On March 19 more than 100 people attended a forum co-sponsored by OC/OS and the Public Education Institute at Rutgers Busch campus. The forum addressed different approaches to Costing Out an Adequate Education in New Jersey.

A panel of school finance experts and education advocates discussed where we are and where we need to go in developing a new school funding formula that provides a high quality education to all NJ children. The presentations covered the legal and political history of school funding in NJ and many of the procedural and technical issues involved in developing a formula.

Panelists included Margaret Goertz, Ph.D., Co-Director, Consortium for Policy Research in Education, University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education, Jerome Harris, New Jersey Black Issues Convention, William Mathis, Ph.D., Adjunct Professor of School Finance, University of Vermont; Superintendent of Schools, Rutland Northeast Supervisory Union in Brandon, Vermont, Ernest Reock, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, Rutgers University Center for Government Studies, Edward J. Bloustein School of Public Planning and Public Policy and David Sciarra, Esq. Executive Director, Education Law Center. The program was moderated by Fred Frelow, Ed.D, Director, Early College High School Initiative, Woodrow Wilson Foundation.

Education activist, Kathleen Witcher, representing the Education Committee of the NJ NAACP also spoke at the Forum about the importance of Abbott supplemental programs in sustaining successful school programs. Her remarks are available here.

Prepared: May 8, 2007