By JAVIER C. HERNANDEZ
The New York Times

Back from the dead, almost by accident, the New York City Board of Education met for the first time in seven years Wednesday as Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg technically lost control of the school system.

The scripted scene under the chandeliers of the Tweed Courthouse, the headquarters of the city’s Department of Education, was not the chaos Mr. Bloomberg had predicted if mayoral control of the schools lapsed. The meeting was marked by “ayes” and raised hands, free of any of the verbal fireworks and political grandstanding that marred the old board, which ruled for three decades. - read on

THE STAR-LEDGER

Loch Arbour residents will experience sticker shock when they open their property tax bills next month, after a Superior Court judge refused to stop implementation of the state’s new school funding formula in the tiny seaside village. - read on

July 1, 2009
BY ALEXANDER MACINNES
Herald News

PASSAIC — The school board and district teachers have reached an agreement for a 4 percent pay increase in each of the next three years.

The agreement lays the foundation for a new contract, which the board and the Education Association of Passaic must sign, once drafted. - read on

July 2, 2009
By SAM DILLON
The New York Times

COCOA, Fla. — A year ago, the Brevard County Schools ran a robust summer program here, with dozens of schools bustling with teachers and some 14,000 children practicing multiplication, reading Harry Potter and studying Spanish verbs, all at no cost to parents. - read on

DOE/Governor Stick Fingers in Ears

Seems like everyone in New Jersey rejects both the SRA and the State’s trumped up “highest graduation rate in the country.” Despite the unified front, DOE and NJEA aren’t backing away from a system that disguises failure as success, while giving thousands of minority kids diplomas they can’t read. - read on

June 25, 2009
The Press of Atlantic City

If the Legislature cannot find a way to reduce New Jersey’s high property taxes, the least it can do is not make the problem worse.

But that’s what two bills that advanced Monday in the Legislature could do: Reduce the flexibility of school officials to try to keep down costs without harming education. One bill is well-intentioned but misguided; the other appears to be a sop to the powerful teachers union. - read on

June 26, 2009
By Bob Ingle
The Asbury Park Press

Bob Bowdon

While Bob Bowdon’s movie “The Cartel” on the failures of the education system — in New Jersey and elsewhere — is turning heads, the New York Times reports frustration with the education system may help GOP gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie in places unexpected. The Times wrote Christie “is hunting for votes in cities like Newark, Camden and Trenton, where Democrats routinely pile up big margins, but where black and Hispanic parents are increasingly running out of patience with the public schools, among the nation’s worst. - read on

June 21, 2009
By JAMES AHEARN
The Record

In a number of districts with sizable middle-class populations, 14 percent or more of the students are taking the SRA route to graduation.

THE NEW Jersey Department of Education is still struggling with the Special Review Assessment. This is the alternative test that high school students take in senior year to qualify for a diploma. - read on