Legislative Edu News: Elections, Tenure Reform at Lame Duck Session

[Editor's note: Trustee Sheila Brogan takes the time to track down all the pertinent legislative news impacting education, and she's nice enough to share it here. In this week's roundup, Brogan updates the public on tenure reform, new urban school possibilities, Race to the Top federal funding, moves to November elections and much more.]

Legislative Report January 9, 2012    

Assemblymen David Russo and Scott Rumana will be in Ridgewood to meet with the Legislative Committee and interested parents and community members on February 2, 2012 at 7:30 PM in the Board Room of the Education Center. We will discuss the current legislative issues including school funding, tenure reform, charter schools and school vouchers.    

January 9, 2012 was the last day for the 2010 and 2011 Legislative Session.  There are a possible 117 bills that could be considered by the Assembly and Senate.  Any bill that is not voted on and approved can be reintroduced in the 2012-2013 Legislative Session. The legislators elected in November will take office on 1/10/2012 at noon and Governor Christie will deliver his State of the State Address at 3 p.m.  

2012 Legislative Agenda    

Most likely on the Legislative agenda for 2012 will be teacher tenure reforms (waiting for Senator Teresa Ruiz’s amended bill to be introduced), the Opportunity Scholarship Act (school vouchers), charter school rules (should voters have the right to decide if a charter school will be established in their district), and school funding reform (will the School Funding Reform Act of 2008 be thrown out, modified, or fully funded).

Lame Duck Session ends January 9, 2012  

On the agenda for the final meeting of this Legislative Session is a vote on A4426/S3173, The Urban Hope Act. The bill’s synopsis states, “Urban Hope Act provides a process to permit authorized entities to build, operate, and manage “renaissance school projects” as public schools in no more than three identified failing districts.”

On Thursday, January 5, the Assembly Budget Committee considered this bill that would open the door to non-profit and for profit education management companies to build new and/or manage public schools in Newark, Camden, and Jersey City. Up to four schools could be launched in each district.

The teachers’ union, NJEA, supports this initiative as the bill states that the privately run schools would be subject to the same standards and accountability rules as public schools and that teachers would be protected by the same laws that govern teachers in public schools which includes the tenure laws. Some critics of the bill are concerned that the bill does not require the non-profit or for profit companies to be subject to the public bidding laws for goods and services.  However, they must follow the NJ Prevailing Wage Act. 

The three participating school districts would be required to pay the non-profit or for profit companies 95% of the district’s per pupil cost plus costs for security.  If a student is classified, the district would provided additional money for that student. Urban Hope Act was passed in both the Assembly and the Senate on 1/9/2012. Now it goes to Governor Christie for his consideration.      

** On the agenda for discussion in the Assembly and Senate Committees on December 5 was A4394/S3148, the bill allowing School Board elections to be moved to November.

The bill does not mandate School Board elections to be moved to November, but provides the option for either the Board of Education or the municipality to move the election. Voters can also request a vote to be held on whether or not to move the election. If the election is moved to November, the school budget vote would be eliminated if the budget is within the 2% cap.

This bill passed in the Assembly and Senate on 1/9/2012. It now goes to Governor Christie for his consideration.  

** A3961/S2868 was scheduled for consideration on 1/9/2012. This bill allocates $4.141 million for property tax relief to school districts that have significant enrollment growth. The bill states:  

1. The amount hereinabove appropriated for Supplemental Enrollment Growth Aid shall be used to provide additional aid to a school district, other than a non-operating or a county vocational school district, in which the projected October 2011 resident enrollment exceeds the October 2008 resident enrollment by at least 13%. The amount of additional aid awarded to a school district shall equal the difference between the projected October 2011 resident enrollment and the actual October 2008 resident enrollment, multiplied by the per pupil amount of equalization aid, special education categorical aid, security categorical aid, and adjustment aid received in the 2008-2009 school year.  

2. This act shall take effect immediately.

This bill passed in both the Assembly and the Senate on 1/9/2012. It now goes to Governor Christie for his consideration.  

** The bill that would eliminate the requirement for school districts and municipalities to post legal notices in newspapers was scheduled for consideration. Legal notices would be posted on web sites. S2072 had been in limbo for the last year, but Senator Sweeney and Assemblywoman Oliver decided to post it for a vote on January 9.

This bill was not considered on 1/9/2012. It may be reintroduced in the next Legislative Session.    

** Governor Christie and the legislature are in disagreement on the issue of sick-day payouts for public workers. The governor vetoed legislation that would provide a payout saying that unused sick days should have no cash value at retirement.  

Race to the Top    

The Governor announced that NJ won $38 million in Race to the Top funding.  The money will be used to fund Governor Christie’s reforms.

According to a NJ Spotlight.com article last week, $19 million would be distributed to Title I districts that agree to participate in the state’s education reforms. $6.2 million will be used for Instructional Improvement Systems that include online lesson plans and developing assessments. $3.88 million will pay for increasing the staffing for implementing the teacher evaluation pilot and initiate a principal evaluation system pilot. $5.66 million will be used by the DOE to write model curriculum and there will be $500 teacher grants for teachers who video record model lessons. $1 million over three years will be used to hire charter school evaluators.

Earlier in December, NJ lost its bid for $60 million to be used for early childhood education initiatives. The Early Learning Challenge grants, a part of Race to the Top grants, were designed to develop preschool rating systems, enhance preschool teaching, and develop assessments for kindergartners. Only nine of the fifteen states that applied for the grants won an award.   

New idea   

Cami Anderson, Newark schools superintendent, announced that she will start testing students in 8^th grade and in high school using the ACT college placement exams  The goal in using the ACT exams is to evaluate students’ readiness for college and/or career.