PRINCETON: Organization works to find more school funds

By Charley Falkenburg, Staff Writer
   New Jersey public schools are scrambling to prevent the adoption of Gov. Chris Christie’s proposed 2013 budget, which would continue to underfund school districts for the fourth year in a row.
   Concerned parents, citizens and board members gathered at Labyrinth Books for an open forum on Saturday held by Save Our Schools New Jersey, a statewide grassroots organization that aims to protect public education. The forum’s intent was to raise awareness on the proposed state budget, which Save Our Schools said would underfund public education in the state by more than $2.5 billion over the next five years.
   Schools in the 16th Legislative District alone would lose $82.3 million. The Princeton, Montgomery and West Windsor-Plainsboro school districts would be underfunded by $9.4 million, $6.5 million and $11.2 million respectively, according to Save Our Schools. Jennifer Keyes-Maloney, the assistant director of the New Jersey Principals and Supervisors Association, emphasized the negative impact of the proposed changes to the School Funding Reform Act of 2008 (SFRA), the school funding formula, which would go into effect if the budget is passed.
   ”The administration is now coloring outside of the lines,” said Ms. Keyes-Maloney. “It’s using the budget process to move these new methods forward by building the budget around them.”
   New Jersey schools are funded based on the needs of individual children, regardless of where they live. The state gives additional funding for children who are very poor, have little English proficiency or have special needs because they are more expensive to educate.
   However, acting Education Commissioner Christopher Cerf outlined specific changes to this formula in his 2012 Education Funding Report in an effort to save money and help close the state’s achievement gap.
   The report includes proposed changes such as basing enrollment count on daily attendance rather than a single-day count and creating a new way of identifying at-risk students instead of using the free and reduced-price lunch program. There formula would also return to the original school funding reform levels, which Mr. Cerf said were artificially inflated.
   Districts at or above “adequacy” would also receive 50 percent less adjustment aid, with reductions being phased in over a period of five years. Save Our Schools sent a testimony letter to the Assembly Budget Committee in March, asking for a budget that would distribute state aid based on the current funding formula.
   The letter pointed out the proposed formula changes would have a disproportionate impact on communities with larger percentages of low-income and non-English speaking students — two groups that would receive a reduction in state aid.
   ”These are issues that affect children in every community across the state,” said Ms. Keyes-Maloney. “We must urge the legislators to be engaged and realize these implications.”
   Following the discussion on funding formula shortfalls, Julia Sass Rubin, of Save of Our Schools, spoke about Mr. Cerf’s proposed changes to charter school regulations, many of which violate the existing New Jersey charter school law.
   Save Our Schools said the new changes would give Mr. Cerf the ability to expand existing charter schools into new school districts, enlarge its grade and enrollment levels, change a school’s mission and goals and close a charter school with no cause or warning.
   ”The schools would be at the whim of the commissioner — there’s no guarantee that you’re OK,” said Ms. Rubin. “It’s very worrisome and doesn’t amount to good policy.”
   The proposed amendments would also open the door for virtual charter schools, five of which are already planned to open in September. Ms. Rubin said the schools would be funded at the same levels as brick and mortar schools, which receive money from public schools to benefit the for-profit firms that promote them.
   Ms. Rubin said K-12, an online for-profit education firm, is providing content for four of the online curriculum. The Herndon, Virginia, firm has recently made national news by being sued by its shareholders for allegedly providing false information regarding its performance levels.
   Ms. Rubin urged everyone to lend their support to Assemblyman Patrick Diegnan, who recently introduced a bill to put a moratorium on virtual charter schools until the Legislature can study the issue better.