NJEA rep slams Hespe testimony on PARCC exams, calls it ‘frustrating’
TRENTON — Leaders of New Jersey’s largest teachers union weren’t convinced by Department of Education Commissioner David Hespe’s testimony on PARCC exams in front of the Senate Education Committee this morning.
In fact, they’ve still got “real concerns” about the test’s roll out. (Brush/PolitickerNJ)
While Democrats look to stamp out Free Speech , Christie and Teachers Union agree to Historic Pension Reforms
Christie lays out $33.8B budget; wants to make public pensions more similar to those in private sector
FEBRUARY 24, 2015, 1:00 PM LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2015, 10:42 PM
BY MELISSA HAYES AND DUSTIN RACIOPPI
STATE HO– USE BUREAU |
THE RECORD
Pitching what he said could become a “national model,” Governor Christie used his budget speech Tuesday to speak almost exclusively about pension reform, returning to the issue that won him national acclaim and one that sets up fights with unions and Democrats that control the Legislature.
The governor’s reforms – a sweeping package of pension freezes, new union-controlled benefit plans and health care changes — would need approval from lawmakers and from voters who would be asked to rewrite the state constitution. And it is unclear how long the changes would take to enact, how much taxpayers would save and what it would ultimately mean for the more than 400,000 active public workers — including teachers, police, firefighters, and state and local employees — earning pensions and benefits.
Christie delivered his budget address before the full Legislature.
“I am here today to ask you to do what may be politically difficult, but what is morally the right thing to do,” Christie said. “This is the type of leadership our state requires.”
Christie’s team began the morning with a 15-second social-media video publicizing the address and touting his plan as having the backing of the New Jersey Education Association, the powerful union that spent millions against him and opposed initial pension changes he signed into law in 2011. By Tuesday afternoon, the union’s leaders blasted the announcement of a partnership, calling it “embellished” and “overstated,” and saying enacting such reforms would be a lengthy and complex process.
Republican Leaders praise Christie’s pension ‘roadmap’
TRENTON — Two of Trenton’s top Republican leaders applauded Gov. Chris Christie’s commitment to fixing an ailing pension and benefit system moments after the executive delivered his latest budget address during a joint legislative session on the Assembly floor here today. (Brush/PolitickerNJ)
Christie focuses budget address on pension system
It was a rousing welcome but an unusual budget speech. (Aron/NJTV)
https://www.njtvonline.org/
Stile: Teachers union unlikely partner in Christie’s pension overhaul
Governor Christie sold it as one of the biggest political coups of recent New Jersey history — a plan to dramatically restructure New Jersey’s public-employee pension system with a new and very improbable partner, the New Jersey Education Association. (Stile/The Bergen Record)
Education Commissioner David Hespe
N.J. limits its school choice program
FEBRUARY 1, 2015, 10:45 PM LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2015, 10:46 PM
BY HANNAN ADELY
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
In an effort to cut down on rising costs, the state is capping a program that allows students to attend schools outside their own district at no extra cost, limiting some Bergen and Passaic schools to just a handful of open spots for the coming school year.
“It’s fiscally unsustainable,” state Education Commissioner David Hespe said in an interview. “The program has increased fivefold. The cost has increased fivefold.”
The education commissioner is also considering preventing additional students from high-performing schools, which would include many in Bergen County, from participating. The program was meant to give students access to better schools, but many of the students who took advantage already had good schools in their hometown, Hespe said.
State officials say they need to stop the Interdistrict Public School Choice Program’s growth because it has ballooned to about 5,000 students at a cost of $50 million a year. But supporters of the program say the decision to cap it seems to contradict the Christie administration’s stated policy of creating more taxpayer-financed options for students who don’t want to attend struggling local schools.
https://www.northjersey.com/news/n-j-limits-its-school-choice-program-1.1262801
How did Camden, N.J. come to have one of the highest spending AND worst performing school districts in the nation?
The recent history of Camden, New Jersey, which is the poorest small city in America, provides a case study of the tragic ineffectiveness of government programs at ameliorating poverty. State and federal taxpayers have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on various redevelopment programs in Camden over the years, but the money never ended up where it was supposed to and the promised revival of this fallen manufacturing town never happened.
By far, the largest initiative to combat poverty with government largess has been directed at Camden’s public schools. New Jersey spends about 60% more on education per pupil than the national average according to 2012 census figures, or about $19,000 in 2013. In Camden, per pupil spending was more than $25,000 in 2013, making it one of the highest spending districts in the nation.
But all that extra money hasn’t changed the fact that Camden’s public schools are among in the worst in the nation, notorious for their abysmal test scores, the frequent occurrence of in-school violence, dilapidated buildings, and an on-time graduation rate of just 61 percent.
This is the story of how Camden became one of the nation’s best funded and worst performing school districts, which is the first in a three-part video series on Camden public school system.
New figures break down New Jersey’s school costs by district
MAY 9, 2014, 6:06 PM LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, MAY 9, 2014, 6:31 PM
BY HANNAN ADELY
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD
New Jersey districts spent an average of $18,891 per pupil in 2012-13, up 4.8 percent from the year before, according to figures released Friday by the state Department of Education.
By the Numbers:
Spending per pupil by school district in the counties of Bergen and Passaic in 2012-13
Top 10
Bergen County Special Service$93,953
Bergen County Vocational $33,685
Moonachie$28,733
Alpine $27,459
Carlstadt-East Rutherford$25,994
Passaic County Vocational$25,003
Hackensack$24,046
Teaneck$24,019
Saddle Brook$23,708
Pascack Valley Regional$23,472
Bottom 10
Prospect Park$15,237
Hasbrouck Heights$15,127
River Edge$15,076
Little Ferry$14,916
John P. Holland Charter$14,815
Elmwood Park$14,543
Fairview$14,030
Bergen Arts & Science Charter$13,822
Passaic Arts & Science Charter$12,288
Classical Academy Charter$8,440
Among regular districts in the counties of Bergen and Passaic, total per-pupil spending ranged from a high of $28,733 in Moonachie to $14,030 in Fairview.
Three charter school districts had the least spending per student, including the Classical Academy Charter School which spent $8,440 per student and the Passaic Arts and Science Charter School, which spent $12,288. Spending is lower in part because charter schools receive no facilities aid.
The Bergen County Special Services district, which serves severely disabled children, spends $93,953.
Of the 103 regular and charter districts in Bergen and Passaic, 19 saw their per pupil costs drop, while figures rose in the other 84.
The Taxpayers’ Guide to Education Spending can be found at here https://www.state.nj.us/education/guide/2014/
– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/new-figures-break-down-new-jersey-s-school-costs-by-district-1.1013410#sthash.AwZBgaDz.dpuf
Teachers, Administrators Give Mixed Reviews to New Evaluations after Test Run
But survey of educators who took part in tryout of new system shows most not worried about impact on jobs, tenure.
For all the debate going on outside classroom walls, New Jersey schoolteachers who actually have been through the new state-mandated evaluation system have not found it to be as nerve-wracking as everyone thinks.
In a survey conducted by a team of Rutgers researchers, teachers and administrators who took part in the two-year pilot rollout of the evaluation system had mixed reactions to the new rules and the potential consequences for their careers.
On one hand, there was a wide range of opinion regarding whether the system was entirely fair and accurate, with administrators expressing much more faith than teachers — by a more than 2-to-1 margin.
Nevertheless, three-quarters of teachers surveyed by the Rutgers team said they were not worried that the new evaluations – including those newly tied to student performance — would have a negative impact on their tenure protections.
Even among teachers working to attain tenure, a majority said the new metrics would have little impact or might actually help them more than hurt in keeping their jobs. There were some pockets of anxiety over job security, to be sure, but the Rutgers researchers said it was not widespread – at least not yet. (Mooney/NJSpotlight)
State Teachers Union Shatters Records for Political Spending
Total of nearly $20 million in political expenditures by NJEA and its PACs far exceeds lobbying budget for any other special-interest group.
The New Jersey Education Association finished 2013 with its biggest tab yet for lobbying and political spending – in fact, the amount far exceeded spending by any other individual lobbying organization in the state.
The teachers union, representing nearly 200,000 teachers and school staff statewide, spent more than $3 million on lobbying efforts last year, according to the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission.
Adding in record spending by its PAC and super PAC brings the union’s estimated total to more than $19.5 million spent in 2013, according to ELEC. (Mooney/NJSpotlight)
