NJ Education Report

Demonstration in Newark on School Choice:

40 people stood in the rain in Newark this week to protest the state of N.J.’s urban school districts. Demonstrators included representatives from the Black Alliance for Educational Options, Camden mayoral candidates Angel Cordero, and the Reverend Reginald Jackson of the N.J. Black Ministers Council.

Rev. Jackson did not endorse Corzine for governor, in spite of him being a “personal friend,” because he’s sent out questionaires to both Corzine and Christie on educational issues, including school choice, and is waiting to get answers. According to the Star-Ledger, Jackson said,

I’m keeping my powder dry, If Christie is able to effectively communicate in urban areas, (his support for vouchers) could very well have an impact.

Corzine Keeps Wooing Booker:

According to Charles Stile of the Record, Governor Corzine tried once again to convince Newark Mayor Cory Booker to be on the ticket as Lt. Gov. candidate, but Booker was unswayed.Why is Booker’s support important to Corzine?

His support for reducing tenure for public school teachers and replacing it with merit pay might also appeal to independents and even some moderate Republicans. And he’s an eloquent speaker who can fire up a crowd, a skill that has eluded the syntactically challenged Corzine.

The Nuts and Bolts of Elimination of Non-Ops:

James Ahearn of the Daily Record gets into the detail of eliminating non-operating districts, showing that while little money will be saved, there’s not a lot of down side. He’s got a good analysis of the reasons for the delay in implementation since the bill was passed in April 2007 – local opposition, of course – and the compromises intended to reduce sticker shock on new tax bills. Under the agreement, no tax changes will be implemented for this year, and the adjustments will be phased in over 5 years.

Concensus in N.J.: SRA is a Sham:

E3 (Excellent Education for Everyone) has a compendium of recent articles on N.J.’s Special Review Assessment, leaving little doubt that the cat’s out of the bag: the test artificially inflates N.J.’s graduation rate and cheats kids. Can the D.O.E. and NJEA admit the obvious and stop touting flawed statistics to mask deficiencies in our educational system? Does the Emperor have any clothes?