Our Children/Our Schools
A newsletter about New Jersey school funding and reform
       March 2007 - Issue 8
In This Issue
Internet Resources

The Garden State is a national leader in school funding equity. Yet not all New Jersey children have adequate funding or access to high quality preschool, safe facilities and other initiatives. And the State still relies too heavily on local property taxes.

Our Children/Our Schools seeks to inform the public debate on these important issues.

OC/OS Questions "Reorganization" of NJDOE
Despite public objections and the state legislature's call for an independent review of the NJ Department of Education, Commissioner Lucille Davy pushed through a reorganization of the DOE at a March 7 meeting of the NJ State Board of Education. The "reorganization"abolishes the separate Abbott Division and replaces it with an "Office of Abbott Implementation" under a newly formed "Division of District and School Improvement."
Cost Study Bill Offers Good Starting Point
Hearings will be held on March 12 on new legislation in the NJ State Assembly directing an independent study of education costs designed to correct problems with the study performed by the NJ Department of Education in 2003. The study would provide a sound basis for developing a new school funding formula.
Governor's Budget Raises School Aid ... and Many Questions
Governor Jon Corzine's FY08 state budget includes a proposed across-the-board 3% increase in aid for all school districts and a targeted increase to expand supplemental programs in low-income districts with high concentrations of special needs students. But the proposed budget also raises many questions about how the new funds can be used, and about funding for Court-mandated Abbott programs.
Students Research Secondary Issues
Student research teams have been formed at two high schools implementing the Abbott Secondary Education Initiative in an effort to include students' concerns as part of the reform effort. The projects at Jersey City's Snyder HS and at Orange HS are modeled on a growing national movement of participatory youth research that engages high school students in studying and organizing around issues of schooling in urban America.
News Round-Up
Fulfilling the promise of Abbott
What do audits of Paterson, other districts really reveal?
DOE Releases 2007-08 State Aid Figures
Abbott Test Scores Holding Steady, Several Districts Forging Ahead
Governor Corzine's Budget address
Upcoming Events
March 12: Assembly Hearings on "Costing-Out" Legislation, Trenton
March 19: PEI/ELC Forum: "Costing Out an Adequate Education in NJ: Where Do We Go from Here?"
March 30-31: Annual Conference of the Statewide Parent Advocacy Network "Powerful Tools for Building Bridges to our Children's Futures"
April 5: "Strengthening the Camden Public Schools," a community forum sponsored by the ELC-Camden Initiative, the Camden Education Association, and the NJEA, Brimm Medical Arts High School
April 18: ETS/PEI Seminar: America's Perfect Storm: Three Forces Changing Our Nation's Future, New Jersey's Challenge
May 16: Kids in Concert, annual benefit for ELC, 7:30 PM, State Theatre, New Brunswick, NJ

"At its core, a constitutionally adequate education is one that will prepare public school children for a meaningful role in society, enable them to compete effectively in the economy and contribute and participate as citizens and members of their communities."

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