Governor Chris Christie held a Town Hall meeting in Garfield, Bergen County this morning. Two video’s released by his office follow.
In the first video, Christie describes how he’s raring for for the fight with the legislature over the State budget that he expects over the next 60 days and appeals to the crowd for support.
In the second video, Peter, a student asked the governor for advice on how to handle a situation where someone is authority is bullying him. Christie responds as a father and as governor. Peter follows up asking Christie for a note excusing him for missing school.
Middletown— State Senator Joe Kyrillos (R- Monmouth), prime sponsor of the “School Children First Act” which reforms New Jersey’s tenure system for educators, issued the following statement regarding reports that several Cherry Hill elementary school teachers and aides were recorded bullying a student with autism:
While at least one teacher’s aide was dismissed by school officials, the father of this student alleges, and news accounts confirm, that other teachers and aides involved were simply reassigned.
If true, the incident is an indictment of our current system of tenure protections in public education.
There is no instance in which it is acceptable for a teacher to bully or abuse a student in that manner, nor when a witness to such behavior should not report their colleagues’ misconduct to school administrators.
Nobody directly involved with the abuse of Akian Chaifetz, or who witnessed the abuse without reporting it, should be employed in a classroom. We need to reform protections to ensure that these individuals can be swiftly terminated, rather than just shuffled around.
By Tommy DeSeno, also published in the April 12, 2012 edition of the triCityNews
We were warned in 1965 but failed to listen. In that year Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, one of the most respected Democrats to ever live, issued a report to the Department of Labor that has become known as “The Moynihan Report.” It was entitled “The Negro Family: The Case for National Action.”
Brevity requires me to get right to the paper’s thesis, simply stated therein:
The fundamental problem, in which this is most clearly the case, is that of family structure. The evidence – not final, but powerfully persuasive – is that the Negro family in the urban ghettos is crumbling. A middle class group has managed to save itself, but for vast numbers of the unskilled, poorly educated city working class the fabric of conventional social relationships has all but disintegrated.
Deteriorating “family structure” is the problem. What specifically is Moynihan referring to? The absence of a father in the Black household:
In essence, the Negro community has been forced into a matriarchal structure which, because it is out of line with the rest the American society, seriously retards the progress of the group as a whole, and imposes a crushing burden on the Negro male and, in consequence, on a great many Negro women as well.
It has to be acknowledged that the ideal situation to live in, giving the most likely chance for success of a family, is the traditional nuclear family with a father and mother supporting one another in the household. As Moynihan points out, that isn’t a knock on other matriarchal societies. However, when a majority in a nation is not matriarchal, and the minority is, that is devastating, even emasculating, to the male minority.
It is recognized that human situations won’t allow all to grow up in a nuclear family. Also, since we are talking about a sample of 300 million people in America, you will be able to find some examples of children from single mother households who have done better than children from nuclear families. That, however, is highlighting the exception while hiding the rule.
Statistics, as pointed out in The Moynihan report, reveal that the nuclear Black family with both parents in the household see their children grow up on average with higher IQs, less crime and more financial success than their single mother counterparts.
The report notes:
The role of the family in shaping character and ability is so pervasive as to be easily overlooked. The family is the basic social unit of American life; it is the basic socializing unit. By and large, adult conduct in society is learned as a child.
What role should young boys learn from their fathers? The Moynihan Report quotes cultural anthropologist Margaret Mead:
“In every known human society, everywhere in the world, the young male learns that when he grows up one of the things which he must do in order to be a full member of society is to provide food for some female and her young.”
Moynihan adds to that: This pattern is not immutable, however: it can be broken, even though it has always eventually reasserted itself Replicas Inflatable Cemento.
It couldn’t be clearer that the pattern among poor blacks has been toward households empty of fathers. Unfortunately, despite the devastation it can bring to the children, fatherless Black households are growing. Black children are learning more often than not that leaving families behind is an acceptable choice (I acknowledge the growing trend among white fathers today too).
Back in 1965 when the Moynihan Report was written, on average 36% of Black children were living in broken homes at any given moment. That number has risen since then for both whites and non-whites, but today’s numbers for Blacks are alarming: Nationwide 70% of Black children are born into single parent households, while in Asbury Park estimates have been as high as 90%. The poor Black family has continued to disintegrate.
Understand, so there is no mistake, that Moynihan finds no shortcoming of the Black male or female: Genetically, the intelligence potential is distributed for Black infants in the same proportions as Icelanders, Chinese and every other group.
However, when testing Blacks alone, the pattern is clear that Black children from stable families fare far better than those from fatherless homes.
Included in the areas where Blacks from broken homes fall short is crime. Moynihan quotes several sources, including a study that showed 3/4ths – or twice the expected ratio – of Philadelphia’s Black juvenile delinquents came from one parent households.
Moynihan was careful to note the outside pressures on the Black male, including segregation, alienation and prejudice in obtaining employment. His point, however, is that the Black child from a stable family is given the emotional support to deal with it, while the child of the single parent family is often left with a hopelessness and quitting attitude based upon the actions of his absent father.
The shooting of young people in Asbury Park is not occurring to middle class children with stable homes. This behavior was presciently predicted by Moynihan.
So who is to blame for Asbury Park’s fatherless homes and children shooting each other? I have narrowed it down to 35 people here in the City. In the next issue of triCityNews, I will name names and tell you who is at fault.
A Quinnipiac University Poll released this morning indicates that New Jersey voters support same sex marriage by a 57%-37% margin. By 67%-28% respondents said they support Governor Christie’s proposal the issue be decided via referendum.
Voters are split, 48%-47%, over whether Christie did the right thing vetoing same sex marriage bill approved by the legislature earlier this year.
“The numbers are all over the lot,” said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, “Voter support for same-sex marriage goes up every time we ask, but about half of them think Christie was right to veto it. By better than 2-1, they like the governor’s proposal for a referendum.”
The numbers seem to be all over the lot on education reform as well.
By 50%-43% voters approve of the way Christie is handling education. 60% think limiting teacher tenure is a good idea and 72% think merit pay for good teachers is a good idea. Yet voters oppose school vouchers by 50%-44% and oppose expanding charter schools by 52%-41%.
New Jersey voters have a positive view of public school teachers, 57%-25% but an unfavorable view of the teachers union, NJEA, by a 46%-31%. Only 42% of union households have a favorable view of the NJEA.
Incorporates Common Sense Measures to Make Every Education Dollar Count
Trenton, NJ – Governor Chris Christie today released aid figures for New Jersey school districts based on the Fiscal Year 2013 Budget proposal which is the largest appropriation of state education dollars in New Jersey history. This includes $7.8 billion in K-12 formula aid, an increase of $135 million over last year and part of $213 million in additional state funding for education over Fiscal Year 2012. The Department of Education also made public the “Education Funding Report,” which outlines a series of common sense measures to make every dollar count and to help close the state’s persistent achievement gap – including turning around failing schools and ensuring that every child has an effective teacher in the classroom.
“Since taking office, one of my greatest priorities has been working to ensure that every child in the state receives a high quality education that will prepare them for the demands of the 21st century,” said Governor Christie. “In addition to increasing overall spending on education to the highest levels in state history, we can and will go further to implement common sense ways that will make every education dollar count. If we truly want to ensure that all students, regardless of zip code, graduate from high school ready for college and career, the money needs to follow the child.”
The Governor’s budget not only increases education aid for the second year in a row, but also pairs common sense changes to the School Funding Reform Act (SFRA) with bold education reforms to make sure resources are used in a way that will close the achievement gap and better serve those children who need them most. These changes were based on the findings of the “Education Funding Report” prepared by Acting Education Commissioner Chris Cerf. The findings of the “Education Funding Report” can be found at http://www.nj.gov/education/stateaid/1213/report.pdf
Making several common sense modifications to the SFRA will finally make it possible to truly fund districts based on the number and needs of students, while at the same time laying out a schedule that adds additional funds in each future year and will fully fund the SFRA over the next five years. This will increase stability and predictability for districts and fund districts based both on the number of students served and the needs of those students.
Common Sense Measures to Make Every Dollar Count:
Bringing New Jersey In Line With Other States and Funding Districts Based on How Many Students are Actually Attending School. Encourage school attendance by basing the enrollment count on actual attendance throughout the year rather than the current law which bases enrollment on a single day (October 15).Basing funding on average daily attendance will incentivize districts to focus on and improve attendance rates leading to more time in the classroom for children.Statewide, among large high schools, a mere one percentage point increase in attendance would result in nearly 4.2 million hours of additional instructional time per year.
Only 10 states in the nation, including New Jersey, use a single-day count to measure student enrollment. 40 others states use more accurate and meaningful measures of student enrollment, including average daily attendance measures or multiple days over the course of the school year.
STATES THAT USE A SINGLE DAY MEASURE FOR STUDENT COUNT METHODS
COLORADO
Single Count
CONNECTICUT
Single Count
IOWA
Single Count
KANSAS
Single Count
MARYLAND
Single Count
MASSCHUSETTS
Single Count
NEVADA
Single Count
NEW JERSEY
Single Count
SOUTH DAKOTA
Single Count
WEST VIRGINIA
Single Count
TOTAL: 10 STATES
Making Adjustment AidTruly Adjustment Aid. Adjustment aid should actually be a tool to help districts that are below adequacy, instead of what it currently is – political currency that provides additional funds to districts regardless of their current enrollment and spending levels. This is a symbol of the old Trenton, when funding decisions were made as political giveaways regardless of the implications. The plan calls for a return to common sense – for districts that are spending above the level of their adequacy budgets, phase out, over five years, adjustment aid by 50% of the amount they are spending over their adequacy budgets.
Rooting Out Fraud and Abuse. The Christie Administration will convene a task force to recommend a new measure for “at-risk” students in place of participation in the Free and Reduced Price Lunch Program, which has shown to be inaccurate and subject to fraud.There will be no change for this year.
Returning to Originally Proposed School Funding Reform Levels. New Jersey is one of the most generous state funders of “at-risk” and Limited English Proficiency (LEP) students in the country.Under the proposal, even when returning to the originally proposed reform levels, New Jersey will still provide funding for these students at some of the highest levels in the country. These levels were recommended after a three year process including multiple panels of experts before they were artificially inflated.
New Jersey Funding as Compared to Other States
At-Risk
LEP
New Jersey (as amended)
42%-46%
47%
Maine
20%
30%-60%
Vermont
25%
20%
Texas
25%
10%
90% of Districts Receiving Additional Aid On A Per Pupil Basis
New Jersey currently ranks 3rd in the country in school expenditures per student, spending more than 60 percent above the national average. Nearly 60 percent of state aid goes to the 31 former Abbott districts, where spending has tripled since 1972. Former Abbott districts now spend $3,200 per pupil more than the state average (excluding the former Abbotts) and $3,100 per pupil more than the state’s wealthiest districts.
With a $135 million increase in K-12 formula aid, an increase of 1.8%, and the proposed modifications to the SFRA funding formula, 90% of districts will receive additional state aid on a per pupil basis this year. On average, state aid is increasing 2.1% or $121 per pupil across the state. Because these measures follow the principle that districts should be funded on the actual number of students they serve, 35 of the 97 districts that will receive less state aid will do so because of an enrollment decrease rather than a decrease in per-pupil aid.
As the following demonstrates, Abbotts receive almost three times the state average in state aid per pupil. Overall, the former Abbott districts are receiving 0.55% less state aid than last year, yet still remain funded at a significantly higher level than non-Abbott districts and the statewide school district average. The overwhelming amount of total per pupil education spending in the former Abbott districts has, and will continue in Fiscal Year 2013, to come from direct state support. Even with formula revisions, state aid will comprise 3 of every 4 dollars spent on education per pupil in the former Abbott districts.
Average Spending Per Pupil in New Jersey:
Statewide Average & All Former Abbott Districts
State Average: $17,836
Non-Abbotts: $17,051
Former Abbotts: $20,859
*Note that this includes all funding sources
Average State Aid Per Pupil
In the Fiscal Year 2013 Budget
State Average: $5,809
Non-Abbotts: $3,223
Former Abbotts: $15,415
*Note that this does not include local or federal contributions, which make up the rest of total per pupil spending in districts.
The past 40 years have demonstrated that just spending more money alone will not close the achievement gap, and that it matters not only “how much” money is spent but “how well” it is spent. Despite funding levels that consistently rate among the highest in the nation on a per pupil basis, New Jersey continues to have one of the largest achievement gaps in the country. Funding alone will not meet New Jersey’s obligation to give a great education to every child. Changing the way money is spent is by far the most important means of actually changing the behavior of schools and the school systems.
New Jersey has the second highest achievement gap in 8th grade reading according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) exam, and the sixth highest achievement gap in 8th grade math. Since 2005, the gaps for economically disadvantaged, African American, and Hispanic students have widened in Language arts literacy on the NJ ASK.
“We have closed the spending gap between Abbotts and non-Abbotts in New Jersey since 1972, but our disadvantaged children are still performing at significantly lower levels than their peers. Closing that gap was the explicit goal of the courts and legislature over the past 40 years, but money alone has not gotten us there. While money certainly matters, there is no evidence that money alone will close the achievement gap,” said Acting Commissioner Chris Cerf. “Over the last 40 years, we’ve talked a lot about equalizing funding, but we need to change the conversation to focus on whether students are learning the same everywhere, rather than simply whether we are spending the same everywhere.”
New Jersey’s current system funds all districts in the same way, regardless of their performance or the reforms they have in place to address persistent achievement problems. In addition to these significant and overdue changes to the funding formula, the “Education Funding Report” proposes a $50 million Innovation Fund to encourage and reward districts to both improve performance and to implement reforms targeted to specific achievement deficiencies. The fund would reward districts that show high growth and strong performance in student achievement, and fund reforms at the local level that are improving performance for students. The Department of Education would monitor the implementation and impact of these reforms, ultimately identifying and bringing the most successful to scale statewide.
In order to have a meaningful and lasting influence on student learning, we need to set new policy priorities, change laws and regulations, alter classroom practices and district contracts, and start pushing a slate of bold reforms that finally move us away from the belief that the funding formula alone will close the achievement gap. Among many others, that includes:
Develop policies that enable districts to recruit, prepare, evaluate, compensate, develop, retain and recognize outstanding educators, and eliminate legal and contractual restrictions that impede schools from assuring a highly effective teacher in every classroom;
Provide educators with the tools they need to be successful by setting high standards for what students should know and be able to do, developing model curriculum to support educators as they teach those standards, and providing real time feedback through formative assessments so teachers can modify their work and differentiate instruction in real time;
Provide rich data reports to identify how well schools are meeting their mission of improving student outcomes, to identify specific areas for improvement, and to trigger differentiated interventions at the State level such as mandated curriculum and human capital practices; and
Intervene in schools that do not create an environment conducive to high-quality teaching and learning by providing support through Regional Achievement Centers, requiring targeted turnaround strategies, and aggressively using existing authority to close or replace schools with new management and teachers if they do not improve within two academic cycles.
Middletown— Senator Joe Kyrillos (R- Monmouth/Middlesex) this weekend reiterated his call for the Legislature to enact reforms to New Jersey’s public education system in the closing weeks of the 2010-2011 legislative session at a roundtable discussion on principal and teacher evaluations at Princeton University.
“New Jersey is a national leader in student achievement,” said Kyrillos, “yet too many students still move through the system without receiving the quality education to which they are entitled. Reforming our public education system will not just make the good schools better, it will help children trapped in failing school districts obtain the education they need to build better lives and futures.”
Senator Kyrillos provided opening remarks to the forum, “Leading the Charge”, hosted by education reform advocates Better Education for Kids, Students First, and Princeton Students for Education Reform. They day’s panel discussions included public school teachers and administrators, representatives of the Department of Education, as well as leaders from the American Federation of Teachers and New Jersey Education Association.
Kyrillos said he is proud to sponsor two bills that are part of Governor Christie’s education reform agenda, the Opportunity Scholarship Act and the School Children First Act. “Quality education starts with an effective teacher in every classroom. That is why it is so important that we modernize teacher evaluations, tenure protections, and pay structure to value student achievement over seniority. In addition, children in chronically failing districts need options to improve the instruction they’re receiving immediately. The Opportunity Scholarship Act will provide these students an opportunity to enter a high quality school setting in the short term while we work to fix the systemic problems that are all too common in certain districts in New Jersey.”
The Asbury Park Board of Education is planning on spending over $1 million on a new astro-turf football field because they have a problem with Canada geese at the existing field. Wednesday night the board awarded a $145,000 contract to an engineering firm to get the bidding documents ready and to supervise the project, according to a report in The Asbury Park Press.
That money would be much better spent using the geese as an educational resource. The Asbury Park Board of Education should to invest in a life skills curriculum. They should teach hunting and cleaning the geese. A culinary program with internships for students at area restaurants would be ideal. Business classes that teach production, packaging, distribution, marketing and sales of fresh and cooked goose would be a real benefit to Asbury Park students.
Such educational programs could produce revenue and lead to additonal educational opportunities for students, like accounting and administration.
There might be health and hygene risks, but they could become educational opportunities too. The risks would be less than the long term orthopedic damage young football players will suffer from playing football on concrete covered with plastic.
