One of the raps on the dismantling of the Abbott schools system which Jerry Green's vote has helped bring about is the UNSEEMLY HASTE to get the legislation passed -- literally days after the unveiling of the proposal.
A reader wrote to urge that the proposal should be clearly understood before rejecting or accepting it --
Independent of any political agendas for any local politicians, some of my neighbors and I have been trying to educate ourselves about the new funding proposal. The change proposed by the Governor may not be against the interests of our community. I am not sure as yet, but I and my neighbors are trying to learn more about it. Accordinlgy, I am forwarding to you an eblitz I received in that effort. Pershaps it will be of use to your readers who are also trying to educate themselves about this issue. As I am sure you can appreciate, before rejecting or accepting a new position or policy, you at first must know what it is.The reader pointed to testimony offered in support of the Corzine proposal before a joint session of the Assembly Education, Budget and Appropriations Committees. The testimony by Derrell Bradford, deputy director of E3 (Excellent Education for Everyone) can be found here (web) and here (PDF).
I should point out that E3 is organized specifically in opposition to the continued existence of the Abbott districts and hence has a dog in this fight.
To get the view of the Abbott Districts, visit the pages of the Education Law Center (here). You may be especially interested in their testimony before the same committees (see here).
The Education Law Center takes pains to point out that the proposal could hurt suburban as well as urban schools, and pointedly asks what is the rush to pass the legislation.
Now that the deed is done, you may also want to see how your elected representatives conducted themselves in Monday's legislative session. For that you can go to the archived live coverage here.
- Website: "Education Law Center"
- Website: "E3"
- Legislature: "Coverage of Debate"
- Legislature: "Text of A500/S4000 School Funding Bill" (PDF)
-- Dan Damon
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1 comments:
I suspect that Derrell Bradford would take exception to Excellent Education for Everyone, E3, being defined as reactionary and in opposition to Abbott. A look at their Board members explains the high quality of insights and solutions that do not derive from Abbott and do not end with the end of Abbott funding. Everyone should take a look at their analysis of the role Open Enrollment can play in improving education in New Jersey.
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