AASA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR TRAVELS TO NJASA

Discusses A New Road for Education with a New President and New Congress

Dr. Dan Domenech, Executive Director of the American Association of School Administrators (AASA), spoke to NJASA members at Trenton Headquarters on March 19, 2009 as part of NJASA’s Executive Leader Speaker Series. His topic, New President, New Congress, New Road for Education, was focused on federal legislation and upcoming funding. His thought- provoking, timely presentation coupled with his expertise, elicited much interaction among the group.

Domenech stated that Arne Duncan, new US Secretary of Education, was supportive of school administrators because he has allowed AASA a seat at the table for input and discussion of how the new federal Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act: Stimulus Fund for Schools can best be used. The previous administration did not include AASA and other educational organizations an opportunity to influence federal decision-making. While AASA is not supportive of every component of new educational initiatives promoted by the Obama Administration, Domenech is pleased to have an opportunity to be included in the decision-making process.

The AASA Executive Director spoke at length about the following:

· NCLB: has become the federal bill that has had the most significant impact on local education. The continued focus on reading and math, due to testing requirements, is having a negative impact on all other 21st century skills and knowledge. Because of the precedents that were set, the federal government is finding it difficult to extricate its involvement. The reauthorization of NCLB is not a focus of Congress and will not be reauthorized until at least next year. Nevertheless the heightened level of accountability, disaggregation of data, and the goal of leaving no child behind educationally, will continue.

· Title 1: Funded significantly in the stimulus package, went from 4 titles and 3 grants in 1965, to 11 titles and 93 programs and is a disjointed collection of unrelated programs and services begging for a consolidation and focus. However, this is the funding mechanism that Congress had to work with.

· AASA position is that all federal dollars and services should go to the total child and that poverty is the greatest single factor limiting student achievement.

· The Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act was explored in depth by Dr. Domenech as he highlighted key points and reviewed timelines and limitations to using the funds appropriately.
For example, 50% of the new IDEA funds may be used to supplant current special education funding.

· There is a sense that emphasis in the future will be placed on the creation of national curriculum standards and in probability a national test.

Following the presentation, attendees had the opportunity to personally share ideas on how to best use the new funding and to interact with Dr. Domenech in regard to their plans.

New Jersey’s Budget Presents Tough Choices

On Tuesday, Governor Jon Corzine offered very little in the way of good news with his annual state budget message address. The Governor unveiled his $29.8 billion dollar budget with the education community being one of the few benefactors in his proposed FY 2010 Budget.

However, not all is lost in this year’s budget, the Governor is proposing a $25 million expansion in Pre-K education, and a $300 million increase in direct state aid for K-12 school districts. The NJASA is cautiously optimistic about the promise of municipal aid because dollar amounts have yet to be disclosed to the public and the budget still needs to go through the onerous legislative process.

Not much has changed from the Governor’s State-of-the-State address with his wanting to use the public pension system as a vehicle to control the state’s run-away expenses. This type of political maneuvering, initiated by past administrations, is nothing more than a near-sighted solution to a far-sighted problem and is a position the NJASA is strongly against.

We welcome the proposal of infusing federal monies from the stimulus package to stabilize education funding – a one-time solution that might prevent some harsh increases to school board budgets across our state. The NJASA eagerly waits for the state budget process to get underway and stands ready to assist our local elected officials with creating education policy that will help finally lead to a permanent solution to school funding.

The NJASA will continue to monitor the FY 2010 budget process and will advocate change where necessary until the Legislature develops the final appropriations acts.

NJASA Announces the School Consolidation Forum

School district consolidation, an issue that periodically surfaced in New Jersey over the past several decades is now front and center. Why one asks? The answer is very simple – local property taxes.

Back in 2006, a Joint Special Session of the New Jersey State Legislature, with the intention of lowering New Jersey’s property taxes, created the CORE Act of 2007. This recent public law created the new title of Executive County Superintendent (ESC). One of the primary responsibilities of this new position is to develop a county school district consolidation plan for each of our State’s 21 counties by March 2010.

The breadth and depth of this mandate, stated as regulations in the New Jersey Department of Education’s (NJDOE) Final Regulations on Chapter 23a Fiscal Accountability, Efficiency and Budgeting Procedures and available at http://nj.gov/education/code/current/title6a/chap23a.pdf, require a comprehensive, detailed, study-evaluation process.

NJASA, an organization of chief education officers - true community leaders, is compelled to provide a community service to inform and educate all the Garden State residents of our elected-State’s leadership directive to move forward on the issue of school district consolidation.

Change in any setting can be complex and disturbing. In the educational environment, school district consolidation is a highly perplexing equation permeated with variables such as: academic achievement, extra-curricular activities, taxes, finances, physical facilities, and identity-related issues.

There are too many questions with too few answers and as March 2010 grows near, public inquiry will increase significantly. It is the duty of NJASA and its members, chief education officers, to inform and educate all the residents of New Jersey, the stakeholders of their respective school districts.

On behalf of NJASA, I invite you to attend one of NJASA’s School Consolidation Forums on either Thursday, March 12, in Toms River, or to the work-in-progress, rescheduled date for the Monmouth County Forum. The original Monmouth County Forum, scheduled for March 2, was cancelled due to the snow storm.

You will learn from a panel of experts what school consolidation means for your children and your community. Registration is not required to attend this informative session and details are available on the NJASA website at http://njasa.net/.