NJ Education Report

Education Law Center’s Executive Director David Sciarra said today, “[i]t’s crystal clear that the Governor has no interest in investing in the future of our public school students. In fact, the Governor’s budget proposal is a blueprint for depriving children of the educational opportunities they need to ensure their productive employment and engaged civic participation in the decades ahead.”

Everything’s relative.  Here’s a reality check from Philadelphia Public Schools:

The Philadelphia School District’s doomsday scenario moved a step closer to reality Thursday night.

Amid angry shouts of “disgrace!”, the School Reform Commission approved a $2.4 billion budget that includes cuts that Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. has said would be catastrophic for the city’s schools.

Joseph A. Dworetzky was the only one of five commissioners to vote against the budget, saying he did not believe that the administration had looked hard enough to find other savings.

The vote followed hours of impassioned pleas from students, parents, and educators, both at the meeting and during a late afternoon rally outside district headquarters on North Broad Street.

In the absence of new funds to cover a $304 million projected shortfall, schools will open in the fall without new books, paper, clubs, counselors, librarians, assistant principals, or secretariesAthletics, art, and music would be gone. There could be 3,000 layoffs, including some teachers.

Class sizes would be larger, and schools would have no aides to help manage them or support staff to monitor lunchrooms and playgrounds.