Hitting the Airwaves - NJSBA Radio: One School Funding Formula, Different Effects

Most school districts received an increase in state aid this year. However, New Jersey’s school-funding formulas – both the current one and previous versions – have been erratic, at best. New Jersey contains diverse school districts that face unique issues, and each district is impacted differently by the state’s funding formula.  Please join host Ray Pinney as he invites officials from four different school districts from Essex, Union, Sussex and Gloucester Counties to discuss the effect the state’s school-funding formula has had on their districts. Listeners are encouraged to participate in the program by calling in with their thoughts on school funding.


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http://www.blogtalkradio.com/njsba/2012/04/26/one-school-funding-formula-different-effects
by NJSBA

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in Education

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Airdate:Thu, April 26, 2012 11:00AM Add reminder

SFRAs Return - A Bold Step Back in NJ School Funding

The Education Funding Report released February 23, 2012 by Christopher Cerf, Interim Commissioner of Education detailed the Christie Administrations plan to return to the former calculations prepared under SFRA (School Funding Reform Act) at its inception by a panel of committee members known as the PJP or Professional Judgement Panel in 2008.  Most notably is the firm language of the 83 page report which time and again focuses on the need for reform in funding levels and accountability of those funds in order to address the achievement gap.

Likewise the report focuses on equality of fund distribution to all districts not just low wealth districts albeit the report concedes the low wealth districts must be maintained under higher levels of funding.  Moreover it challenges the legislature to act in the best interest of the taxpayer when promulgating laws around final funding thus avoiding add ons or inflated weights to segments of the formula's calculations such as At-Risk (47% - 57% vs. the original PJPs 42% - 46%) and LEP (Limited English Proficient) (50% vs. the original PJPs 47%) calculations.  These percentages are added to the existing formulas base representative of the "Model District":

• Elementary School (400 students)      - $  9,649 per student funding
• Middle School        (600 students)      - $10,035 per student funding or 1.04% of ES
• High School            (1,640 students)   - $11,289 per student funding or 1.17% of ES

In the same vein the report recognizes the effect of additional dollars associated with special needs students through Categorical aid and Extra Ordinary aid, thus providing a measure of classification rates at 14.69% and 1.897% for special education and speech only respectively.

Summit has just received four Bronze awards from the HealthierUS School Challenge.

Summit has just received four Bronze awards from the HealthierUS School Challenge.  This makes Summit four of the twenty-four schools in New Jersey to have earned this distinction.

HealthierUS School Challenge

Recognizing Excellence in Nutrition and Physical Activity The HealthierUS School Challenge (HUSSC) is a voluntary initiative established in 2004 to recognize those schools participating in the National School Lunch Program that have created healthier school environments through promotion of nutrition and physical activity. In February 2010, First Lady Michelle Obama introduced Let’s Move!, incorporating the HealthierUS School Challenge into her campaign to raise a healthier generation of kids. At that time, monetary incentive awards became available for each HUSSC award level: Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Gold Award of Distinction. Thanks to Pomptonian Food Service for their partnership!

Cerf on “New School Accountability” as state moves away from No Child Left Behind Act…

file photoActing Education Commissioner Christopher Cerf, shown in this file photo, gets clear in message to schools listed as low performing “Priority” or in need of improvement “Focus” as the state continues to implement the next phase of the new school accountability system replacing various elements of the federal NCLB (No Child Left Behind Act.)

 The Newark (NJ) Star-Ledger (4/13, Mueller) reports New Jersey's Department of Education "put its most troubled schools on notice Wednesday, ordering administrators and educators to cooperate with state intervention and improve student performance or face serious consequences" as the state reaches it "next phase in its rollout of a new school accountability system that replaces some elements of the federal No Child Left Behind Act." 370 schools fell into "three categories: low-performing 'priority schools' in need of aggressive guidance; 'focus schools,' which must improve in certain areas; and 'reward schools,' which demonstrate continual excellence or improvement." Seven newly created regional achievement centers work "with the low-performing schools" and the focus schools, although the latter "will receive less intrusive guidance."

Priority Schools
A Priority school is a school that has been identified as among the lowest-performing five percent of Title I schools in the state over the past three years, or any non-Title I school that would otherwise have met the same criteria. There are 75 Priority Schools. The types of Priority Schools are—

Utah education officials make $25M school funding mistake

The following Post references an article that appeared in The Salt Lake Tribune that emphasizes the need to check our work as Business Officials.  Each year Business Administrators are tasked with extremely vital analysis and projections that directly impact tax levies, state aid and other finacial outcomes for their districts.  This work must be flawless as the consequences are substantial. 

Regardless of the level of expertise or knowledge associated with the task, we must insist on a second pair of eyes in checking and rechecking critical spreadsheets and reports prior to finalizing and transmitting our work.  Often, as a double check, I recommend handing the document to another team to verify and confirm the accuracy.  While mistakes do happen; when it comes to finance often the error may become unrecoverable from the perspective of acountability, which in this case led to the resiginations, similar to the NJ Race to the Top fiasco in 2010.

Education » State leaders say schools won’t likely be hurt by the miscalculation, which leads to the resignations of two top finance officials.

By Lisa Schencker

| The Salt Lake Tribune

First Published Apr 11 2012 11:54 am • Last Updated Apr 11 2012 11:22 pm

A miscalculation at the State Office of Education has led to a $25 million mistake in Utah’s education budget for next school year — and the resignation of two top finance officials.

Multi-Hazard Emergency Management For Schools

FEMA Institute Emmitsburg, MD...Just completed the course....
Excellent! - time well spent... ROI:  Priceless!

This course provided a comprehensive review and analysis of the importance, construct and need for planning, practice, training and testing of our comprehensive Emergency Management Plan (EOP).

Our cohort included groups from Unalaska, Alaska (aleutian islands-Dutch Harbor); Humble,Texas; Aurora, IL; and Stevens Point, WI, presenting a broad based perspective on emergency planning.

In order to maintain a high state of readiness to ensure life safety, Incident stabilization and preserve property, we need to put the plan into action through ongoing practice of drills, tabletops and full scale exercises.

Course Length:
4 full days. Travel days are Sunday and Friday.

Course Description:

This 4-day course provides school district teams with the knowledge, skills and tools needed to review, enhance and sustain an all-hazard school emergency plan (EOP). This course focuses on the phases of incident management and explains how to utilize the National Incident Management System (NIMS) as the foundation for planning and building partnerships with outside agencies such as law enforcement, fire and emergency management. In addition, this course will provide participants with opportunities to exercise the school (EOP) emergency plan using Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program (HSEEP) guidelines as well as guidance on how to sustain the school (EOP) emergency plan through action planning sessions.