March 6, 2010
By Nyier Abdou
The Star-Ledger

As school districts around the state brace themselves for expected cuts in state aid, acting education Commissioner Bret Schundler brought his tough-on-unions, grim-on-the-economy message to anxious officials at a town hall meeting this morning in Harrison.

Schundler, who is expected to be confirmed in the next legislative session, told about 150 school board members and administrators hosted by the New Jersey School Boards Association at Harrison High School that districts likely will get less state aid next school year.
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Sunday, March 7, 2010
BY REX F. SHAW
The Bergen Record

Rex F. Shaw has been executive director of the Teaneck Community Charter School since 1999. He was an educator in the Newark public school system for 20 years. Send comments about this article to Peter Grad, Op-Ed Page editor, at grad@northjersey.com.

CHARTER EDUCATION. What started out as an alternative to home schooling and resistance to traditional education models by parents across the nation has become a powerful movement for change.
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Gov. Chris Christie has been criticized for cutting spending to close this year’s massive state budget deficit. In truth, it was the only option he had.

If the governor had done nothing, the state would have run out of money before this current fiscal year is over. If the governor had raised taxes, people would have been hurt and an accelerated exodus of jobs and residents from New Jersey would have made our state’s financial problems worse. Cutting spending was the governor’s only option.

What pleases me, as New Jersey’s acting commissioner of education, is that Christie worked so hard to avoid reductions in state aid to New Jersey’s public schools.
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E3 Job Posting

Excellent Education for Everyone (E3), a New Jersey-based non-profit committed to urban education reform and school choice, seeks outstanding talent to fill key organizational role. Projects include policy, judicial, and community organizing initiatives. Ideal candidate will be driven, passionate, detail oriented and multi-disciplined. Superior communications skills a must. Strong technology/social media/research skills required. Knowledge of, and commitment to, education reform a plus. Experience in advocacy/political campaigns helpful. Must work well with broad coalition of stakeholders with varying interests and backgrounds. Must be comfortable with goal driven environment and flexible dealing with sudden developments and changing circumstances/priorities. Reports to Executive Director. Full time staff position w/ benefits. Salary commensurate with experience.

No calls please. Email resumes to work@nje3.org, or fax to 973-273-7222.

February 15, 2010
By Vicki E. Murray
The Asbury Park Press

Gov. Chris Christie has proposed freezing $475 million in education spending to help shrink New Jersey’s $2.2 billion budget deficit, focusing on school districts with budget surpluses. (“Deep budget cuts carry economic risk for N.J.,” Feb. 14.) This plan raises concerns about punishing fiscally responsible school districts. It also raises the specter of higher local property taxes when New Jersey can least afford it.
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A Chicago Democrat embraces school vouchers.
By WILLIAM MCGURN
The Wall Street Journal

‘The voucher movement seems to have been born, or seems to have been started as a Republican idea. That’s the way Democrats look at it. That’s the way black lawmakers look at it. This is a Republican idea. This is what the Republicans want to push on us. . . . We don’t seem to see public schools not working in your area.”

The speaker was the Rev. James Meeks, explaining black resistance to vouchers. The venue was a sold- out lunch put on by the Illinois Policy Institute (IPI). The result? Something new in Windy City politics: a powerful black Democrat reaching out to a free-market think tank to force reform on the city’s most hidebound institution—the Chicago public schools.
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February 22, 2010
By Peggy Ackermann/Statehouse Bureau
nj.com

TRENTON — The state Senate today voted 38-0 to approve a bill that cracks down on the use of “diploma mills” — unaccredited institutions of higher learning — by school administrators and teachers who obtain advanced degrees and then are able to boost their salaries.

Under the bill sponsored by Sen. Richard Codey (D-Essex) and Sen. Jennifer Beck (R-Monmouth), those seeking tuition assistance or higher pay must earn their advanced degrees or additional credits from authorized institutions of higher education.
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