ABSOLUTE VETO of S-1191

GOVERNOR TAKES ACTION ON S1191

ABSOLUTE VETO

NJASBO actively pursued this veto by personally meeting with counsel from the Governor's office to explain the negative cost inefficiencies of this proposal.

S-1191 would have allowed the establishment of county-wide purchasing system for certain school district services in certain counties; offer employment protections for certain food or custodial service employees; and regulate subcontracting by districts and public higher education institutions.

Votes needed to override an absolute veto:  27 in Senate and 54 in Assembly.

NCLB Title I Waiver Request

WAIVE THE PROVISION THAT PROHIBITS AN SEA FROM GRANTING TO AN LEA A WAIVER OF THE CARRYOVER LIMITATION MORE THAN ONCE EVERY THREE YEARS!

This has been an ongoing battle cry from the trenches of many State Department of Education Offices as once again the professional individuals with direct management and oversight responsibilities recognize we are in a far better position to ensure the necessary funds are appropriately applied to impact student learning, growth and academic achievement.
 

In an attempt to obtain additional information on the status of this request through our own state department (NJDOE), I received confirmation on the status of the ESEA Waiver allowing districts to carry over greater than 15%, once every three years through notification from the Federal Government approving New Jersey’s request.

A letter released from Deborah S. Delisle, Assistant Secretary for the US Department of Education Office of Elementary and Secondary Education granting approval which means that districts can request a waiver to carry forward more than 15% even if that district received a waiver in the last two years (2012 and 2011).

According to the NJDOE, additional information will be released on the timelines in the Final Expenditure Report notification to districts. 

This is obviously an important triumph with particular significance for districts left with large balances. 

Getting Optimum Use out of the iPad for Business

In May of 2012 I started blogging about the iPad and whether it would find its place as a staple in our classrooms for students. 

 

The Business of Education: iPad - The next big thing in classroom ...

May 15, 2012

Lately, I find myself drawn into conversations about equipping students with iPads whenever discussions turn to technology issues. Schools across the nation are reaching for the iPad as the next big thing in classroom ...

 

The Business of Education: iPads.... The Cost of Adding The Next ...

Jan 28, 2013

Back in May I published a quick article on my Blog about the newest push in adding technology to the classroom... the iPad. While discussions were taking place across the country and perhaps throughout the world in ...

 

Since then more and more districts including our own in Summit are adding these marvels of technology to the classroom as part of a necessary tool for growth and development much like the calculator in the late 70's and 1980's.

 

Stored Documents for easy recall

But alas... I must confess I have not only been convinced the device is worthy of integration into the educational programs, I am taken in a big way with the flexibility, portability and encompassing power for multi-use functions that although will not replace the lap top or PC, has become a daily necessity for my professional and private life!

 

Perhaps the best example of this is the devices ability to take documents and drawings on the road with use of ibooks book shelf.  By utilizing the various "collections" available at your own creation, the app gives you the ability to separate like items and shelf them for quick reference from anywhere in the field or at meetings.

 

In order to accomplish this all you need to do is open an email with an attachment (PDF) then send it to the book shelf by hitting the upper arrow selection on the top right of the device.  Once on the book case you move, re-arrange and delete by using the edit key.

 

Once you become familiar with this option it will become a "go-to" app in no time at all!  I recently downloaded RFPs for construction management companies that allows me to review and read at my leisure just like one using the Nook or Kindle. 

Time for The BOSS to VETO S1191/A3960

According to the State Legislative website, S1191 "Allows establishment of county-wide purchasing system for certain school district services; offers employment protections for certain food or custodial services employees; and regulates subcontracting by districts and public higher education institutions."

The reality is the bill kills the very concept of "Competitive Bidding" and the ability of each district to customize and craft an appropriate Request For Proposal (RFP) for services that are unique to their district and tailored to the individual needs as set forth in the bid specifications.  This promotes the very concept of competition and ultimately the balance between best price and quality service.  If approved by the Governor, this legislation would end that concept at the expense of true savings along with a diminished level of service as the "one-size-fits-all" bid specifications would be applied to all districts impacted by the law.  Likewise this will result in unsustainable wage concessions.

Once again, one must consider where the support for such legislation stems and whose best interests are served.  The primary sponsor's of the bill are all Democrats who favor the special interest prime benefactors of such legislation... the unions.

Lesniak, Raymond J.   as Primary Sponsor Sarlo, Paul A.   as Primary Sponsor Mosquera, Gabriela M.   as Primary Sponsor Diegnan, Patrick J., Jr.   as Primary Sponsor Greenwald, Louis D.   as Primary Sponsor Quijano, Annette   as Primary Sponsor Giblin, Thomas P.   as Primary Sponsor Sumter, Shavonda E.   as Primary Sponsor

As stated in my March 24th Blog:  "This is a great case of where select individuals in the Assembly and Senate have an extreme disconnect from the actual operations of a school district and the ability of management in this cases School Business Administrators in partnership with Boards of Education to effectively oversee and administer services in a fiscally responsive manner providing cost savings to resident tax payers."

This hypothesis is further borne out in the latest vote which  has the minority "No" vote cast by all Republicans.  (see below)

ABU  6/17/2013  -  r/Aca  -  Yes {8}  No {4}  Not Voting {0}  Abstains {0}  -  Roll Call

	Prieto, Vincent (C) - Yes	Schaer, Gary S. (V) - Yes	Brown, Christopher J. - No
	Bucco, Anthony M. - No	Burzichelli, John J. - Yes	Coutinho, Albert - Yes
	Fuentes, Angel - Yes	Johnson, Gordon M. - Yes	O'Scanlon, Declan J., Jr. - No
	Watson Coleman, Bonnie - Yes	Webber, Jay - No	Wimberly, Benjie E. - Yes 

NJASBO 2013 Annual Spring Conference in AC

DO AC!  If you are looking for real professional growth and opportunity centered on the Business of Education, then you should make plans to DO AC IN A BIG WAY!

Among the various workshops, presentations, networking and speakers will be a presentation put together through the collaboration of my Director of Technology, Doug Orr and me on "How to Prepare Memorable Presentations!"

If you are ever tasked with public presentations on any subject you should stop by on Wednesday for one of the two presentations:  1:45 & 3:00 PM.

The Cost of School Security

The following paper was written and presented by Lauren LoPorto in the Montclair State University School Finance Class that I taught this past semester.  This paper is one of many that I have chosen to highlight on this blog as it is contemporary and directly related to the issues in financing public education.

The Cost of School Security

Montclair State University

Lauren LoPorto - ELAD 622 

Professor Pepe 

Review of Material Covered

Allen, J. (2012, December 21). Part one: A columbine survivor’s perspective on sandy hook. Examiner.com. Retrieved from http://www.examiner.com/article/a-columbine-survivor-s-perspective-on-sandy-hook

 

Karissa Marcum, a Columbine survivor, now 28, describes her tale of the horrific day she and her sister experienced as high school students. Marcum shares her sadness for the senseless murders committed at Sandy Hook and discusses her opinion on gun control.

Carson, D. (Writer) (2012, October 11). To survive a shooting, students learn to fight back. NPR. [Audio podcast]. Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/2012/10/11/162712905/to-survive-a-shooting-students-learn-to-fight-back

The controversial strategy known as A.L.I.C.E. Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evaluate is defined and explained in this podcast. The program creator believes training children as young as 5-years-old to, “fight back” against an active shooter is an effective strategy. This is a controversial approach but many believe we need to change our thinking about how potential victims should respond, and that a shift toward more active resistance in crime situations is happening. He supports this idea by explaining before September 11, passengers were advised to comply with hijackers, and that self-defense instructors used to tell women to go limp to survive a rape.  

Candoli, C., Guthrie, J.W., Hack, W.G., Hart, C.C., & Ray, J,R. (2008). Modern School Business Administration: A Planning Approach. Boston, MA: Pearson  

The text describes the need for school security and the level of crime increase due to a number of factors including drugs, gangs, and vandalism. The most successful school security personnel have a close working relationship with building administrators and students they serve.  

Kennedy, M. (2012). Today’s school security. American School & University, 16-22. 

This journal article summarized the lessons learned from the school shooting massacres including Columbine and Virginia Tech. The measures taken by schools and universities today have been intensified to ensure public safety. Finally, prevention is discussed by identifying problems and why the role of violence prevention programs at schools is beneficial. 

Terkel, A. (2012, December 21). Columbine high school had armed guard during massacre in 1999. Huffinton Post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/21/columbine-armed-guards_n_2347096.html 

The gun control debate ensues and many politicians are using school violence to promote their stance both for and against gun control. Those invested in pro-gun laws are pushing for armed guards at every school to make them “safer.”  

Toppo, G. (2009, April 19). 10 years later, the real story behind columbine. USA Today. Retrieved from http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-04-13-columbine-myths_N.htm 

This article summarizes the events that occurred on April 20, 1999 when Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris terrorized and murdered their classmates before turning the guns on themselves. Not only did the boys have guns, but they planted bombs that thankfully failed to explode. Also discussed are some of the security steps put in place since Columbine. 

Trump, K. (2009). [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://www.schoolsecurityblog.com/ 

Ken Trump is the President of a National School Safety and Security Services firm. His School Security Blog is a “news and opinion blog for educators, safety professionals, parents, media, and others who are passionate and concerned about K-12 school safety, security, and crisis/emergency preparedness.” I read over a dozen of his posts and posts by guest published on his website: schoolsecurityblog.com. While most posts are one-sided, his contributions to this issue are informative and valuable.  

Thesis 

The safety and security of our schools should be a top priority; but what strategies are truly effective and what measures are schools taking to prevent violence from happening in their town?

Issues and Strategies Identified 

“A tragedy of unspeakable terms,” were the words spoken by Connecticut Governor, Daniel Malloy. On December 14, 2012 twenty-six children and educators were killed when a disturbed man shot his way into an elementary school. The Newtown school shooting has brought attention to school security back up to the surface. Administrators, teachers, parents, and even students are now wondering the same thing; how safe are our schools? With the economy on the brink of a recession, and Federal and State aid being rerouted in order to pay for new mandates, many schools have been challenged to maintain their budgets with less. Schools everywhere, especially in New Jersey, have been forced to make weighty cuts and have reduced levels of security as a result. Should the security of our schools and the safety of our children be a top priority? The obvious answer is yes, but how this is achieved and at what cost is up for debate.

Launching a Title One School-Wide Program

The following paper was written and presented by Alice Keller in the Montclair State University School Finance Class that I taught this past semester.  This paper is one of many that I have chosen to highlight on this blog as it is contemporary and directly related to the issues in financing public education.

Issues in School Finance: Launching a Title One School-Wide Program

Alice Keller
Montclair State University

Thesis

            The federal government provides grant funds to public school districts that can only be spent according to narrowly defined purposes and cannot be reallocated to other accounts within the budget.  In the case of Title One funds, they must be used for targeted assistance services to support students who fall below the district target on state assessments.  At WWW Middle School, there is a large percentage of students just barely reaching the target who could also benefit greatly from the programs funded by our Title One grant.  This year, WWW Middle School is applying to become a Title One School.  If the school is granted permission to switch from targeted assistance to a school-wide program, the administration will have the power to use the funds to support “any students that we believe could utilize support to grow and get better” (Director of Secondary Education, personal communication, April 16, 2013). The district believes that this change will be crucial in increasing student achievement across the school and avoiding being labeled as a “school in need of improvement” and being subjected to interventions by the state. 

Review of Title I Grant Funding

In 1965, Congress passed the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), which was “specifically directed to supporting public education for low-income students” (Guthrie, Hart, Ray, Candoli, & Hack, 2008, p.211). The ESEA established grant funds that are distributed to public schools, and “historically, the bulk of ESEA funds have been dedicated to ‘Title One,’ which seeks to support students in poverty” (Guthrie et al., 2008, p. 211).  Schools receive Title One grant funding based on the number of students who qualify as economically disadvantaged as indicated by their “Free or Reduced Lunch” status (Director of Secondary Education, personal communication, 2013).  These funds are considered “fund 20” restricted special revenue funds, which must be used for specific purposes and cannot be reallocated (Pepe, personal communication, 2013).  Funds also come with accountability to the federal government, which mandates the “use of standards and assessments to determine if schools receiving federal money were attaining concomitant student achievement gains, and a system of rewards and sanctions for states, districts, and schools receiving funds and that could not demonstrate improved results” (Guthrie et al., 2008, p. 211).  Under No Child Left Behind, schools receiving Title One funds have been required to meet AYP or else undergo a series of mandated reform measures. 

For the 2012-2013 school year, WWW Public schools received $536,152 in Title One funds, which is roughly 1% of the total $51,216,516 revenue reflected in the budget (Board of Education, 2012).  Of this, WWW Middle School received $147,962, based on having 411 students or 62.4% of students considered to be “economically disadvantaged” (State of New Jersey, 2012).  The breakdown of how these funds were spent to support our at-risk students is outlined in Appendix A and will be discussed in the following section. 

Recently Published Article in AASA School Adminitrator

Streamlining Central-Office Staffing BY LOUIS J. PEPE

http://www.aasa.org/content.aspx?id=27768

At a time of serious budget cuts, it is incumbent for those of us at the executive level to ensure we have the necessary personnel to accomplish our school district’s mission. Absent clear, thoughtful practices for staffing, we run the risk of impeding progress in our schools. We also risk a far more serious situation, resulting in breakdowns in operational efficiency and service or procedural violations that will be cited in annual financial audits.

Simultaneously, we need to be mindful of opportunities to reduce expenses through attrition by redistributing workloads and eliminating unnecessary or obsolete tasks and positions. Our school district, which serves 4,100 students in central New Jersey, has conducted a thorough assessment of existing practices, procedures and services, which allows us to budget resources to support supervisors and administrators while ensuring classrooms, buildings and grounds are clean, safe, secure and conducive to learning.

Staffing Cuts - To increase efficiency in the district’s central operations in cost-effective ways, we developed recommendations for creating, eliminating and retaining positions. This review process requires effective communication, support and teamwork through collaboration of cabinet-level administrators and the superintendent.

The district’s management group effectively applied this process over the past three years, yielding reductions of two full-time positions with benefits to part-time posts with no benefits and elimination of a part-time engineer/environmental technician. We also eliminated two full-time secretarial positions, one in the office of the superintendent and another in special services.

Notably, these personnel reductions took place during a time frame when student enrollment continued to grow and the district opened two new primary centers. The latter additions brought the district’s facility count to nine schools, including five elementary schools, one middle school and one high school.

Dispassionate Analysis - Simply eliminating positions for cost cutting demands a closer look at the opportunity costs associated with such rash decisions. Downsizing as a quick fix to reduce personnel costs has irreparable consequences, as positions eliminated often cannot be restored easily by school districts facing reduced state and federal aid, tax-levy caps and anti-public-spending sentiment.

Today’s mind-set of doing more with less has become a reality of concern over maintaining existing programs and services. However, consider the alternative — using strategic planning for expansion and retention of quality staffing levels to meet the needs of current and future operations. In this regard, public education is a business that requires proper planning for effective management.

A favorite book on this topic is Dwight Gertz and João Baptista’s Grow to be Great: Breaking the Downsizing Cycle.

These authors say: “Managers must move beyond the current wave of downsizing, restructuring and reengineering.” Contrary to current management fads, they contend organizations must grow to be great, adding, “Managers now involved in downsizing must consider long-term goals for growth alongside short-term measures for slimming.”

As managers of a school district, we must prepare adequate analysis, absent emotional responses, to support legitimate recommendations to sustain and benefit the operation of schools. This process begins with an administrative analysis of current staffing and assignment of responsibilities related to each aspect of the central office.

Start by reviewing the various responsibilities and areas of operation with members of the administrative team. All staffing decisions must include the capacity to reassign, train and maintain the necessary administrative oversight for these various functions. Each staff position must be considered along with all active positions within the group and the wider operation based on efficiency, cost justification, support benefit and current workload of the particular office and central office as a whole.