Great Schools of New Jersey An Association of High Needs Districts. September 20, 2012 AGENDA

Transcription

1 Great Schools of New Jersey An Association of High Needs Districts September 20, 2012 AGENDA I. Welcome: Geraldine Carroll, Superintendent Lindenwold Public Schools II. Panel Discussion: Implementing the TEACHNJ Act: Developing Educator Evaluation Frameworks in Panelists: Peter Shulman, NJDOE Chief Talent Officer, Division of Teacher and Leader Effectiveness Robert Copeland, Superintendent, Piscataway Josue Falaise, Principal, Grace Wilday Junior High School, Roselle III. Election of GSNJ Officers GSNJ Officers President: Geraldine Carroll, Superintendent, Lindenwold Public Schools Vice President: Ronald Lee, Superintendent, Orange Public Schools Secretary/Treasurer: Laura Morana, Superintendent, Red Bank Public Schools IV. Election of GSNJ Executive Committee GSNJ Executive Committee George Chando, Superintendent, Phillipsburg Joseph Jones, Superintendent, Woodbury Michael Salvatore, Superintendent, Long Branch Stanley Sanger, Superintendent, Union City VACANCY V. Approval of Minutes: Meeting of May 16, 2012 (Attachment) VI. VII. VIII. IX. Approval of Treasurer s Report (Attachment) Approval of GSNJ Dues Structure (Attachment) Approval of GSNJ Meeting Dates and Topics (Attachment) ELC Update X. Legislative Update

2 Great Schools of New Jersey May 16, 2012 Meeting Great Schools of New Jersey An Association of High Needs Districts Meeting Wednesday, May 16, :30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. I. Welcome GSNJ President Geraldine Carroll opened the meeting at 9:40 a.m. She thanked participants for coming to GSNJ meetings throughout the school year and described the May meeting as a clean-up discussion of several topics put forward by the Department of Education lately. She then introduced David Sciarra, Executive Director of the Education Law Center. II. Topics for Discussion David talked about how changes to the weights in the school funding formula are governed by the SFRA statute: the DOE recommends changes to the Legislature in an Education Adequacy Report, and the Legislature can accept the changes or make different recommendations. This chain of events is supposed to happen before budget season, but the Governor ignored the statute and included changes to the weights in his proposed FY13 state budget. David also mentioned that in May 2011, the NJ Supreme Court ordered the Department to produce the Adequacy Report. Commissioner Cerf s Education Funding Report released last winter was not the Adequacy Report, though it may foreshadow what will eventually be included the Adequacy Report. The Governor s FY13 school aid proposal not only modifies the SFRA, but the modified aid amounts are projected to be phased in over five years. Since school districts have relied on their Feb. 23 state aid notices to craft budgets for , what can be done now? ELC s legal opinion is that the Governor s SFRA changes are illegal. ELC has informed legislators of this and is pushing the Legislature to stand up for the SFRA law they passed. Legislators need to take out the Governor s proposed school aid language in the budget so school districts adequacy budgets don t change. ELC developed an alternative for school aid in , which would put adjustment aid back in the budget, add money for the under-adequacy school districts, and ensure there are no districts that are losers. The alternative would not change the SFRA. Legislators appear not to like the Governor s school funding proposals, but there is a question about how much legislators are willing to add in for school aid. ELC is currently working with school districts and education advocates and organizations all over the state on school funding. School districts often don t complain when they get small aid increases, but legislators need to hear from districts on this issue. GSNJ May 16, 2012 Page 1

3 Great Schools of New Jersey May 16, 2012 Meeting David urged superintendents to talk to their boards of education, communities and parent leaders about this situation, noting that it would be useful to have a point person in every district. ELC s proposal for the FY13 state budget includes $25 million for preschool expansion as a sort of place holder for that program. Preschool expansion, which is part of the SFRA, has never been funded. The next topic of discussion was Priority and Focus schools under NJ s NCLB waiver. David Sciarra noted that the DOE is not expected to provide adequate interventions in these schools and instead is aiming to close them. There are legal concerns around school closings and the newly proposed charter regulations from DOE. He said that public education advocates will have to do a lot of work to help communities and legislators understand what is at stake here in terms of closing and privatizing schools. Ron Lee, Orange Superintendent, said that regional meetings should be held to spread this information and to show legislators that communities care about their schools. David recommended that GSNJ hold two or three regional forums around the state during the school year. Joe Jones, Woodbury Superintendent, spoke about the Superintendents Committee on the Regional Achievement Centers (RACs), which was put together by the DOE and of which he is a member. The committee was designed to give superintendents an opportunity to provide input on the RACs, including feedback to DOE about plans for developing school improvement plans, aligning Title I funds, preparing school leaders for RAC interventions and working with district staff. Rich Kaplan, New Brunswick Superintendent, who attended the Committee s first faceto-face meeting, said this helped change the tone from intervention from above in priority and focus schools to collaboration between DOE and districts. But DOE is moving towards a September rollout of this program, even though it is not yet fully formed. Ron Lee, another Committee member, said the new program is worse than state takeover since DOE removes the school principal, and the district is left to figure out what to do with tenured principals. He said DOE seems to be going by the seat of their pants, making up the rules as they go the DOE had not yet hired people to work in the RACs, and the model curriculum isn t ready. DOE said that if a district doesn t follow all the rules, there will be sanctions. Ron asked DOE if a district does follow the rules and there s no growth, who will take the hit? He said there was no answer from DOE. Joe Jones said DOE doesn t care that a principal removed from a school will be a strain on a district s budget. DOE in essence is saying you figure it out. He added that districts will be forced to pay for climate, data and two other people out of the district s Title I money, although some internal staff may be used. GSNJ May 16, 2012 Page 2

4 Great Schools of New Jersey May 16, 2012 Meeting Stan Karp from ELC requested that superintendents on the Committee share what they learn, and suggested a briefing by superintendents for ELC. Stan said more transparency needs to be created in the waiver process. David Sciarra said that NJ is headed to where the Philadelphia school district is, noting that Camden is well on the way. The next topic of discussion was the upcoming GSNJ superintendents meeting with three DOE Assistant Commissioners. Geraldine Carroll asked for suggested topics and questions for the meeting. Recommended questions included: how are schools going to be characterized/grouped going forward (according to DFG or in another way?); how is data going to be used to compare student cohorts that include students that don t fit in the usual categories and/or have additional issues (e.g., ELL, social problems, etc.). Stanley Sanger, Union City Superintendent, noted that the most important thing concerning data is what you do with it, so districts need technical assistance on how to effectively use data. Joe Jones said that there s one piece of data missing: how close was a given school to being categorized as a priority school? Paul Spaventa, Gloucester City Superintendent, suggested a question about how DOE sees the new teacher evaluation program rolling out in terms of linking student data to teachers, program costs, tenure rights, etc. He also wondered when all of this information would be available. Geraldine Carroll said the Assistant Commissioners need to see that we re all about improving instruction, and these questions help to demonstrate that. III. Approval of Minutes The meeting minutes from the March 21, 2012, GSNJ meeting were moved and approved. IV. Treasurer s Report Laura Morana, Red Bank Superintendent and GSNJ Treasurer, reported that about $7000 in member dues would be coming in over the next few days. The Treasurer s report was moved and approved. V. Legislative Update Tom Dunn reported that the Assembly Education Committee was talking about charter schools, and the Senate Education Committee was talking about tenure reform. He said that these issues and others were still percolating. Tom also reported that Commissioner Cerf and his DOE staff look at education through the prism of tenure reform, the Opportunity Scholarship Act, etc., almost as if these GSNJ May 16, 2012 Page 3

5 Great Schools of New Jersey May 16, 2012 Meeting legislative changes were already in place. The Governor seems to be focusing on tenure reform and merit pay. Tom also said this is a very dangerous period of time through June 30. The Legislature has to pass a state budget, and that sometimes includes deal-making that otherwise would never happen. Tom said that currently retired superintendents can collect their pensions and interim superintendent salaries (or a DOE salary), but proposed legislation would change that so retired superintendents in interim positions would have to put their pensions on hold. Tom said this bill currently has two Republicans on it, and he was not sure about its prospects. VI. Closing The meeting was adjourned at 11:30 a.m. GSNJ May 16, 2012 Page 4

6 GREAT SCHOOLS NJ An Association of High Need Districts Formerly Urban School Superintendents of New Jersey FINANCIAL REPORT August 31, 2012 Legal Defense Fund (7801 NEW Account Number) Regular Checking (3205) Beginning Balance $ 23, Beginning Balance $ 14, CREDITS CREDITS Interest = $.57 Interest = $.61 Deposits TOTAL = $23, TOTAL = $14, DEBITS Service Charge = -0- Check Order = - $33.00 Deposit Slips = -$32.00 TOTAL = - $65.00 DEBITS Total Maintenance Fee = -$20.00 Checks = 0 Total = - $20.00 ENDING BALANCE = $23, ENDING BALANCE = $14, WELLS FARGO ADVISORS March 2012 August 2012 Change Cash and Money Market Open End Mutual Funds $6, $6, $71.61

7 Dues Structure for Great Schools NJ Grade Span Enrollment $1, per student ($5,000 Max) District DFG K-12 Districts Newark City A K-12 39,992 $5,000 Jersey City B K-12 27,832 $5,000 Paterson City A K-12 23,507 $5,000 Elizabeth City A K-12 21,382 $4,707 Passaic City A K-12 12,626 $3,394 Camden City A K-12 12,501 $3,375 Trenton City A K-12 11,117 $3,168 Union City A K-12 9,893 $2,984 Vineland City A K-12 9,821 $2,973 East Orange A K-12 9,736 $2,960 Perth Amboy City A K-12 9,631 $2,945 Bayonne City CD K-12 8,982 $2,847 North Bergen Twp B K-12 7,481 $2,622 West New York Town A K-12 7,194 $2,579 Irvington Township A K-12 6,977 $2,547 New Brunswick City A K-12 6,834 $2,525 Montclair GH K-12 6,636 $2,495 Plainfield City B K-12 6,442 $2,466 Atlantic City A K-12 6,303 $2,445 Millville City A K-12 6,216 $2,432 Linden City B K-12 6,154 $2,423 Winslow Twp CD K-12 6,019 $2,403 Pennsauken Twp CD K-12 5,459 $2,319 Lakewood Twp N K-12 5,085 $2,263 Pemberton Twp B K-12 5,011 $2,252 Hackensack City CD K-12 4,919 $2,238 Long Branch City B K-12 4,888 $2,233 Bridgeton City A K-12 4,789 $2,218 Garfield City B K-12 4,500 $2,175 Willingboro Twp DE K-12 4,490 $2,174 City Of Orange Twp A K-12 4,439 $2,166 Neptune Twp CD K-12 4,419 $2,163 Rahway City CD K-12 3,860 $2,079 Carteret Boro B K-12 3,835 $2,075 Phillipsburg Town B K-12 3,595 $2,039 Pleasantville City A K-12 3,339 $2,001 Lodi Borough B K-12 3,188 $1,978 North Plainfield Boro DE K-12 3,109 $1,966 Hillside Twp CD K-12 3,082 $1,962 Dover Town A K-12 2,915 $1,937 Roselle Boro B K-12 2,779 $1,917 Englewood City DE K-12 2,722 $1,908 Cliffside Park Boro B K-12 2,655 $1,898 Buena Regional A K-12 2,616 $1,892 Penns Grv-Carney's Pt Reg A K-12 2,447 $1,867 Lindenwold Boro B K-12 2,270 $1,841 Asbury Park City A K-12 2,200 $1,830 Gloucester City B K-12 2,103 $1,815 Pine Hill Boro B K-12 2,031 $1,805

8 $1, per District DFG Grade Span Enrollment student ($5,000 Max) Burlington City B K-12 1,882 $1,782 Hoboken City FG K-12 1,873 $1,781 Keansburg Boro A K-12 1,872 $1,781 Harrison Town B K-12 1,818 $1,773 Woodbury City B K-12 1,593 $1,739 Bound Brook Boro B K-12 1,532 $1,730 Salem City A K-12 1,400 $1,710 Riverside Twp B K-12 1,398 $1,710 Paulsboro Boro A K-12 1,344 $1,702 Weehawken Twp CD K-12 1,168 $1,675 Keyport Boro CD K-12 1,166 $1,675 Wildwood City A K $1,624 Elementary Districts Lower Twp B K-6 1,874 $1,000 Somers Point City CD K-8 1,144 $1,000 Bellmawr Boro B K-8 1,091 $1,000 Fairview Boro A K-8 1,060 $1,000 Haledon Boro B K-8 1,024 $1,000 Mount Holly Twp B K-8 1,012 $1,000 Ventnor City B K $1,000 Guttenberg Town B K $1,000 Prospect Park Boro B K $1,000 Red Bank Boro CD K $1,000 Upper Deerfield Twp B K $1,000 Commercial Twp A K $1,000 Fairfield Twp A K $1,000 Belmar Boro DE K $1,000 Egg Harbor City A K $1,000 Lawrence Twp A K $1,000 Woodlynne Boro B K $1,000 Lakehurst Boro B K $1,000 Deerfield Twp B K $1,000 Quinton Twp A K $1,000 Westville Boro B K $1,000 Brooklawn Boro B K $1,000 North Wildwood City A K $1,000 Lawnside Boro B K $1,000 Tuckerton Boro CD K $1,000 Bradley Beach Boro CD K $1,000 East Newark Boro A K $1,000 Beverly City B K $1,000 Woodbine Boro A K $1,000 Seaside Heights Boro A K $1,000 Highlands Boro CD K $1,000 Ocean Gate Boro B K $1,000 Chesilhurst A K $1,000 Seaside Park Boro DE K-6 71 $1,000 Secondary Districts Lower Cape May Reg. B ,652 $1,000 Manchester Reg B $1,000 TOTAL 403,028 $183,985

9 Great Schools of New Jersey An Association of High Needs Districts Proposed Meeting Dates: September 20, 2012 Implementing the TEACHNJ Act: Developing Educator Evaluation Frameworks in October 24, 2012 GSNJ Panel and Roundtable Discussions at Fall Workshop :30-4:00 PM - Room Location to be Announced.* November 14, 2012 January 16, 2013 February 20, 2013 March 20, 2013 April 17, 2013 May 15, 2013 A Conversation with Commissioner of Education Christopher Cerf *GSNJ at the Fall Workshop :30-4:00 PM: Panel and Roundtable discussions on EE4NJ, Engaging the Public, High Quality PreK-3, Common Core Standards and Implementation, School Construction and Graduation Rates Please Note: Unless specified otherwise, all meetings are held at NJASA Headquarters, 920 West State St., Trenton, NJ 08618, 9:30am to 11:30am.