tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025948832913694345.post7160330358592510754..comments2024-03-22T02:15:56.280-07:00Comments on Jersey Jazzman: Special Education, Charter Schools, & Funding DisparitiesDukehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16535645107179796099noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025948832913694345.post-22155027430460031172016-03-31T09:42:46.210-07:002016-03-31T09:42:46.210-07:00Simmonds says: "Collaboration, not combativen...Simmonds says: "Collaboration, not combativeness, is what will help ensure all children have the resources they need to thrive." Isn't that nice, when it suits their purposes, charter school people want to have cooperation and collaboration. But under normal circumstances, charter school cheerleaders are bashing the real public schools and portraying them as failure factories. How can you collaborate with people who want to cut your throat (I'm not referring to Simmonds but to the pro charter cheerleaders). Last year, Laura Waters also made a similar comment that charter and district schools should work together and be more collegial. How the heck does that happen when charter schools are working in direct competition with the district schools and they are designed to chip away at and erode the district schools.<br />Good luck with that blarney.Giuseppehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03418801372998968620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025948832913694345.post-16477258504073000402016-03-31T08:09:58.411-07:002016-03-31T08:09:58.411-07:00CM: Well said.
Nancy: Yes, there are regional wag...CM: Well said.<br /><br />Nancy: Yes, there are regional wage disparities, but there's no doubt NJ is one of the best-funded and more equitable statewide school funding systems in the nation. See: <br /><br />http://www.schoolfundingfairness.org<br /><br />As to knowledge about charters and funding -- I do what I can:<br /><br />http://www.saveourschoolsnj.org/nj-charter-school-data/<br /><br />But there is a very well funded industry here and across the country whose sole job is to rebut these rather obvious facts.<br /><br />Jeff: Bruce Baker and I were looking at this the other day. I imagine he's going to have quite a bit to say about it sometime soon.<br /><br />Thanks, everyone.Dukehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16535645107179796099noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025948832913694345.post-89427813256043576602016-03-31T07:02:18.590-07:002016-03-31T07:02:18.590-07:00Great post...
My take on the Simmonds op-ed, whic...Great post...<br /><br />My take on the Simmonds op-ed, which I posted on NJ Spotlight, is that as a charter school in a high-state aid district, the University Heights CS isn't remotely among the most underfunded in New Jersey and therefore Simmonds implicit proposal for more state aid to Newark that could then be given to University Heights CS was unfair. <br /><br />The following districts are the lowest spending in terms of Total Budgetary Cost Per Pupil. Most of them have just as many or more at-risk students than University Heights. <br /><br />FAIRVIEW $10,143<br />KINGSWAY REG. $10,537<br />SOUTH RIVER $10,571<br />EAST NEWARK $10,598<br />ELMWOOD PARK $10,599<br />GREENWICH TWP (Warren) $10,787<br />JAMESBURG $10,816<br />CHESTERFIELD $10,908<br />LOPATCONG TWP $10,946<br />LAWRENCE TWP (Cumberland) $11,117<br />HAMMONTON $11,149<br />BELLMAWR $11,197<br />EAST GREENWICH TWP $11,210<br />EDGEWATER $11,290<br />ROBBINSVILLE $11,307<br />DOVER $11,352<br />NORTH HALEDON $11,386<br />BOUND BROOK BORO $11,435<br />HARRISON TWP (Gloucester) $11,466<br />BELLEVILLE TOWN $11,540<br />MAURICE RIVER $11,555<br />GUTTENBERG $11,682<br />ABSECON CITY $11,691<br />SOUTH HARRISON TWP $11,718<br />BAYONNE $11,736<br />BERLIN $11,842<br />HAMILTON TWP $11,842<br />FREEHOLD BORO $11,846<br />CLAYTON $11,908<br /><br />These are the districts (who are all badly or severely underaided) should be the focus of any special budget relief. <br />StateAidGuyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00346914457455404884noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025948832913694345.post-68374655114932740722016-03-31T05:51:43.883-07:002016-03-31T05:51:43.883-07:00Excellent piece. And reflective of the charter vs....Excellent piece. And reflective of the charter vs. genuinely public school disparities (funding, %FRL, types of disabilities) in many states, so a great read for folks in all states. With so many for-profit charters here in MI (about 85%), PSAs that run short here in the Mitten State simply have fund-raisers to balance their budgets. Money that is raised separate from the public stream is much harder to account for, as well--so you know what happens.<br /><br />Two thoughts:<br />#1) Holy Moses, your per-pupil allotments are high! I know, I know--cost of living, yada yada. But this charter principal was weeping because he ONLY gets twice--literally--what he would be getting were his charter in MI. If schools in my area were getting $16K per pupil--oh, the things we could do.<br /><br />#2) What proportion of people in NJ--regular families living in the Newark area--understand the basics you laid out so cleanly here: Charters get more money. Charters serve different customers. And so on. It's a rhetorical question--people in MI don't particularly get it, either. I wonder why, though. Are we now primed, as a society, to get what's best for ourselves and our families, and let the rest of our community go hang?Nancy Flanaganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00047575960944913289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025948832913694345.post-8475150487566490082016-03-31T03:55:18.376-07:002016-03-31T03:55:18.376-07:00Goodness, he's upset about this one child and ...Goodness, he's upset about this one child and the disruption caused, and the lack of funding for all the bells and whistles he wants for his school - but he doesn't seem cognizant of the fact that this is day-to-day for MANY poor urban TPS, only in bigger classrooms, with multiple kids like this. He wants funding for *his* school to have extra teachers and counselors and support staff....but where is the proposal for TPS to get the same, to have resources like that, to have low student-teacher ratios and a variety of support staff? That poor "lone teacher" in there, with no mental health staff on-site to support, as if a single teacher in a room full of students isn't the norm nationwide?<br /><br />If he's crying about his job over this one incident, he needs to go volunteer in a truly disadvantaged school with 35 kids in a class. Might do him some good to realize that there are even more kids with "tremendous emotional, academic, and social needs" interfering with learning out there than in his own school. SMDH...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com