Tax-credit scholarships could ease school funding burden

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 [...]

Independent Women's Forum , Opportunity Scholarship Act , Tax Credit Scholarships , Vicki Murray , Women for School Choice

Englewood Teachers Protest on Contracts

Contract , Englewood , NJEA , Teachers Union

Preaching Choice in Obama’s Hometown

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 [...]

Barack-Obama , Chicago , Failing-Schools , James Meeks , School Choice , Teacher Unions , Vouchers

N.J. Senate approves ban on ‘diploma mills’ for school administrators, teachers to boost salaries

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 [...]

Diploma Mills

No (Tenured) Teacher Left Behind

The consequences of putting job protection ahead of learning. The Wall Street Journal School reformers generally agree that the most important education resource is the teacher. But one of the biggest obstacles to putting a good instructor in every classroom is a tenure system that forces principals to hire and retain teachers based on seniority [...]

Joel Klein , Teacher Unions , tenure , The-New-Teacher-Project

Schools walk fiscal tightrope

February 21, 2010 By BARBARA S. ROTHSCHILD The Courier-Post Find a way to make do. That is the message Gov. Chris Christie is sending to school districts, including those in South Jersey that stand to lose up to $8 million in state funds for the remainder of the fiscal year as the governor seeks to [...]

budget , Budget-Cuts , Chris Christie , Education-Budget , Governor

Good N.J. teachers should speak up for merit pay

February 21, 2010 By Kevin Manahan nj.com The New Jersey Education Association makes it easy to conclude that most public school teachers in New Jersey are lousy or mediocre. They must be, because they’re willing to settle for the same pay the lazy, unprepared and uninspiring slug in the chaotic classroom across the hall is [...]

Bret Schundler , Merit-Pay , NJEA , Teacher-Salary , Teachers

Wealth Gap for Schools in New Jersey Is the Highest

By WINNIE HU The New York Times Nearly one in five public schools in New Jersey has almost no poor students, the highest percentage of any state, according to a new report. The report found that at 18 percent of New Jersey schools, or 402 schools, less than 5 percent of the students were poor [...]

Achievement Gap , Derrell Bradford , E3 , New Jersey , Wealth