Funding Alert

The Our Children/Our Schools Campaign will hold an Abbott Mobilization Summit devoted to the theme: "Extending the Promise of Abbott to All of NJ’s Children" on January 27. The summit will be held from 9am to 3pm at Passaic County Community College, One College Boulevard, Paterson, NJ and be hosted by the Paterson Education Fund. (To register, download the Summit Flyer

or call 973-881-8914.) The summit is designed to build support for a new school funding formula that will preserve and sustain the equity commitments of the New Jersey Supreme Court’s landmark Abbott decisions, and extend them to all children in the state. The conference is a rare opportunity for urban and suburban policymakers, parents, students, school administrators, educators, community leaders, taxpayers, and activists to meet one another, discuss the issues, and work together.

Workshops will include: School Funding Basics, Expanding Pre-school, Building More Schools, How to Talk So People Will Listen, My Child Needs Supplemental Services, Understanding Abbott, and Meeting Special Needs. Workshop presenters/facilitators will include staff members of the Association for Children of New Jersey, Education Law Center (Camden and Newark), Hispanic Directors Association of New Jersey, La Casa de Don Pedro, Statewide Education Organizing Committee, and Statewide Parent Advocacy Network of New Jersey. New Jersey Schools Construction Corporation Chief Executive Officer, Scott Weiner and New Jersey Department of Education Assistant Commissioner for Abbott Implementation Gordon MacInnes have been invited to appear on the school facilities panel. The conference will be fully bilingual with workshops and presentations in English and Spanish and other translation available upon request.

The morning session features a panel discussion among a distinguished panel of legislators including members of the New Jersey State Senate and Assembly Education Committees and the Joint Committee on Public School Funding Reform. Invited legislators include Former Governor Richard Codey, Senator John Adler, and Members of the Assembly Herbert Conaway, Joseph Cryan, Nellie Pou, Joseph Roberts, Brian Stack, Craig Stanley, and Joseph Vas.

At the end of the day, all summit attendees will help develop an action agenda to move New Jersey forward toward better public schools for all children.