TRENTON — Analysts say a new state revenue report could change Gov. Chris Christie’s budget plans and force new spending cuts.

In a memo sent out earlier this month to lawmakers, the Office of Legislative Services reported April revenues were less than expected, but didn’t say by how much. They also were on pace to trail the same period a year earlier.

Lawmakers last week asked State Treasurer Andrew Sidamon-Eristoff to provide specifics on the shortfall. But he declined, saying it wouldn’t be prudent to do so.

The new revenue report is due out today.

OLS officials say there’s not much breathing room in the current budget. That means low revenues could force budget cuts and changes in budget plans for the coming fiscal year.

The state constitution requires a balanced budget.

By Mark Lagerkvist
New Jersey Watchdog

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie — a rising star in the national Republican Party — called an overhaul of the state pension system his “biggest governmental victory.” He now faces embarrassment from flaws his reforms failed to fix.

The sweeping new laws increase contributions from public workers, decrease benefits and halt cost-of-living hikes. According to Christie, the changes should save the state $120 billion over the next 30 years.

But his reform did little to stop the age-old New Jersey practice of double-dipping, in which employees “retire,” start collecting a pension, and then are rehired, often the next day. Christie’s own deputy chief of staff collects $219,000 a year from the state — a $130,000 salary as a top aide to the governor plus $89,000 in state pension.

Worse for Christie, a criminal investigation is under way involving his running mate, New Jersey Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno.

As a county sheriff in 2008, Guadagno made false statements to enable her chief officer to pocket nearly $85,000 a year in retirement pay while drawing an $87,500 annual salary. The double-dipping scheme first was reported by New Jersey Watchdog in 2010.

The state’s investigation is assigned to the Attorney’s General’s Division of Criminal Justice, a unit where Guadagno once served as deputy director. Despite the apparent conflict, Christie has not appointed a special prosecutor.

A spokesman for Christie and Guadagno declined to comment. The Attorney General’s Office did not respond to questions.

Pension abuses are so rampant in New Jersey that even the agency investigating Guadagno has its own controversy.

Twenty-three supervisors and investigators for the Attorney General’s Office and DCJ are using legal loopholes to draw salaries and pension pay, New Jersey Watchdog found. On average, each pockets $164,000 a year — $96,000 in salary and $68,000 in pension.

Most “retired” for just one night. Those officers left their positions with the Attorney General’s Office only to return to the same employer the next morning with new job titles — and two paychecks instead of one.

In a continuing series of investigative reports, New Jersey Watchdog exposed similar double-dipping practices involving 125 officers employed by prosecutors, 18 officials from a state Homeland Security Unit and 44 county sheriffs and undersheriffs — in addition to the Guadagno story.

Democratic State Sen. Fred Madden is a “triple-dipper” who collects more than $241,000 a year from public coffers — $49,000 as a legislator, $106,983 as a police academy dean and an $85,272 pension as a State Police retiree.

“I don’t have a problem with it at all,” said Madden.

The Guadagno controversy
While Madden and others profit from loopholes in pension rules, the circumstances surrounding Christie’s second-in-command raise questions of fraud and deception.

Guadagno was elected sheriff of Monmouth County in 2007. She previously worked as an assistant U.S. attorney and as an assistant New Jersey attorney general. From 1998 to 2001, Guadagno served as deputy director of the DCJ — the unit now assigned to investigate the case in which she’s a major figure.

In 2008, Guadagno hired Michael Donovan Jr., a retired investigator for the county prosecutor, as the sheriff’s “chief of law enforcement division.” She announced the appointment in a memo to her staff.

Monmouth County Sheriff’s Office
The focus of a criminal investigation of pension abuse, Chief Michael Donovan takes an oath of office in the Monmouth County, N.J., Sheriff’s Office on Sept. 22, 2008. Donovan’s job title was fudged to allow him to collect his pension and his pay at the same time. The swearing in was witnessed by his mother, Emily, and then-Sheriff Kim Guadagno, now the state’s lieutenant governor. Donovan was sworn in by Judge Lawrence M. Lawson.

But there was a problem. As a sheriff’s chief officer — a position covered by the pension system — Donovan would be required to stop receiving pension checks and resume contributions to the state retirement fund.

Guadagno fudged the job title, so Donovan could double-dip. In county payroll records, the oath of office and a news release, Donovan was called the sheriff’s “chief warrant officer” — a low-ranking position exempt from the pension system.

A chief warrant officer oversees the service of warrants and other legal documents. In contrast, the sheriff’s official website identified Donovan as “sheriff’s officer chief,” supervising 115 subordinate officers and 30 civilian employees.

On Guadagno’s organizational chart, Donovan was listed as chief of law enforcement — and the position of chief warrant officer was conspicuously absent.

The ruse allowed Donovan to collect an $87,500 salary from Monmouth County in addition to an $85,000 pension as a retired county employee.

A Conflicted Investigation
When Guadagno was elected as Christie’s running mate in the 2009 election, she resigned as sheriff.

In 2010, state Treasury pension officials began to ask Monmouth County about retiree Donovan’s employment. “I would respectfully request that former Sheriff Guadagno be contacted…” replied her successor, Shaun Golden, in a letter forwarded to the Treasury.

The Treasury denied the existence of any correspondence or email contact with Guadagno or Christie regarding Donovan. Officials also rejected requests for records of the Treasury’s inquiry.

In response, New Jersey Watchdog filed a formal complaint with the state Government Records Council, a body consisting of gubernatorial appointees and cabinet officials. One year later, the council has yet to render an advisory opinion.

Meanwhile, the state Police and Firemen’s Retirement System’s Board of Trustees took action of its own.

“It’s a double-whammy,” said PFRS chairman John Sierchio. “If you’re going to retire under one job title and come back under another title, we have a problem with that. The chief of sheriff is a covered title under the pension system — and they should be contributing instead of drawing out.”

The PFRS board voted in May 2011 to call for a criminal investigation of Donovan and parallel instances involving John Dough, of Essex County, and Harold Gibson, of Union County. The case was referred to DCJ.

However, the investigation is riddled with a maze of potential conflicts of interest:

• •DCJ is probing allegations involving its own former deputy director, Guadagno.
• •Nearly two dozen DCJ investigators and supervisors are “double-dippers” who collect state paychecks and pensions.
• •Attorney General Jeffrey Chiesa, a Christie appointee, is ultimately in charge of the probe of fellow cabinet member Guadagno. Chiesa is also former chief counsel to Christie.
• •Despite evidence of possible wrongdoing by his lieutenant governor, Christie has not appointed a special prosecutor or authorized an independent investigation.

One year later, the PFRS board remains in the dark. “I keep asking, but we haven’t been told anything,” said Sierchio.

New Jersey Governor’s Office
Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno of New Jersey. When she was a county sheriff, her office fudged a job description and organizational charts to allow an aide to double-dip on his pension. Guadagno has declined to comment.
Sean Conner, a spokesman for Christie and Guadagno, refused to listen to questions about Guadagno’s role or the need for a special prosecutor.

“Let me stop you right there,” Conner told New Jersey Watchdog. “If it was referred to DCJ, you need to call DCJ.”

The Attorney General’s Office did not respond to questions about the investigation.

Back in Monmouth County, Donovan has another new job title — but he’s still a double-dipper. In February 2011, Golden named him undersheriff in charge of law enforcement — a strikingly similar position, but one apparently exempt in the labyrinth of pension rules. Donovan currently gets an $86,000 annual pension on top of his $92,000 salary.

While sheriff’s chief, Donovan pocketed $227,000 in retirement checks. Since he did not re-enroll in the pension system, he avoided $18,000 in contributions to the retirement fund. If state authorities ultimately determine Donovan violated pension rules, he could be forced to repay $245,000.

Reform…except for double-dipping
Pension fraud and widespread abuse are nothing new in New Jersey.

The federal Securities and Exchange Commission accused New Jersey of pension fraud in 2010. It was the first time the SEC had taken action against a state government over public pension funds.

According to the SEC, New Jersey misled its bond investors from 2001 to 2007 by failing to disclose it had not met its obligation to fund public workers’ pension funds. The lawsuit was settled with a cease-and-desist order, which the state accepted without admitting or denying the charges. The alleged fraud occurred on the watch of four previous governors.

Christie vowed to overhaul the pension system. With the state facing a $45 billion pension shortfall when he took office, the new governor spearheaded legislation that he signed into law last year.

“We are putting the people first and daring to touch the third rail of politics to bring reform to unsustainable system,” stated Christie in a news release. “We are once again showing the people of New Jersey that our state is leading the way on the biggest challenges before us and remains unafraid to do what is hard, but necessary.”

But the reforms did little to halt widespread double-dipping by numerous public employees, including Christie’s deputy chief of staff.

Louis Goetting gets $219,000 a year from the state — $130,000 in salary as a top aide to the governor plus $89,000 in state pension payments from an early retirement deal. Christie hired Goetting in 2010 as a budget guru to help trim the cost of government.

In addition, Goetting (pronounced “getting”) received two golden parachutes from public coffers before joining Christie — severance packages of $190,000 from Brookdale Community College in 2009 and $180,000 from University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in 2002.

New Jersey Governor’s Office
Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey has touted his pension reforms, which have done little to halt the practice of double-dipping by public employees, including his chief of staff.

The bottom line: Goetting has gotten more than $1.1 million in pension and severance pay — and he still draws a six-figure salary from the state.

In answer to questions about Goetting’s double-dips, the governor’s press office has reiterated a statement Christie issued last year: “There is no one in my administration, myself included, who understands about the operation of this government better than Lou Goetting does. And so the people of New Jersey have gotten an incredible bargain.”

Pension reforms will not be complete without an investigative staff to monitor potential abuses, according to PFRS chairman Sierchio. He noted there are 275,000 retirees — but no investigators assigned to review complaints.

“We don’t have anybody watching the store,” said Sierchio. “We’ve got an $80 billion pension system, and nobody to investigate anything. Once you get your pension, you never have to look over your shoulder.”

New Jersey Watchdog is a news website devoted to public service journalism. Read more about veteran investigative reporter Mark Lagerkvist.

By MaryAnn Spoto/The Star-Ledger

TRENTON — With fewer than two months before the state budget is due, Gov. Chris Christie said this morning he wants the state Legislature to deliver laws changing the tenure system for public school teachers in a way that will result in decreased taxes for New Jersey residents.

“I want to make one thing really clear to the state Legislature: Do not send me watered down B.S. tenure reform,’’ he told a crowd of more than 450 at a town hall meeting in Monmouth County.

In this Republican-heavy county that delivered big for his election in 2009, Christie delivered his usual criticism of Democratic lawmakers who he said have finally agreed to cut taxes.

“Now the Democrats in Trenton, are not arguing with me anymore about whether they should cut your taxes,’’ he said. “They just argue about how we should cut your taxes.’’

But he saved the majority of his rant at the National Guard Armory in Freehold for teachers unions, who he said spent tens of millions of dollars in attack ads against him the past two years “because I have dared to speak out against their monopoly.’’

“Well, $20 million later, here I am,” he said to an enthusiastically supportive crowd.

He called state aid to failing school districts, including nearly $30,000 per pupil in Monmouth County’s Asbury Park “an obscene waste of money’’ and reiterated his call for merit pay for teachers rather than automatic tenure after three years on the job.

“No one in this state should be guaranteed a job after three years and one day on the job without regard to how they do their job,’’ he said.

In the portion of the meeting open to public questions, a woman from Howell told Christie tearfully how her home floods so often.
To a question posed by a woman from Berkeley Township in Ocean County, Christie defended the credentials of his state Supreme Court nominee, Chatham borough Mayor Bruce Harris. Harris, an attorney for 20 years, has been primarily a finance attorney with little courtroom experience.

But Christie said Harris’ resume, which includes years as an elected official and a private attorney, gives him “practical’’ experience for someone in the “ivory tower’’ of the state’s highest court.

A businessman from Freehold complained about involvement by the state Department of Environmental Protection in his contract dispute with another business.

A young boy from Freehold asked Christie if he plans to run for re-election.

Christie said he hasn’t yet made up his mind, but said he has to make a decision by the end of this year or the beginning of next year.

By Megan DeMarco and Jeanette Rundquist / The Star-Ledger

PLAINSBORO — New Jersey high school students will need to pass as many as 12 end-of-year tests to earn their high school diplomas, under a plan unveiled today that’s designed to ensure “a New Jersey high school diploma is a meaningful measure of college and career readiness.”

The proposal calls for a multi-year phase-in of the tests, which will be given to 9th, 10th and 11th graders and start to “count” for students now in the fourth grade. The state’s current graduation tests, the High School Proficiency Assessment and Alternative High School Assessment, will be phased out.

Students will be tested in language arts, math, science and social studies. However, neither the number of tests that will be required for graduation nor the passing scores have been determined.

The proposal, unveiled by Gov. Chris Christie and Acting Education Commissioner Christopher Cerf during a press conference at West-Windsor Plainsboro High School North, was billed as the culmination of work by the state Department of Education’s College and Career Readiness Task Force.

“We need to make sure that the students we send from New Jersey’s high schools either into the workforce or into higher education are prepared on that first day to sit in that college classroom or to perform the job that a business has asked them to perform,” Christie said.

The plan came under immediate fire from some educators.

“Overall, I think it’s a plan for more tests, not for better secondary reform,” said Stan Karp, director of the Secondary Reform Project at the Newark-based Education Law Center, which advocates for students in the state’s poorest cities. “Test-based reform has just not been effective in closing gaps or improving instruction.”

Roxbury Interim Superintendent James O’Neill said he does not support the idea of multiple end-of-hear exams.

“Politicians are intent on making education into a sporting event with scores available at the end of each inning,” he said. “Good teachers, classrooms with access to technology and a rigorous curriculum help prepare kids to be successful in college.”

Christie and Cerf said the tests are a way to make sure students are meeting state standards and are on track for success in college and the work world. Currently, students are passing the HSPA to graduate, but aren’t college ready, they said. A third of students at Rutgers University need remedial classes, and 90 percent of students attending Bergen and Essex County community colleges need remedial classes.

The new system will identify students who are lagging earlier, instead of waiting until the end of their junior year. Districts will be required to help students who don’t pass parts of the tests by offering remediation, such as tutoring or summer classes, so the students get up to speed and can retake the sections they failed.

The proposal echoes a similar plan put forth under former Gov. Jon Corzine in 2009. Known as “Secondary Education Redesign,” that plan called for more rigorous high school programs and up to seven year-end tests.

A pilot program began in which tests were offered in biology and algebra, but Karp, of the Education Law Center, said the state backed away from requiring those tests after “tens of thousands” of students were unable to pass.

Justin Barra, a spokesman for the state Department of Education, said the algebra test was not fully implemented because of a procurement issue, not the passing rate. The bigger issue, he said, was that those tests were not closely aligned with the state’s standards.

The new tests are part of the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, an effort in which 24 states, including New Jersey, joined forces to institute a new set of assessments to match common core standards. PARCC has a $185 million federal grant to develop tests in language arts and math for students in grades 9-11.

New Jersey now spends $32 million a year on assessments and will use that funding for the new tests, Barra said.

While students now in the eighth grade will be begin taking the tests in 2013-14, they will not begin to “count” as a requirement for graduation until current fourth-graders are in ninth grade.

State officials hope the tests will lead to higher graduation rates.

While some students may dread the prospect of a dozen year-end tests, others said they thought it was a good idea.

“I feel like it’ll be easier for us,” said Sandy Kelman, a ninth grader at Manalapan High School. “I think it’s going to be a lot less pressure for us, I figure four little tests throughout the year would be easier than one big test at the end of the year.”

Revamped formula for N.J. graduation rates
District officials had mixed reactions to the release of graduation rates for each New Jersey district and public high school Tuesday. The figures use a revamped formula that has clipped back previously reported rates.

Some officials said the new rates just underscore additional work that needs to be done in their districts. Others said more work needs to be done on the new formula, required by the federal government.

While announcing plans Monday for new high school state assessments, Gov. Chris Christie had announced that the statewide graduation rate under the new system is 83 percent, rather than the nearly 95 percent that had been cited under the old formula.

The new formula differs in that it requires schools to document that individual ninth-graders who don’t graduate with their class transferred to another school, state or country or died, rather than just generally report the number of students who drop out. Because the formula has changed, comparisons to past years aren’t possible.

Freehold Regional High School District Superintendent Charles Sampson said the new graduation rates “provide baseline data,” but “the formula does not account for those students who do not exit our system until the age of 21.” He did not immediately respond to an inquiry about how many students the district has at that age. The combined rate at the district’s six schools is 95.18 percent.

“I hope that a more effective manner will be utilized to capture these students as well, as our data is not wholly reflective of the students we serve,” Sampson said. He said the Department of Education has indicated it is working on this concern.

Graduation rates in New Jersey’s cities generally lag the state average by even larger margins now. Rates for 2011 include 61 percent in Newark, less than 60 percent in Asbury Park, 59 percent in New Brunswick and 57 percent in Camden.

Asbury Park’s graduation rate for the Class of 2010 had been calculated at 85 percent, using the old methodology. Newark’s was nearly 88 percent.

Asbury Park Superintendent of Schools Denise Lowe said that among other efforts to help students make it to graduation and beyond, she is working on developing a campaign to bring dropout students back to school.

She said students that might have dropped out in years past “may now have a chance, with things like credit recovery classes and our free GED course offered at our Parent Center.”

“We truly want this community to be successful and more importantly be ready for everything that comes after high school,” Lowe added.

Not all districts saw their recalculated graduation rates drop. Lakewood, for instance, which had been the lowest in Ocean County at 37.6 percent in 2010, now finds itself at 70.11 percent under the new system. The lower rate was largely due to a severe multiyear miscalculation on the number of dropouts.

Under Superintendent Lydia Silva, the district brought in new school leaders to help struggling students graduate by using online learning classes to bring them up to speed. The high school has new technology from a federal School Improvement Grant, and there is intensive ongoing professional development for the staff.

Carl Fink, president of the Lakewood board, said there are a lot of plans to integrate the senior communities with students in tutoring positions. Vocational classes will be added for students who choose a career outside the college path, Fink said.

“It is just going to keep getting better and better,” Fink said.

Manasquan Superintendent Geraldine Margin believes the new plan for tracking high school students from ninth grade to graduation will be a help to their schools. Margin said it will reduce the amount of students who are “unaccounted” for, thus possibly improving graduation rates for other districts as well.

Margin said Manasquan’s graduation rate is at 91.89 percent, above the average statewide graduation rate of 83 percent, which was calculated with the new “four-year adjusted cohort graduation rate.”

“Under the new formula we will take the number of graduates in a class and divide by the number of students that came in with that class their freshman year. With NJ SMART tracking students, we will be able to track the students who transferred out of the district during that time period, so it won’t count against our graduation rate,” Margin said.

TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie today said the days of making it easier for public employees to serve as lawmakers in Trenton should come to an end.

He said if police officers, teachers and other public employees want the responsibilities — and salary — that come with being a lawmaker, they should be required to take days off from their full-time jobs when coming to Trenton for votes and committee meetings.

“They should take time when they come down and serve,” Christie said during a news conference in Plainsboro. “People in the private sector are not getting that benefit, so I don’t know why people in the public sector should.”

The comments come a day after a Star-Ledger report showed there are 15 lawmakers — 14 Democrats and one Republican — who have accrued about $850,000 worth of unused sick and vacation time that they could turn into cash.

Topping the list of lawmakers is State Sen. Nicholas Sacco (D-Hudson), whose 445 unused sick days at his job as assistant school superintendent at the North Bergen School District are worth $331,970, records show.

Sacco, who is also mayor of North Bergen, has been coming to Trenton for votes and committee sessions for two decades, but has never taken a sick or vacation day when making the trip. That’s because a state law intended to expand participation in Trenton says he doesn’t have to.

Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver (D-Essex), who works as an Essex County administrator, said the law is vital to ensure a diversity of opinion in Trenton.

“To even suggest that one’s occupation, or where he or she earns a living, should impede who can serve smacks of elitism,” Oliver said in a written statement. “That is why the framers of the New Jersey State constitution made provision to establish a part-time Legislature — so that citizens could elect people to represent them who hail from all walks of life. Not just those who are independently wealthy, hail from corporate America or are self-employed, but also teachers, police, firefighters, health care practicioners, social workers, labor representatives.”

County records show Oliver has only officially missed work three times this year. She currently has accrued more than $8,000 worth of unused time, records show.

Christie declined to comment directly on Sacco, choosing instead to renew his calls for eliminating the perk.

“It’s a broken system,” said Christie. “People should not be paid for not being sick. The reward should be not being sick.”

Republican and Demcratic lawmakers appeared to move closer today to compromise bill that would freeze the current level of existing payouts while eliminating payouts for new employees.

Christie vetoed a Democrat bill last year that would have frozen the accrued time of existing employees and capped payouts for all employees who have compiled $15,000 worth of time.

Christie said it didn’t go far enough, and he wanted to trim the size of future payouts by forcing employees to draw down their banked time first when taking a vacation or sick days. Democrats said Christie’s attempt to take away public employees’ accrued time is illegal and would be immediately challenged in court.

State Sen. Joseph Kyrillos (R-Monmouth) said Senate Republicans will submit a bill that mirrors one submitted by Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucucester) earlier this year that would freeze current levels but not force current employees to tap into their current time. “We need to close this indefensible loophole now,” Kyrillos said.

Chris Donnelly, a spokesman for Sweeney, said Kyrillos ignores the fact that he supported the Democratic bill Christie vetoed last year. “As imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, the Senate President is quite flattered,” Donnelly said.

TRENTON — The Christie administration’s failure to swiftly approve or deny requests for emergency repair work at dozens of dilapidated schools across the state has prompted a Newark-based law group to file suit against the state Department of Education.

The complaint, filed with the Office of Administrative Law, alleges that evaluations of requests made by 31 of the state’s neediest districts have ceased, preventing leaky roofs, broken heating systems and crumbling brick facades from ever being fixed.

“The law clearly requires the state to address hazardous school conditions and almost nothing has been done in the last two years,” said Eric Little, an attorney who helped prepare the complaint.

Once the Department of Education has approved a district’s request for emergency repair work, the Schools Development Authority must complete and finance the repair work required.

Districts like Newark, Camden and Trenton have filed more than 700 requests for emergency repairs since last summer. Last month, the SDA flagged 76 projects for “initial advancement” and allocated $100 million to complete the repairs, but the projects are not under way yet.

“The Department did not issue any final decision on the projects and has provided no timeline for when those decisions will be made and, more importantly, when these unsafe and dangerous conditions will be addressed,” according to a statement from the law center Wednesday.

A spokesman for the state Department of Education had no comment on the lawsuit, but a spokeswoman for the SDA condemned it as “frivolous” and “uninformed,” rejecting the claim that work has stalled.

Forty emergency projects have been “substantially completed,” at a cost of $28.3 million, and 113 additional emergency projects have been started.

“The SDA categorically rejects David Sciarra and the ELC’s continued claim that nothing has been happening at the SDA and their perpetuation of falsehoods about SDA activity,” said Kristen MacLean, a spokeswoman for the SDA.

The Christie administration’s slow pace with court-ordered school construction and repairs is now heading to court, this time with a twist on who actually is being sued.

The Education Law Center, the Newark-based advocacy group representing school children under the Abbott v. Burke litigation, yesterday announced it had filed a lawsuit over what it said was the administration’s failure to move on scores of so-called “emergent projects” in the state’s poorest districts.

They include more than 100 roof repairs, and dozens of air conditioning and heating system replacements, and a host of fire safety upgrades. Newark alone has more than 100 projects in need, the lawsuit reads. Trenton has 99 and Camden another 95.

The lawsuit cited more than 60 repair needs that potentially imperil students’ health and safety.

And while the usual target of complaints has been the long beleaguered Schools Development Authority, which oversees this work, the twist is the lawsuit is against the state Department of Education. The SDA oversees and manages the eventual work, but it is the department that determines and approves the projects, the key point in the suit.

“The law clearly requires the state to address hazardous school conditions, and almost nothing has been done in the last two years,” said Greg Little, the lawyer working on behalf of the ELC in the case.

“Every school day thousands of children, teachers and other staff using … school buildings where these emergent conditions exist face an imminent threat to their health and safety.”

As required, the complaint was filed with the head of the agency being challenged, acting education commissioner Chris Cerf, and is almost surely to be referred to an administrative law judge. Either way, the lawsuit is likely to take many months to wind its way through the process and could prove as much a political tactic as a legal one to put pressure on the state

The lawsuit does not speak to the long delays in restarting the long list of new construction projects being managed by the state and the SDA, arguably an even bigger point of contention with districts.

A spokesman for Cerf said the department does not comment on pending litigation.

A spokeswoman for the Schools Development Authority also would not comment, even though the SDA is technically not a defendant, but she cited the SDA’s announcement last month that it would move on 76 of the projects in 21 districts.

“We are now positioned to address the most critical needs of our districts and make sure our school facilities are safe learning environments for all students,” said Marc Larkins, the chief executive of the SDA, in making that announcement.

However, the complaint from ELC contends that while the SDA made that announcement in March, no final determination or timelines have yet to be set for any of the projects. It detailed a string of correspondences between the state and the districts, but still no go-aheads on the projects.

“While the DOE issued so-called ‘status determination’ letters to districts in March — identifying 76 of approximately 760 projects submitted as ‘potential’ emergent projects — the Department did not issue any final decision on the projects and has provided no timeline for when those decisions will be made and, more importantly, when these unsafe and dangerous conditions will be addressed,” read the ELC’s announcement yesterday.

The lawsuit contends that the department is in violation of the Abbott v. Burke school rulings that ordered the work in the first place, as well as statute and its own regulations.

The cited health and safety projects involve a slew of needs, the lawsuit said, including leaks and ensuing mold, faulty air-conditioning and its impact on students with asthma, and more than a dozen cases of inoperable or nonexistent fire safety measures.

Whether projects were “emergency” needs, versus “emergent” ones, has been part of the dispute between districts and the state.

The SDA has maintained the districts must act on any projects imperiling students’ health and safety. Some advocates have said the state has stalled so long on projects that emergent needs have become emergency ones.

A handful of districts are expected to join this lawsuit, said their lawyer, Richard Shapiro, yesterday, but they had yet to do so.

HIGHLAND PARK — Marilyn Valentine of Franklin Township was one of the few African-Americans in the audience the other night at Highland Park’s Bartle School. She came to hear a panel discussion about charter schools. Much of the discussion was critical of state policies concerning the privately managed but publicly-funded alternatives.

Valentine, who raised two children into successful adulthood, said she understood the criticisms but pointed out that many parents who looked like her despaired of traditional public schools. “Where are the solutions?” she asked.

If charter and other privatized schools aren’t the solution—and she didn’t say they were—then what are parents to do? “You’re telling the people there is nothing for you.’’

Valentine’s complaint reflects what Gov. Chris Christie and other proponents of privatizing public education—especially in the cities—have been saying. Christie insists a child’s education should not depend on a zip code.

Her questions raised the most fundamental issue in public education: What is the responsibility of the state to the education of its children. What should it do in response to continued failure?

The debate about privatization—about charters and vouchers and increased aid to private schools—really is a consequence of the failure of what was once thought to be the ultimate school reform: The state takeover of failing schools.

One panelist, Michelle Fine of Montclair, an author and professor at City University of New York, called privatization “just an exit ramp for some people.’’ Because charters and other forms of privatization don’t take in all children, she said, they “cannot be considered a systematic, equitable strategy’’ for reform. Just a way to help some children.

Julia Sass Rubin of Princeton, a Rutgers professor and spokeswoman for Save Our Schools, a pro-public school group, said the real solution was an “affordable housing strategy.’’

Valentine didn’t disagree and, so, there it was on the table, this unwelcome idea—real school reform means more than just tinkering with schools. When the state took over failing schools in Jersey City, Paterson, and Newark, it was taking a logical step, but the effort was doomed because it didn’t face the real problem: Inequality. Economic, social, and racial inequality.

So, after the state didn’t succeed, then what? The Christie administration took what Fine called “the exit ramp” strategy. Creating privatized schools for some children, while leaving traditional schools with the most difficult kids and decreasing resources. As some of the governor’s supporters have argued, that, at least, helps some children in failing districts.

But the state constitution applies to all children. So what is the state supposed to do? What happens when the ultimate state-imposed school reform— takeover—itself fails?

The answer is “Whatever it takes.’’ New Jersey has to do whatever it takes. And those words just happen to be the informal slogan of a rising educational powerhouse, the nation of Finland.

The Nordic country has emerged as the most successful nation over the last decade in international tests of reading, mathematics, and science. Published reports quote Finnish educators saying they are free to do “whatever it takes” to ensure all children learn—and, yes, Finland, does have poor children and immigrants from Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and the Balkans.

So what does it take? Recent accounts of Finnish schooling in the “Smithsonian” magazine and “Atlantic” report teachers are selected from the nation’s brightest college graduates. They must earn a master’s degree (tuition is free). Well paid and treated with respect, They develop their own assessments and teaching strategies. Teachers have autonomy.

Finland has virtually no private schools—all schools are publicly funded and follow the same national curriculum, one that requires fluency in three languages. It has no standardized testing program, except a national high school exam to determine future placement.

But there’s more—far more. An account in last December’s “The Atlantic” quotes Pasi Sahlberg, a Finnish education official, telling American educators the reason for its success was not the pursuit of “excellence but equity.’’ Cooperation, he said, was valued over competition.

All Finland’s school children get free meals in their schools. Free health care. Their parents receive three years’ leave, subsidized day-care—but never mind that, children themselves are directly subsidized by Finland.

Finnish school children—including the Iraqis, Somalis, and Kosovars among them—not only receive equal educational opportunity, they also are not allowed to sink into isolating poverty.

How un-American. How, well, socialist. How effective.

But, no worries. It can’t happen here. Despite the constitution, despite our professed love for, and desire to educate, all our children, New Jersey—this nation—would never do whatever it takes to ensure educational equity for all children.

Christie talks to Dems about proposals
BORDENTOWN TOWNSHIP — Now in his second year of trying to push changes to public education through the Legislature, Gov. Chris Christie said Monday those plans have a better chance if an agreement over income-tax cuts can be reached relatively quickly.

Christie said he’s been talking with Senate President Stephen Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver about tenure, merit pay, charter schools and the Opportunity Scholarship Act, which would give tax credits to businesses that donate to programs providing school vouchers to poor children.

The governor said he doesn’t have commitments about what will pass — but that he wants to avoid having the debate over income-tax cuts drag into June and distract attention from other priorities.

“How much we get done is going to be a product, I think, of how good we are at some of the other things we’ve talked about. How quickly do we come to an agreement on tax cuts and the income tax? How quickly do we come to an agreement on the budget?” Christie said, after a visit to Bordentown Regional High School, where he touted the school aid proposed in his budget plan.

“If we’re able to get those things squared away, that leaves open space for us to do the education reform,” he said. “If those things tend to dominate every day between now and the end of June, it gives you less space for it.”

Christie has proposed a 10 percent cut for all income tax brackets. Democrats have proposed an income-tax credit that would offset a portion of property taxes; Sweeney has proposed a 10 percent credit, while Assembly Democrats say they want a 20 percent credit.

Both plans would be phased in over several years.

Christie’s plan would benefit all taxpayers, with wealthy households getting larger benefits because their rates and tax bills are higher under the state’s progressive tax structure. Households with incomes over $250,000 aren’t eligible for the Democrats’ proposed credit.

Christie said he learned last year, when the Legislature approved landmark changes to pensions and health benefits but took until late June, that there shouldn’t be too many big priorities before lawmakers at the same time.

“The emotion and energy that was spent on that fight really precluded us from doing almost anything, including negotiating the budget,” he said.

Democrats approved a budget last June that wasn’t negotiated with Christie, who then erased $913 million from it through line-items vetoes.

But less state funds for low-income areas
TRENTON — State school aid figures unveiled late Thursday showed that Gov. Chris Christie’s administration plans to take money away from urban and low-income school districts and provide additional funds to suburban areas.

Camden City, for example, is set to lose $5.5 million compared with last year’s aid, under formulas that would be adjusted by the state Department of Education. Asbury Park would receive $2.4 million less than last year. Still, Camden would get $276 million and Asbury Park, $55.2 million.

Meanwhile, the Freehold Regional district in Monmouth County would be the big winner in the state, with $3.4 million more, for a total of $51.2 million. Cherry Hill is slated to get $12.7 million, up $1.4 million over last year.

Acting Education Commissioner Christopher Cerf said the changes were necessary to better equalize educational funding and help foster better schools in low-income areas.

“These recommendations, along with the new policy aspects, will serve disadvantaged children in the state better than they’ve ever been served before,” Cerf said. “We are all living in a universe where we’ve been led to believe that you equate effectiveness with dollars. I don’t think the evidence supports that at all.”

The Legislature will review the proposal as part of the budget process.

School aid and property taxes have been the most contentious issues in the state for nearly two decades. Under a series of state Supreme Court decisions, regularly criticized by Christie, 31 low-income school districts received the majority of state funds for years.

Under a new school funding formula adopted in 2008 under Democratic Gov. Jon S. Corzine, districts received more money if they had low-income or disabled students, or students with limited English speaking abilities, for example.

Districts that had experienced enrollment drops — often in cities — also received extra funding to keep them from suffering sharp state aid cuts.

Cerf, in a teleconference Thursday, said the state was making a series of changes to the aid formulas and even coming up with a new way to count enrollment based on average attendance throughout the year instead of one a single day.

The impact

A look at the data makes clear the impact of the shift. Many of the school districts covered under the state Supreme Court rulings stand to lose funds. In addition to Camden and Asbury Park, Pemberton would lose $2.4 million, Vineland would get $1.2 million less, and Keansburg’s aid would be off $1.1 million.

Most of the loss for Camden and Asbury Park results from a cut in the aid meant to protect districts from enrollment declines, a spokesman said.

Cerf said he intended to phase out that aid over a five-year period. “It is unmoored to educational adequacy or need,” he said.

Meanwhile, South Brunswick would benefit from $1.7 million more, Lenape Regional in Burlington County would get another $1.4 million.

To justify the pending changes, the state released an 83-page report that detailed the reasons why the school aid formulas needed to change.

Cerf in particular took aim at enrollment counts that come from a single day in October.

Enrollment figures

“We want districts to have more of an incentive than to have a pizza party on Oct. 15,” Cerf said. “There are hundreds and hundreds of instructional hours at issue for here for children who are on the rosters but don’t come to school.”

The changes were immediately assailed by David Sciarra, an advocacy lawyer who has successfully sued the state several times to provide more money for low-income school districts.

“These are changes that are not in the best interest of children all across the state,” said Sciarra, who heads the Newark-based Education Law Center. “There will be less funding to support at-risk students, no matter your zip code.… It is a significant reduction in funding for those students, and there’s no way to support it.”

But Lynne Strickland, who represents some 200 suburban school districts through the Garden State Coalition of Schools, praised the new figures.

“There’s recognition that this has been a long time coming, and we’re glad for it,” Strickland said. “Suburbs have been left to free fall … we need the help, too.”

Money for towns

In addition to school aid, the state released municipal aid figures late Wednesday. Municipalities were held to the same amount of state aid they had the year before, but some cities were expected again to see a yet unspecified cut in so-called transitional aid.

A state spokeswoman said Asbury Park would “not have to apply” for that extra aid in the next year or two.

Asbury Park will get $10.38 million in additional aid for distressed cities, for a total of $17.87 million, which also comes with additional financial oversight, said Terrence Reidy, city business administrator.

“Asbury did fine,” Reidy said. “What New Jersey is looking to do is to help urban centers with economic issues become more stable.”

To be eligible for the additional aid, Asbury Park officials had to sign a memorandum of understanding, which comes with a rigorous set of guidelines, he said.

“They require us to go far beyond the tool box (of best practices for municipal government) to increase our revenues and decrease our costs,” Reidy said. “We have a fiscal monitor that reviews every request.”

If a municipal worker retires or leaves, city officials have to make a case why a new employee is needed to replace them, he said.

“We didn’t fill the positions of public works director and supervisor,” Reidy said. “I combined public works and engineering and didn’t fill the positions, which resulted in close to $200,000 in savings. It’s a very rigorous process which I’m fine with.”

For Red Bank, the news that state aid was unchanged from the slightly more than $2 million received in 2011 was good news to Colleen Lapp, chief financial officer.

“It wasn’t a cut, so we can’t be disappointed,” Lapp said. “It’s the best you can hope for in this economy.”

Flat funding

Freehold Township also will receive flat funding for the third straight year. Peter R. Valesi, township administrator, said the state funding for his municipality has dipped from a high of $10.5 million in 2007 to the current level of $7.4 million.

Valesi said residents can expect a property tax increase this year, but there won’t be any layoffs or cuts in services.

“The township is at critical mass,” he said, noting that the municipality eliminated 60 positions through attrition and layoffs since 2008. “We just can’t do the job township residents expect us to do with any less.”

Valesi said the Township Committee will adhere to the state-imposed 2-percent cap on a tax levy increase, but he’s not yet sure how the committee will craft the 2012 budget. “It’s going to be another challenging year,” he said.

The state granted Lacey $11.27 million in municipal aid, the highest amount given to any town in Ocean County but the same amount as last year.

“It’s good news in the fact that they didn’t decrease me,” said township Business Administrator Veronica Laureigh. “I was anticipating that they were going to give us a cut.”

Toms River Business Administrator Paul Shives had mixed feelings about the news that aid for his township would stay at $8.49 million.

“It’s better than a cut,” said Shives. But “if you look back to 2009, that number was about $10.3 million.”

The loss of about $2 million annually “forced us to do a whole host of things,” he said. “We have not cut service, but we have had to go back to all of our unions and negotiate furlough days and wage freezes over the last three years. It has had an impact.”

Running lean

Lakewood will receive $5.1 million. Michael Muscillo, municipal manager, said he was relieved the state aid numbers were the same as last year. More would have been better but getting less would have put the township in a tough spot, Muscillo said.

“We are running a lean operation, very lean,” Muscillo said. “We are doing more with less like everyone else.”

“We can work with the current aid numbers and township employees should not have to be concerned about pay freezes or layoffs” this year, said Township Committeeman Albert Akerman.

William G. Dressel Jr., director of the New Jersey State League of Municipalities, said he hoped the Legislature would reallocate receipts from specific energy taxes back to the municipalities, as was originally intended.

Having taught in public school for 40 years, I feel obligated to speak out in reference to the Feb. 12 editorial, “Move ahead on tenure reform.”

This proposed bill gives principals too much power. Principals are often chosen on political prowess. Many harass teachers they don’t like personally and coddle favorites, regardless of the quality of the teacher’s performance. Teacher involvement must be part of the evaluation process.

Raises are based upon length of service and advanced degrees, with most waiting 12 to 20 years before reaching maximum pay. A pay scale similar to police or the bill’s proposed four-step performance ladder should be an essential part of this bill.

Giving bonuses for troubled schools within a district is admirable. However, many boards assign unfavorable teachers to these troubled schools as punishment, thus compounding educational problems.

The original purpose for tenure is still true today. As a negotiator, I was always confronted with getting rid of bad teachers. However, these “bad teachers” never had names. Board members used this as a tactic of admonishment during negotiations.

Board members put pressure on principals so their own children are treated more favorably. A teacher issuing lower grades to a board member’s child invariably receives a reprimand from the principal.

Certainly, tenure should be reformed. However, it should proceed without the demeaning class warfare being waged by Gov. Chris Christie.

Instead of condemning our classroom teachers, we should involve them in the education process and give them ownership in the creation of this bill.

Ron Vanadia

Barnegat

TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie today will unveil a state budget that is expected to show how he intends to pay the first installment of his proposed income tax cut and how much state aid public schools will get.

The Republican governor will deliver an annual budget speech that kicks off what could be another contentious debate with the Democrat-dominated state Legislature. Last year, Christie sliced about $900 million in programs endorsed by Democrats in finishing a $29.7 billion spending plan.

Mayors, school administrators and residents are hoping the governor will restore some of the cuts he made during the recession. At the same time, Christie will have to chip in far more to the public employee pension system as a result of a reform bill he signed last year. Christie’s office refused to disclose details of the budget in advance of the speech.

Here are several things to look out for:

• Schools: Local school districts have felt the biggest brunt of Christie’s previous belt-tightening. He restored some last year, and most expect him to increase state aid. But the governor may also have something bigger in mind. For months, the Christie administration has signaled it wants to overhaul the current funding formula and perhaps send the issue back to a state Supreme Court that will likely include three of his appointments.

• Property Tax Relief: While his property tax caps helped keep the growth of local taxes to an average 2.4 percent last year, residents have seen a steep increase in the amount they actually pay. That’s because he slashed property tax rebate checks from their 2009 levels to balance the budget. He has slowly restored some of the cuts, but the current average rebate is still less than half the average $1,037 residents saw in 2009. The relief is funded through income tax revenue, which is on the upswing.

• Income Tax Cut: Christie announced a 10 percent income tax cut in January, and today is expected to show how he plans to pay for the first installment. If approved by lawmakers, the cut will be phased in over three years, starting on Jan. 1 of 2013. It would cost about $150 million in the upcoming budget and about $1.3 billion by 2016, according to the Office of Legislative Services. A Rutgers-Eagleton Poll released this morning shows 52 percent of registered voters support the income tax cut plan, but three-quarters would prefer to see a property tax cut come first.

• The Economy: While revenues from key economic indicators like income and sales taxes are growing — up 3 percent — they are still falling short of the administration’s conservative projections. If revenue continues to fall short, it will make it tougher for Christie to spend more on things like property tax relief and school aid.

• Pension: Christie will have to find a way to make a $1.06 billion payment into the state’s troubled pension system. While it represents one of the largest payments in years, it is still well short of the $3.74 billion payment that actuaries say is necessary. The lack of a full payment undermines the boost the system saw from last year’s health and pension overhaul.

TRENTON — New Jersey’s top education official said Tuesday there is much he likes about a Democratic-sponsored teacher tenure reform bill, although he stopped short of endorsing the measure.

Acting Education Commissioner Christopher Cerf said he is glad the bill, if enacted into law, would end tenure as lifetime job security, and require that teacher ratings play a significant role in determining who would be let go during layoffs.

But Cerf acknowledged that the bill does not contain provisions for merit pay, long advocated by Gov. Chris Christie’s administration. Instead, Cerf said, he hopes merit pay will be allowed by the Legislature and then eventually become embedded in teacher contracts through the local negotiation process.

Cerf made the comments during a meeting with the Asbury Park Press editorial board, one day after state Sen. M. Teresa Ruiz, D-Essex, introduced what, if approved, would be landmark teacher tenure legislation for New Jersey, although about half of the states have enacted some form of tenure reform.

Ruiz has been meeting with various interest groups, including the state’s largest teachers union, the New Jersey Education Association, for about a year. Ruiz has been praised by Christie, a Republican, and Cerf reiterated that praise on Tuesday.

“Let’s give a lot of credit to Sen. Ruiz. I’m a Democrat, this is a hard issue for Democrats to carry,” Cerf said. “She is carrying it ably, thoughtfully and well.”

That the bill would create a mechanism for teachers to lose tenure protections if they are found to be ineffective is “a big deal,” Cerf said.

Regarding layoffs, Cerf said it is illegal for a school board to keep teachers based on their ability, and must instead lay off according to seniority. He said changing that law — called “last in, first out” — will be a huge cultural shift within local education.

“The system is decrepit and it’s not working,” Cerf said.

Cerf said he prefers what he termed “differential pay” as a separate measure passed by the Legislature.

Cerf noted that teachers currently get pay raises only based on “steps and lanes” in contracts — steps for longevity and lanes for additional education beyond a bachelor’s degree.

But research shows that teachers do not necessarily get better over time or with advanced degrees, Cerf said.

“We uniquely do reward teachers, by law, for two considerations that are relatively unlinked” to student performance, he said.

School districts should be able to offer different pay to teachers for a variety of reasons, Cerf said.

“If I want to pay more money to a teacher to work in a high-challenge school, I ought to be able to do that,” Cerf said. “If … a great teacher has been recruited for another school district, (the district) ought to be able to pay a retention bonus.

“Let everything else work out at the bargaining table. If they want to do performance bonuses … I just want this profession to have the opportunity to use compensation as a management tool,” Cerf added.

Cerf also reiterated his longstanding opposition to allowing voters in a school district to decide whether or not to approve a charter school, even though a bill that would require just that passed an Assembly committee last week.

“I’ve never met the situation where monopolists, given the chance to vote for competition would do that, ever,” Cerf said. “The people who tend to be good at organizing people to vote would be against mucking around with the current system.”

The Ruiz tenure bill, which contains provisions that have also been proposed by Christie and Cerf, would:

Require teachers to be classified in one of four categories after their annual evaluation: highly effective, effective, partially ineffective and ineffective.

Allow tenure to be revoked for teachers and assistant principals rated in the bottom two categories if they did not improve the following year.

Force teachers deemed fully or partially ineffective to face layoffs, even if they have seniority, a key element demanded by education reform advocates. But school district needs would be the first criteria in determining whom to let go.

The bill would also affect other personnel areas. For example, principals will have final say over whether a teacher is hired for or transferred to their school.

Tenured teachers who are fired for cause would face an expedited appeal timeline, with the final determination to be made by an administrative law judge.

NEWARK — In an historic reshuffling of the state’s largest school system, Newark Superintendent Cami Anderson Friday will announce a series of districtwide reforms that include closing seven failing schools and increasing charter school accountability.

The measures, which also call for an expansion of Newark’s elite magnet school system, are by far the most far-reaching — and potentially controversial — initiatives of Anderson’s eight-month tenure.

“It’s our responsibility to put kids in schools that put them on a pathway to college,” Anderson said, adding that the reforms will foster diversity among students with different socioeconomic backgrounds and levels of achievement.

“We can’t become a city where struggling students are isolated in some schools,” she said.

According to a list obtained by The Star-Ledger and corroborated by three district officials, the schools that will close are: Dayton Street, Martin Luther King, 18th Avenue, Miller Street and Burnet Street elementary schools, and the ninth grade academies at Barringer and West Side high schools.

Anderson would not confirm which schools are closing, but said the facilities were targeted, in part, because of declining enrollment and poor performance.

Except for Miller Street Elementary School, the others posted failing grades for most students on math and language tests, according to statewide results released Wednesday. At Martin Luther King, only 10 percent of seventh graders achieved minimum language proficiency on the statewide tests.

Anderson admitted the school closings will be controversial.

“I understand that schools are first community institutions,” she said. “If you went there, if your grandfather went there, you have an emotional tie to it.”

School board members and principals from the schools slated for closure were briefed on the plan Thursday.

Beginning in September, students from those schools will be “co-located” to other buildings. It was unclear what will happen to teachers and staff.

The closings come almost one year after a proposal to consolidate city schools sparked a major outcry and divided community members.

At least one city leader has already expressed concern with the reforms.

South Ward Councilman and Central High School Principal Ras Baraka said any school closing will carry unforeseen consequences.

“The gang lines, kids moving one place to another, it’s always an issue in Newark,” he said. “I’m sure that they thought this through downtown. The question is have they thought this through in the neighborhoods.”

Baraka has repeatedly called on the state to relinquish control of the district, which it has held since 1995.

In addition to the school closings, Anderson’s initiatives call for increased accountability among Newark’s charter schools. She said she wants those schools to enroll more special needs students and do a better job sharing achievement data with the district.

Anderson also wants to expand access to the city’s exclusive magnet schools because, she said, those schools too often admit only the highest performers. Magnet schools typically require an application process and tend to accept only the best students.

“In general, we need a better distribution of kids in schools across Newark,” Anderson said. “That goes for existing schools, magnet schools and charter schools.”

Anderson will formally announce the reforms this afternoon at Rutgers-Newark. Meetings will be held throughout the city with parents and community leaders to further explain the process and solicit input.

“We want to hear feedback,” she said, adding that the proposals emerged from a plan put forth two years ago by former superintendent Clifford Janey — drafted with exhaustive community input.

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TRENTON — New Jersey’s public school students racked up slightly higher test scores in most grades in the 2010-11 school year, despite Gov. Chris Christie’s cutting about $1 billion in state aid to schools that year, according to standardized test results released today by the state Board of Education.

Students posted slightly higher test stores in math and language arts in most grades, from 3 through 8, and in high school. In science, however, a subject in which students are tested only in fourth and eighth grades, scores dropped.

Many schools experienced cuts in staff and other areas in 2010-11, due to the steep drop in state aid. But results of the NJASK tests, given in grade school, and the High School Proficiency Assessment showed most weathered the storm.

“The year that generated that cut, actually turned out to be a year where we had decent student (achievement),” said Acting Commissioner Christopher Cerf, cautioning “I don’t want to leave you with the impression that means we can cut more. I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

Christie, in fact, returned some of the money to schools the following year.

The state each year releases data from tests taken the previous spring, as a snapshot of how New Jersey’s students are learning. In high school, scores showed steady progress up. The percentage of students passing language arts rose from 94.3 in 2010 to 96.1 percent in 2011, and the math passing rate went from 82.8 to 83.6. A new high school biology test also showed improvement.

The scores are for students in the “general population,” and do not include special education students or those with limited English proficiency.

In the younger grades, most improved or held steady. Fourth-graders’ passing rate went from 82.5 percent, to 84.4 percent in math; and from 66.9 to 70.0 percent in language arts — bouncing back up after a drop there, the previous year.

Eighth-graders rose in math, from 77.4 to 80.4 percent proficient. In language arts, eighth-graders fell slightly, from 90.6 percent to 90.1 percent.

Science was the spoiler in each of those grade levels. The eighth-grade passing rate fell from 89.8 to 88.4 percent in science, and the fourth grade proficiency rate dropped from 96.0 to 93.8. Cerf pointed out that in science, the scores were very high to begin with, however.

Cerf said despite the overall positive year, the state needs to do more. The achievement gap, between poor and wealthier students, or between students of different minority groups, remains “extremely large,” he said. Numerous reform efforts are under way to address it.

“In some cases it is expanding and in some cases narrowing, but in all cases, it remains large,” Cerf said. “”We are not fulfilling the basic purpose of public education.”

TEWKSBURY TWP. – Think your property taxes are too high? State Sen. Mike Doherty, R-Hunterdon, says he has a solution.

As part of a tour that has taken him to municipalities throughout the state, Sen. Doherty came to Tewksbury Tuesday, Jan. 17 to pitch his controversial Fair School Funding Plan (FSF), legislation he maintains would increase school funding and lower property taxes for 85 percent of the state.

How? Currently, state education aid is calculated via a formula approved under former Gov. Jon Corzine as part of his School Funding Reform Act. The formula calculates aid per student by several designations, including whether a student receives free or reduced school lunches or speaks another language at home.

Sen. Doherty’s proposal would do away with the formula altogether, and instead give each New Jersey student equal state funding, at $7,481 per child. The legislation would increase aid to suburban and rural districts while drastically reducing funds currently reserved for urban schools in so-called Abbott districts, including Newark, Camden and Asbury Park.

Under existing regulations, “It’s a very unequal distribution,” said the senator Tuesday. By his calculations, using figures he said came from the Department of the Treasury, the Department of Education and the Office of Legislative Services, the average Tewksbury resident contributes 14 times as much to the income tax fund as the average resident in urban Asbury Park, while Asbury Park receives 29 times more in state education aid.

Under Doherty’s plan, every town in Hunterdon County would receive an increase in state education funding, $130 million in total, that could then be used towards lowering income taxes.

In northern Hunterdon, he said Califon would receive an additional $884,565 in aid; Clinton an additional $1,209,546; Clinton Township $10,547,299; High Bridge $1,277,519; Lebanon $702,906; Lebanon Township $3,537,368, Readington Township $13,665,423; Tewksbury Township $5,131,403; and the North Hunterdon-Voorhees Regional School District $16,457,452.

Asbury Park, meanwhile, which the senator said currently receives $57,632,816 in state education funding for 2,316 students, would lose $40,306,820 in aid.

“I don’t think this is heartless. I think this is pretty fair,” said the senator. “Every student is treated equally.”

Doherty also railed against the State Supreme Court saying that it has interfered in education funding decisions that New Jersey’s constitution outlines as the legislature’s domain.

“It has been hijacked by the Supreme Court,” he said. “I think the constitution right now gives the power to the Legislature. We just have to take it back.”

Notwithstanding, the FSF plan also includes a constitutional amendment that Doherty said in his presentation “would specify a method of providing for the maintenance and support of public schools,” though he later acknowledged that the amendment might not be necessary.

Local Reaction

Tewksbury Mayor Dana Desiderio, who attended the meeting along with several other municipal and state officials, said she stands behind the senator’s plan.

“The current School Funding Reform Act is not only unfair to our students who receive far less per capita than the majority of other municipalities in our state but is unfair to our residents who pay an unfair percentage of the costs,” she said following the meeting.

Desiderio added, “The taxes assessed on Tewksbury residents are excessive. The result is catastrophic and the impact on property values is negative.”

Others, however, are not as supportive of the plan.

“It seems to be an overreaction,” said Nicholas Nacamuli, vice president of the North Hunterdon-Voorhees Regional High School Board of Education and a Tewksbury resident, who also attended Doherty’s presentation.

Nacamuli agreed that the current system “does seem very unfair,” but instead proposed a modification that would make the funding distribution more equitable. “The formula could be redone in a way that keeps more funds being sent to the districts that need it,” he said.

Following Doherty’s presentation, Assemblyman Erik Peterson, R-Hunterdon, who is also backing the plan, remarked, “This isn’t about rich versus poor. This is about educating kids.

“All our kids are the same,” he said. “They all deserve an equal opportunity.”

Officials pointed out that a public school student in Newark currently has a 23 percent chance of graduating high school, while almost all of Hunterdon County’s students go on to higher education.

Doherty cited corruption and misappropriation of funds as a primary factor behind the failures in many of the state’s urban public schools.

Current regulation “is supporting a system that’s failing,” he said.

When questioned, the senator suggested that urban students should be given the option of attending parochial or experimental charter schools at what he maintained would be a lower cost to the state, rather than sending those tens of thousands of students to faltering public schools.

Chance For Success

Actually getting the FSF plan passed in a Democratically-controlled state Legislature will prove a significant challenge, which is why the senator has been pushing his proposal at town-hall style meetings throughout New Jersey since introducing the plan in May.

He said he wants to encourage suburban and rural residents to talk to their representatives in support of the legislation.

“I think that people are going to have to demand change,” he said. “We can’t maintain the status quo.”

IRVINGTON — Gov. Chris Christie told an inner-city audience Thursday he has high hopes his education reform agenda will boost overall student performance but conceded challenges remain in working with children from broken and dysfunctional homes.

“Kids who are not responding (and) don’t have the hunger to learn, as governor I can’t do anything about the parents. I can’t pretend I can go into every home and say, ‘Why don’t you care about your child learning?’ ” Christie said. “I don’t have any business going into somebody’s home and judging them. I don’t think they’d listen to me anyway.”

Christie went on to tout ideas on overhauling teacher tenure and increasing school choice during his town hall visit to the Christian Love Baptist Church.

Still, Christie said it will be difficult to turn around the failure of children where problems can be traced to parents who aren’t in the picture — because of working multiple jobs or being jailed or being deceased, he said.

“There are going to be a certain percentage of children (failing) because of their environment because their parents either don’t care or aren’t present,” the Republican governor said. “My problem is all those things are used as excuses for not getting at one of the things we know can be fixed, which is to make sure we have a quality teacher in front of the classroom.”

The event was held in the old church and was packed to capacity, with perhaps close to 500 people in the main worship area and a basement auxiliary room.

Christie shared some quick math, saying the audience was bigger than the number of people in the Democrat-dominated town who voted for him in the 2009 gubernatorial election.

Christie said “there are accusations sometimes that we pack the room with Christie supporters” at his town halls.

Not possible this time, said Christie, citing statistics showing he received 4.7 percent of the Irvington vote in 2009 election — 459 votes from a city of approximately 60,000.

Christie also rolled through questions about his proposed second-chance law that would steer substance abusers to treatment rather than jail and a bail reform initiative.

Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver, D-Essex, who was in attendance, said Christie demonstrated a willingness to consider urban priorities.

“I heard a door open up a little bit,” Oliver said. “I heard him address social issues that are of importance to the people that you heard here today.”

Oliver added: “I think the governor has shied away from social issues during his two-year tenure, and he had his consciousness raised today.”

That was underscored when longtime Irvington resident Virginia Prescott told Christie, “I watched the school system deteriorate.”

That’s why a robust charter school program will help public schools improve, Christie said.

Christie said traditionally it’s been tough to impose “exacting standards” on public school districts under home rule.

Add in charters and let the competition begin, he said.

This is an article from the Asbury Park Press, here is a link to the article:

VOORHEES — A vocal foe of a planned charter school in Cherry Hill got under Gov. Chris Christie’s skin during a town hall meeting here Wednesday.

About an hour into a session that had been cordial and laced with applause, Cherry Hill resident Alan Erlich interrupted Christie as the governor was answering a question about the school, Regis Academy. Emotions quickly escalated.

“I don’t have a solution for every problem,” Christie said to Erlich immediately after the interruption. “You had an opportunity to speak before. Here’s the bottom line: I don’t have a solution for everything.”

But after Erlich charged the charter school’s approval was a favor for a Christie supporter, the governor denied the claim.

“Who are you talking about?” asked Christie, who went on to say he does not know Amir Khan, a pastor who is organizing the school at a church complex in the Ashland area. “I haven’t given one friend a charter school.”

After the heated exchange with Erlich, Christie briefly turned back to the woman who had questioned him and told her he’d get back to her in a second. He then continued his ire toward Erlich.

“It’s guys like you who are rude and yell out in the middle when I’m trying to answer this woman’s question that does not allow for civil discourse in this state,” the governor said, drawing applause from some audience members.

“Let me tell you something,” Christie continued, “If you don’t like the answer, I’m sorry. That’s the answer.”

Christie then fielded a couple more questions, without interruption, before ending the meeting.

“Him calling me rude didn’t bother me,” Erlich said Wednesday night from his home. “He called me rude, I called him a liar. What bothered me is that he’s still avoiding the questions asked of him about the charter schools.”

The charter school is to open in September for K-4 students from Cherry Hill, Voorhees, Lawnside and Somerdale. Residents and elected officials in those towns have been in an uproar, saying the publicly funded charter school will divert badly needed tax dollars from local districts.

Regis Academy’s initial funding includes $1.9 million from the Cherry Hill district and about $725,500 from Voorhees. The charter school is to lease space at Khan’s Solid Rock Worship Center.

Prior to the clash with Erlich, Christie seemed to appease charter-school foes, in part by expressing support for legislation that would require local approval for such schools. Christie said he hopes legislators will give him a reform bill within the next six months.

“My belief is that we should be focusing on charter schools in failing school districts,” Christie said.

“I do not believe that charter schools are best suited in districts, in general, that are successful districts,” he said to loud applause.

“I believe my feelings are very clear to the commissioner,” Christie responded when pressed by a Voorhees woman as to why he hasn’t put more pressure on Commissioner of Education Chris Cerf to stop the approvals of charter schools in successful dsitricts like Cherry Hill and Voorhees.

“I’ve been very direct to the commissioner. He’s got the message. Trust me that I will aggressively purse the (reform) bill and that will make things a lot easier.

“I have no interest,” Christie added, “in making the lives of parents, school board members and administrators in successful districts that are turning out college- and career-ready kids more complicated.”

Cherry Hill Councilwoman Melinda Kane said she was disappointed that “things got ugly.

“I certainly felt the frustrations of the Cherry Hill and Voorhees residents about (Regis Academy). And I wish (Christie) would have had a better way of dealing with the people’s anger,” Kane said.

“That left me with a bad feeling,” she said of the angry exchange. “But I understand the people are frustrated.”

Stephanie Jacovini, a Regis Academy critic from Voorhees, said residents are upset with the planned school. “But I think (Erlich) was out of line. There were quite a few questions about the charter school asked and answered. We’re all feeling angry, but the way he just blurted out in the middle of the governor answering a question was unprofessional.