded, and fighting against cost-saving reforms. Murphy has already proposed $1.3 billion in new taxes, and without making the changes to the pension system that the unions oppose, the state’s taxpayers face years of additional tax increases and spending cuts to pay the pension bill.”
Lilley goes on , “Murphy’s pledge helped win endorsements from the NJEA and other public-sector unions. By law, public school teachers must join the NJEA or, if they decline, pay a so-called agency fee to the union representing 85 percent of dues. The money is deducted from their paychecks, which are largely funded by local property taxes. Last year, the NJEA took in over $120 million in union dues and agency fees. Since 1994, the union has collected $1.85 billion, and it has invested much of this money in New Jersey politics: since 1994, the NJEA has spent $874 million on political activities, or about 56 percent of its annual operational expenditures, an average of $38 million a year.”
A beholden bought ad paid for politician and a massive pension short fall can mean only one thing ,massive new taxes .
Ridgewood NJ, According to recent filings with the Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC) , the New Jersey Education Association spent about $5.7 million in union dues on the recent general election. It did so through Garden State Forward, a Super PAC (political action committee) that the teachers union founded four years ago.
The amount spent was almost seven times more than the NJEA spent from voluntary donations to its regular PAC. NJEA communications director Steve Baker confirmed that all the roughly $5.7 million came from membership dues. Many NJEA members erroneously believe teachers union spent only funds from voluntary donations on recent political battles .
Ridgewood NJ, everyone in the Village remembers the contract talks for teachers salaries. Over the years there have been threats to strike , non signing of recommendation letters and so on, but this takes the cake yesterday the Star-Ledger reported the NJEA president Ed Richardson is making $1.2 million in salary and benefits .
Once again New Jersey taxpayers are sucker punched and teachers are forced to cough up almost $1000 in union dues for Richardson and his buddies at the top to play around with. Property taxes go higher and people vote with their feet.
Only in a state like New Jersey can an organization like NJEA continue to exist unfettered without ever having to answer to anyone about its unfettered power and intimidation.
Ridgewood NJ, Teaching can be a profoundly rewarding career, considering the critical role educators play in shaping young minds. But many teachers find themselves overworked and underpaid. Historically education jobs are among the lowest-paying occupations requiring a bachelor’s degree, and teacher salaries consistently fail to keep up with inflation. Meanwhile, the law demands better student performance, but some critics argue that it deprives educators of guidance and positive incentive to improve their own effectiveness in the classroom.
This combination of job pressures, low pay and lack of mobility forces many teachers to quit soon after they start, a pattern that has led to a perpetual attrition problem in America’s public schools. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, about a fifth of all newly minted public-school teachers leave their positions before the end of their first year, and nearly half never last more than five. Many teachers, especially novices, transfer to other schools or abandon the profession altogether “as the result of feeling overwhelmed, ineffective, and unsupported,” according to ASCD, a nonprofit focused on improving the education community.
In some states, however, teachers are more fairly paid and treated than in others and therefore less likely to face a revolving door of teacher turnover. To help America’s educators find the best opportunities and teaching environments, WalletHub’s analysts compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia based on 21 key indicators of teacher-friendliness. Our data set ranges from teachers’ income growth potential to pupil-teacher ratio to teacher safety. Read on for our findings, expert insight from a panel of researchers and a full description of our methodology.
WalletHub ranked states that are most conducive to be a teacher , New Jersey placed second . The top 5 were New York, New Jersey, Illinois , Connecticut, Pennsylvania.
The teachers union faults the Senate president for his stand on public-employee pensions and school funding — and they want to make him pay.
What has 200,000 members, a deep-pocketed super PAC, and one of the most powerful presences in all New Jersey politics?
It’s the New Jersey Education Association, and it’s not to be trifled with.
That’s the apparent message being conveyed by the relevant-as-ever group this election season, as it continues to wield its influence in several state and local races following a hard-fought primary and ahead of a November general election. Through special-interest spending and public endorsements, the group has sought to advance its agenda by aligning itself with both Republicans and Democrats, ultimately making itself known in nearly every corner of the state.
The organization has issued endorsements in 37 out of 40 legislative districts, including one for Democrat Phil Murphy in the state’s high-profile gubernatorial election.
Ridgewood NJ, New Jersey Department of Education Teacher Evaluations for Ridgewood Schools.
New Jersey Teacher Evaluations 2015-2016
The database shows the number of teachers at each school who were rated ineffective, partially effective, effective and highly effective under the state’s teacher evaluation system. The state did not name the teachers or release their individual evaluations to protect their privacy.
Ridgewood High School 89 Effective 45 Highly Effective 134 total rated Benjamin Franklin 36 Effective 20 Highly Effective 56 total rated George Washington 36 Effective 19 Highly Effective 55 total rated Hawes 11Effective 18 Highly Effective 29 total rated Ridge 25 Effective 9 Highly Effective 34 total rated Somerville 19Effective 13 Highly Effective 32 total rated Travell 10 Effective16 Highly Effective 26 total rated Orchard 18Effective 6 Highly Effective 24 total rated Willard 29Effective 4 Highly Effective 33 total rated
Expanding Educational Opportunities For Children And Families
August 29,2017
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Trenton NJ, Governor Christie has improved the authorizing and application process, encouraged more charter school applicants, created greater flexibility with administration and finances, and allowed districts to convert failing public schools into charters. The Christie Administration has increased the overall number of charter schools in New Jersey to 89 in the current fiscal year, while relentlessly focusing on quality and holding all schools accountable for results as 21 low-performing charter schools have closed during the past eight years.
The Host District Support Aid funding category created in fiscal year 2017 continued in fiscal year 2018, and ensured the base per pupil funding provided to charter schools is not less than the prior year base per pupil funding. In addition, the Interdistrict Public School Choice Program is increasing educational opportunities for students and their families by providing students with the option of attending a public school outside their district of residence without cost to their parents.
The Fiscal Year 2018 budget is projected to support more than 52,000 charter school students and more than 5,000 choice students in 129 choice districts in the 2017-18 school year.
Governor Christie continues to support educational options for our children by providing over $51 million for Charter School Aid in fiscal year 2018. This funding supports over 52,000 students projected to be in our charter schools in FY2018. This is in addition to the tens of millions of dollars in State Aid that flow through the districts to charter schools. In certain districts, like Newark and Camden, charter and renaissance schools are educating more than 1 out of every 4 of the public school population.
Easing The Regulatory Burden Facing Charter Schools
In 2016, Governor Christie announced a series of reforms at the 8th annual New Jersey Charter Schools Conference born from input received through meetings with charter school leaders in the fall of 2015. The New Jersey State Board adopted these reforms in 2017. Among the reforms adopted were:
• The state will allow single-gender charter schools that meet appropriate criteria and single-purpose charter schools for educationally disadvantaged students, such as a school serving over-age, under-credited students who, because of life circumstances, are unable to graduate in four years.
• Charter renewal will be expedited for schools with a track record of high academic performance and no fiscal or organizational issues. Charter schools that do not meet fiscal management/ compliance standards or present concerns regarding their fiscal viability will remain subject to deeper review.
• Weighted lotteries will be expanded by adding language explicitly allowing weighted lotteries for educationally disadvantaged students. Redundancies will be reduced by removing the requirement that charters send corrective action plans to the Executive County Superintendent as they already are submitted to the DOE Charter Office.
• The funding monitoring requirement will be relaxed since it has become unnecessary because of the new charter performance system. DOE will continue to monitor if charter schools are adequately allocating funds to impact what is happening in the classroom. And, cash fund procedures, which are difficult to navigate, will be updated and simplified.
• Districts will be required to report to DOE, on a rolling basis, any closed, unused or unoccupied school facility available for lease that would be posted online in order to facilitate cooperation between districts and charter schools.
• Satellite campus regulations will be redefined to allow charter schools to operate on multiple campuses within their approved district or region of residence. The requirement that charter leases cannot exceed the length of the charter – a barrier to obtaining financing – will be removed.
• New regulations will clarify renovations, expansion and reconstruction exemptions from the Charter School Act’s restriction on construction with State of local funds.
• The Christie Administration approved the expansion of several of the state’s highest performing charter schools.
• In March, 20 charter schools were approved to expand to provide more than 5,000 additional seats in high performing schools in the coming years.
• According to an independent report by The Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO), “Compared to the educational gains that charter students would have had in a traditional public school (TPS), the analysis shows that students in New Jersey charter schools on average make larger learning gains in both reading and mathematics:
In Newark: “When we investigate the learning impacts of Newark charter schools separately, we find that their results are larger in reading and math than the overall state results.”
“On average, charter students in New Jersey gain an additional two months of learning in reading over their TPS counterparts. In math, the advantage for charter students is about three months of additional learning in one school year. Charter students in Newark gain an additional seven and a half months in reading and nine months in math.”
Among Black Students: “Black students enrolled in charter schools show significantly better performance in reading and math compared to Black students in TPS.”
Among Hispanic Students: “In both math and reading, Hispanic students in charter schools perform significantly better than Hispanic students in TPS.”
• According to a 2015 independent report on Urban Charter Schools by The Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO), students enrolled in charter schools in Newark, on average, make statistically significantly greater gains in both reading and math compared to their counterparts enrolled in Newark’s traditional public schools. While, in Newark, charter schools on average are doing a better job of closing achievement gaps than are traditional public schools.
K-8 Schools:
From 2009 to 2014, charter schools serving K-8 students improved 6 percentage points in Language Arts Literacy and 15 percentage points in Mathematics, in the aggregate, on the NJASK.
Based on NJASK data in 2014, 64 out of 74 charter schools outperformed their comparative districts in language arts literacy.
Based on NJASK data in 2014, 64 out of 74 charter schools outperformed their comparative districts in mathematics.
° High Schools:
From 2009 to 2014, charter schools serving high school students improved 17 percentage points in both Language Arts Literacy and Mathematics, in the aggregate, on the ‘Banked’ HSPA.
Based on HSPA data, in 2014, 15 out of 15 charter schools outperformed their comparative districts in language arts literacy.
Based on HSPA data, in 2014, 12 out of 15 charter schools outperformed their comparative districts in mathematics.
Across all charter schools in 2014, the graduation rate was 90% compared to a state-wide graduation rate of 89.
• 2016 Charter Schools PARCC Data
Charter schools continue to outperform their district counterparts. In the elementary grades 3-5, 63 percent of charters outperformed the average across their district elementary schools in Math and 84 percent did so in ELA. In the middle school grades 6-8, 84 percent of charter schools outperformed their district middle school average in Math and 89 percent did so in ELA.
Charter schools serving grades 6-8 showed impressive gains in academic performance, as measured by median School Growth Percentiles (mSGPs). Almost half of all charters serving grades 6-8 achieved growth scores that are better than those of two-thirds of all public schools serving grades 6-8 in the state.
• Newark Charter Schools PARCC Performance
Charter schools in Newark are effectively accelerating student learning: in a district typically underperforming statewide achievement results, for two consecutive years students in grades 3-8 in Newark charter schools have met or exceeded expectations on PARCC assessments at the same rate as their peers around the state. For example, in 2015-16, the last year with available data, 51 percent of students in grades 3-8 in Newark charter schools met or exceeded expectations on a PARCC assessment in ELA compared to 50 percent of students in grades 3-8 across the state. In the same year, the percent of students in grades 3-8 who met or exceeded expectations on a PARCC assessment in math was 43 percent for Newark charter school students compared to 43 percent statewide.
Charter schools in Newark are effectively accelerating student learning for traditionally underserved subgroups: Students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds and minority students enrolled in grades 3-8 in Newark charter schools are meeting or exceeding expectations on PARCC assessments at a greater rate than their counterparts across the state. For example, in 2015-16, 63 percent of Hispanic students enrolled in grades 3-8 in Newark charter schools met or exceeded expectations on a PARCC assessment in ELA compared to 36 percent of Hispanic students statewide.
Newark charter schools have virtually eliminated the achievement gap for economically disadvantaged students. In 2015-16, statewide proficiency rates for students eligible for free or reduced price lunch trailed those for non-eligible students by 30 percentage points in both ELA and math. Those gaps shrinks to 3 and 2 percentage points, respectively, in Newark charter schools.
• Since taking office, state funding to support the local share of funding for students transferring out-of-district to approved school choice districts has increased by over $40 million.
• School choice funding has increased commensurately, and has surpassed $55 million in fiscal year 2018.
• Announced pilot educational program between Harlem Children’s Zone and City of Paterson.
Improving Oversight
The Christie Administration has worked to improve accountability for charter schools by instituting an oversight program that sets clear expectations for charter school performance and serves as the basis for school evaluation, monitoring, and intervention.
The Performance Framework sets the academic, organizational and fiscal standards by which all New Jersey public charter schools are evaluated, informing officials about school performance and sustainability.
NJDOE officials expanded the rigorous standards and metrics by which each and every public charter school is evaluated. This enabled NJDOE officials to take multiple factors into account when evaluating public charter schools across the state.
New Jersey has the highest property taxes in the nation, a crushing burden to middle-class families and indisputably the top concern of voters.
It’s a problem that can’t be solved until we contain the salaries and benefits of public workers. That is not a liberal view, or a conservative view. It is about the math. And it’s up to the next governor to face it.
The first test is coming soon, when a law setting a 2 percent cap on salary increases for police and firefighters in arbitration settlements is set to expire in December. The Republican candidate, Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, wants to renew the cap. But the front-runner, Democrat Phil Murphy, is keeping his options open.
Ridgewood NJ, Assemblywomen Holly Schepisi took issues with NJEA endorsements yesterday and took to Facebook to make her displeasure known .
Schepisi said,“I find it fascinating that the NJEA, an organization funded primarily by female members, did not endorse one female incumbent Republican in the entire legislature. For my friends and constituents who are teachers, I have always supported teachers and I always will regardless of endorsements received or not received. I am a proud product of a public school education and the first female in my family to graduate with a college degree. I am the only female legislator currently representing any portion of Bergen County with children attending public schools. Volunteering as “teacher for the day” in many of our area schools has helped me to understand the challenges and rewards of teaching. So today I thank all of our teachers for their services provided to our children.”
In the eight years the governor has headed up state government, charter school enrollment has more than doubled
When Gov. Chris Christie leaves office in six months, one of his clear legacies will be the growth of charter schools in New Jersey, with school enrollment more than doubling in his eight years in office.
Yesterday, his administration finished the job, announcing the final approval of five more schools to open this fall. That brings to 89 the number of charters that will be open when Christie steps down in January.
That number isn’t that big an increase from the 70 in place in 2010 at the start of Christie’s tenure, a number that jumped to over 90 in his first year. But his administration ultimately closed nearly 20 charter schools as well.
Hours after Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto and Senate President Steve Sweeney announced a deal to revamp New Jersey’s school funding formula, the state’s largest teachers union called it a “senseless and cruel” way to punish some students.
The leaders of the New Jersey Education Association issued statements Wednesday night blasting the deal unveiled by Prieto (D-Hudson) and Sweeney (D-Gloucester), who had sparred for months over their competing school funding proposals.
New Jersey’s largest teachers union has endorsed the Republican candidate challenging Senate President Steve Sweeney, the top elected Democrat in state government.
The New Jersey Education Association’s political action committee voted unanimously on Friday to endorse Fran Grenier, the chairman of the Salem County Republican Party, for the state Senate seat in the 3rd District.
Updated on May 29, 2017 at 1:53 PMPosted on May 29, 2017 at 11:02 AM
BY TERRENCE T. MCDONALD
The Jersey Journal
A lawsuit between a conservative group and the Jersey City teachers union will proceed after a judge denied the union’s bid to dismiss the suit on Friday.
The legal spat focuses on “release time,” a provision in the union’s contract with the public-school district that allows two top union officials to devote all of their time to union activities while getting paid by the district.
Judge Barry Sarkisian dismissed the Jersey City Education Association’s efforts to derail the lawsuit during a roughly 30-minute hearing on Friday morning.
JCEA President Ron Greco declined to comment. Greco is one of the two officials permitted to work full time for the union. The JCEA has argued that freeing Greco of his teaching duties allows him to resolve “potentially disruptive disputes” between the 28,000-student district and its staff.
As New Jersey schools draw up their annual budgets, some are finding that revenues aren’t enough to support all their needs. As a result, a few are contemplating or have approved laying off teachers and other staff for the 2017-2018 school year.
Here are the districts who are facing those cuts, listed by those who are planning to lay off the fewest staff members to the districts that are facing the most severe cuts.
Trenton NJ , A group of Newark parents yesterday filed a formal request to appeal a trial court judge’s dismissal earlier this month of their lawsuit challenging the state’s “last in, first out” teacher layoff law. Filed last November, the parents’ lawsuit asserts that the LIFO statute violates students’ right to an education by unjustly requiring school districts to retain ineffective teachers while cutting other areas of education spending or laying off more effective teachers when faced with funding deficits.
Defendants from Newark Public Schools (NPS) and the State of New Jersey did not move to dismiss the case. Instead, NPS admitted nearly every allegation made about the impact of New Jersey’s LIFO law on children within NPS. The motions to dismiss the case granted earlier this month were raised by intervening defendants from local and national teachers unions, including the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA), and the Newark Teachers Union (NTU).
If the parents’ request for appeal is granted, arguments from the Newark families and the teachers unions will be reviewed by a panel of four judges from the Appellate Division of New Jersey Superior Court.
“Public schools are here to educate our children, first and foremost,” said Wendy Soto, plaintiff and mother of two Newark Public School students. “Everyone knows that many New Jersey school districts are in a serious funding crisis. Politicians have not protected our children’s right to a quality public education, and parents like me have nowhere to turn. The quality-blind LIFO law makes a difficult situation even worse for students in struggling schools. Enough is enough. It’s time to end this ridiculous law.”
“New Jersey’s LIFO law forces school districts like Newark to retain ineffective teachers and, in fact, put them back in the classroom while cutting spending to other critical areas of public education. Students are constitutionally entitled to more than this,” said Kathleen Reilly, attorney with Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer, one of the firms representing the Newark parents pro bono. “These decisions – made to evade application of the LIFO law – harm children. The negative impact of LIFO is pervasive today in Newark public schools and these families deserve to have their case heard in court.”
Since at least 2012, NPS has avoided laying off effective teachers by paying millions of dollars per year to cover the salaries of ineffective – but more senior – teachers even when no school would agree to their placement in the school. This expensive work-around, which is costing the district $10 million dollars in 2016-17, diverts valuable resources from educational programming and other critical components of an adequate public education. Because NPS employs more than half of the state’s ineffective teachers, it also puts Newark students at significant risk of being assigned to an ineffective teacher.
After it was announced that New Jersey State education funding would remain essentially flat for the 2017-18 school year, NPS acknowledged a looming $30 million deficit because of rising costs. Facing similar budget gaps over the past three years, NPS administrators restricted hiring practices, forcing teachers previously without placement into schools without mutual consent from the teacher and the principal. Research shows that teacher quality is the most influential in-school factor when it comes to student learning. It also shows that student achievement improves when principals are allowed to hire school staff according to quality and fit, rather than restricted by seniority.
To learn more about the parent-led lawsuit to end LIFO in New Jersey, please go to edjustice.org/nj. All legal filings related to the lawsuit are available online here.
About Partnership for Educational Justice (PEJ)
Founded in 2014, Partnership for Educational Justice is a nonprofit organization pursuing impact litigation that empowers families and communities to advocate for great public schools through the courts. In addition to supporting teacher layoff litigation in New Jersey, PEJ is currently working with parents and students in New York and Minnesota in support of legal challenges to unjust teacher employment statutes in those states.
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