Monday, July 23, 2012
Employment and revenue lag, while pension gap, debt, and infrastructure needs are high
- GOVERNMENT
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Monday, July 23, 2012
By Mark Magyar, NJ Spotlight The jump in New Jersey’s unemployment rate last month to 9.6 percent -- the farthest the state has been above the national average in 30 years -- is just the latest in a series of sobering statistics on the state’s economy and budget. The 0.4 percent increase from May’s unemployment rate put New Jersey 1.4 percent higher than the national average of 8.2 percent, although the bad news was offset somewhat by a gain of 9,900 jobs during the month. But more troubling news came out of the State Budget Crisis Task Force report issued last week by a blue-ribbon panel of economists. It warned that New Jersey and other state governments faced looming fiscal crises in the years ahead that will require new revenues or …
Thursday, July 19, 2012
One of Senator Weinberg's goals, who's paying for what at the NJ Department of Education.
It’s not a typical request from a ranking legislator, but state Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Teaneck) doesn’t always follow the beaten path. Last week, Weinberg announced in a press release that she had filed an Open Public Records Act request to the Christie administration for information on a now-familiar topic: who’s paying for what jobs in the state Department of Education. The request was largely a repeat of an OPRA request made by one of the administration’s prime antagonists, the Education Law Center of Newark, Weinberg said, and it appeared to raise few new lines of inquiry. But for Weinberg to jump into the debate was notable. She is the Senate Majority Leader, the second highest post in the Senate, and also a prominent member of the …
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Two charters that blend virtual teaching with traditional classroom education have been approved by state DOE
They are the online charter schools that haven’t gotten much attention in New Jersey, the ones that will blend online tools with in-person teaching. That lack of attention is likely to change soon, however. Acting Education Commissioner Chris Cerf on Monday cleared the way for two of the so-called hybrid or blended charter schools to open out of Newark next month, offering students a full-day experience in the classroom, along with a heavy dose of online learning. It’s a big distinction from the all-online programs that generated so much debate in the past month, where students would be taking classes out of their homes. The state on Monday postponed the opening of two such virtual schools for at least a year. The founder of the Merit …
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Some of the schools that didn't make the list may be the most interesting of all
The Christie administration yesterday put out a short list of charter schools given final approval to open in the fall, but more interesting was the far longer list of those not getting the go-ahead. Nine schools were granted final charters, according to the announcement from the state Department of Education late yesterday, including four in Newark and two in Camden. More notable was the department’s decision to postpone 10 other school openings for another year, including the state’s first all-online schools. Another 13 schools that it had approved earlier were outright rejected. Among those 13 were two suburban charters -- Regis Academy Charter School and Princeton International Academy Charter School -- that had been at the center of …
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
State Department of Education currently reviewing final charters for online schools
As New Jersey awaits a decision on its first online charter schools, the operator of three of those proposed schools isn’t taking any chances. Officials of K12 Inc., the nation’s largest online education firm, are in Newark this week continuing to wrap up the details for the three schools it would manage, one an entirely online venture from kindergarten through 12th grade and two others that blend online and in-person instructions for high school students. The three have each won preliminary approval from the state. Now, they're waiting for a decision this week on the final charters needed to open in the fall. In the meantime, top K12 executives and staff were traveling to Newark and neighboring cities yesterday to continue to sign up …
Friday, July 6, 2012
Ambitious and strict, the state's new anti-bullying law is also out of funds
The deal was announced in the governor’s office in early March, a bipartisan agreement to save New Jersey’s anti-bullying law with an infusion of cash and a promise to take a harder look at ways the state can support school districts. Four months later, the cash for last year has been spent, none is appropriated for the next, and the task force created to examine the law and its impact is still to meet. Such has been the checkered history of the new law, considered one of the toughest in the country for its strict rules to investigate and closely track accusations of bullying. But from the start, some schools have bristled at several of the requirements, with a few bringing a legal challenge against the state claiming that it was creating …
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Governor Sharpening Veto Pen for Budget and Millionaire’s Tax Bills
- GOVERNMENT
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Tuesday, June 26, 2012
By Mark J. Magyar, NJSpotlight.com The Democratic-controlled Legislature called Gov. Chris Christie’s bluff yesterday, voting unanimously to raise income taxes on millionaires but refusing to vote for the tax cut Christie wants until the governor’s revenue estimates start coming in on target. Now it’s up to Christie to decide how to get what he wants out of the five-month battle over income tax cuts, property tax cuts, millionaire taxes, and revenue projections that has dominated the Statehouse since he first called in January for a 10 percent income tax cut that would cost the state $183 million in its first year. The Republican governor vowed Friday to give Democrats “one long, hot summer ‘til they cut your taxes,” and he issued a …
Monday, June 25, 2012
One-shot revenues, tax cuts, pension debt, and borrowing blow $2.5 billion hole in FY2014 budget.
- OPINION
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Monday, June 25, 2012
Article written by Mark J. Magyar for NJSpotlight.com. If the Legislature approves the proposed $31.7 billion FY13 budget and the tax cut that Gov. Chris Christie is demanding, New Jersey will face a built-in $2.5 billion hole in the following year’s FY14 budget – a gap almost twice as large as the combined increase in income, sales, and corporate taxes that Christie is projecting for the year ahead, a NJ Spotlight analysis shows. Even if the Democratic-controlled Legislature decides next year that the state cannot afford the controversial tax cut, the state would still need to come up with $2 billion in revenue growth in Fiscal Year 2014 just to cover the required increases in pension costs, transportation borrowing and already-approved …
Saturday, June 16, 2012
Fearing revenue shortfall, Democrats back off original tax cut plans, but may send Christie a millionaire’s tax.
- GOVERNMENT
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Saturday, June 16, 2012
If Gov. Chris Christie and Democratic legislators stick to their guns, New Jersey could be headed to its second state government shutdown in six years on July 1. Christie has vowed not to negotiate any state budget with the Democratic-controlled Legislature that does not include a tax cut. But Democratic legislative leaders made it clear yesterday that the only tax cut Christie might get before June 30 would be a direct property tax cut funded by an $800 million income tax increase on millionaires, and that might not happen because Democrats are divided over whether to give Christie the opportunity to veto a millionaire’s tax for the third year in a row. What Democrats agree on is that the $183 million Christie has earmarked for an income …
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Governor works town hall meeting, while legislators continue to work behind the scenes on two tenure reform bills
Tenure reform, New Jersey style, took a few more twists and turns yesterday, with Gov. Chris Christie pressing the case in public while legislators and staffers continued to work in private on a couple of fronts. The Christie push came at one of his town hall meetings, this one before more than 600 people in a Haddonfield middle school. He again invoked the example of just 17 teachers facing tenure charges as ineffective in the past decade, out of more than 100,000 in the classroom. “Do we really believe there are only 17 ineffective teachers in New Jersey?” he asked the receptive audience. He has called for tenure reform to be decided in the next 19 days before the traditional summer break at the end of June. It is among his top …
bobby
9:37 am on Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Gov. Christie is too busy running for President or picking fights on the boardwalk. Looks like his "Soprano" kind of diplomacy ain't gonna work either. more ›