Quote: "Do not train children to learning by force and harshness, but direct them to it by what amuses their minds, so that you may be better able to discover with accuracy the peculiar bent of the genius of each."– Plato
Last updated: 03-26-2006
DID YOU KNOW...NJ State provides about $7.7 billion in taxpayer money each year to help pay for public education. About $20 billion of the roughly $34 billion collected through property taxes each year is also used for schools.
DID YOU KNOW... The revenue from NJ State lottery system that was suppose to be used for education does not go to fund our schools? All or most of the money goes to the NJ correctional facility.
DID YOU KNOW...In 1972, a Superior Court held that the funding of public schools, relying as heavily as it was on local property taxes, violated the thorough and efficient clause of the state constitution, as well as the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution. "Clearly," the Court's ruling read, "a large number of New Jersey children are not getting an adequate education. This is caused in part by insufficient funds in many districts despite high taxes."4 The court's ruling was centered around the gross inequities that the property-tax-based system of funding created.
DID YOU KNOW...The Court, in its ruling on the constitutionality of the law, reaffirmed a position it had taken since its first Robinson decision - "if the local government cannot carry the burden [of adequately funding education], the State must itself meet its continuing obligation." 10 The Court found that the law did not fully address this obligation - it did not specify from where state funds would come to fulfill this duty. "The 1975 Act," the opinion reads, "is silent as to how this contingency of local fiscal inability is to be met. It does not say, in so many words, where the money is to come from in the event of a showing that a local school district is performing inadequately due to a fiscal insufficiency." 11 Nevertheless, the Court upheld the constitutionality of the law, "assuming it is fully funded." 12
DID YOU KNOW...Did you know that there are approximately 612 school districts in NJ. Out of that 612 districts, 31 are considered Abbott districts.
DID YOU KNOW....Those 31 Abbott districts receive 54% of state aid and the other 581 districts receive ONLY 46% of state aid? read more
DID YOU KNOW...What an Abbott District is?
1. must be classified by the Department of Education as urban;
2. must be those with the lowest socio-economic status, thus assigned to the lowest categories on the Department of Education's District Factor Group (DFG) scale;
3. "evidence of substantive failure of thorough and efficient education;" including "failure to achieve what the DOE considers passing levels of performance on the High School Proficiency Test (HSPT);"
4. a large percentage of disadvantaged students who need "an education beyond the norm;"
5. existence of an "excessive tax [for] municipal services" in the locality where the district is located; and
6. a large percentage of students of color
DID YOU KNOW...Did you know that at the time that Abbott v. Burke was rendered, NJ ranked 3rd in the country on per pupil spending? Logical Question Presented in Law Article: Did we really need to start spending more per pupil if that were the case?
DID YOU KNOW ... The following districts are considered Abbott districts: Asbury Park, Bridgeton, Burlington City, Camden, East Orange, Elizabeth, Garfield, Gloucester City, Harrison, Hoboken, Irvington, Jersey City. Keansburg, Long Branch, Millville, Neptune Township, New Brunswick, Newark. Orange, Passaic, Paterson, Pemberton, Township, Perth Amboy, Phillipsburg, Plainfield, Pleasantville, Trenton, Union City, Vineland & West New York
DID YOU KNOW...Gov. Jon Corzine won 13 of New Jersey's 21 Counties: Atlantic, Bergen, Burlington Camden, Cumberland, Essex, Gloucester, Hudson, Mercer, Middlesex, Passaic, Salem, and Union. Corzine won the three most populous Counties (Bergen, Essex and Middlesex), five of the top six and seven of the top nine.
DID YOU KNOW... Gov. Jon Corzine lives in an Abbott District (Hoboken)
DID YOU KNOW...That NJ State mandates that public school districts have an open checkbook policy when it comes to paying for a special needs programs and that school districts are suppose to get reimbursed by the State for any money they spend over $40,000 per child? Yet Marlboro has only received $.17 on the dollar
DID YOU KNOW... Gov. Jon Corzine current budget can not afford to reimburse school districts for the money they lay out over $40,000 for a special needs child?
DID YOU KNOW....That in some cases a special needs child can cost the public school in excess of $100,000? Where are is a public school suppose to get that money from?
(Marlboro CARES supports any money needed to educate special needs childen but it should not be at the detriment of the local tax payers. It should be paid for and funded at the State Level)
DID YOU KNOW...From FY '02 - '06 for each year that CEIFA has failed to be implemented, one of the leading reasons why CEIFA has not passed relates to the fact that 61.5% of the growth in the local tax levy for regular operating districts relates to Growth in Special Ed and Health Benefit Costs. Nearly $1.5B more additional Special Ed and Health Benefit Costs were incurred during that time period while the Total Growth in the Local Tax Levy Was Nearly $2.4B (Source- Garden State Coalition - Section on Special Ed.)
DID YOU KNOW...On March 2, 2006 at a scheduled township council meeting, Dr. David C. Abbott, Superintendent of Marlboro Public School system, delivered his school budget presentation for fiscal year 2006-2007. Notably absent was one of the most important political leaders in our community, MAYOR ROBERT KLEINBERG.
DID YOU KNOW...New Jersey spends more on K-12 public education than any state in the country, by far. In fact, spending in our urban districts is twice the national average (of all schools) and is 30-40% more than New Jersey suburban district spending read more
References: http://www.new foundations.com/ETHICPROP/Badessa718F04.html
DID YOU KNOW...The recent Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) settlement by township officials adds 1,100 housing units that, when completed in 10 years, is expected to bring an additional 324 elementary school children into the district?
DID YOU KNOW... Did you know that current projections expect there to be an additional 725 students in the K-8 over the next five years bringing expected K-8 to approximately 7,000 students?
DID YOU KNOW...Did you know that 20 years ago Marlboro K-8 had 3,717 students?
DID YOU KNOW...Did you know that Marlboro has had an increase in over one hundred students per year for each of the past ten years from 1996 to present with some years showing much more than that (1997=356 new students and 1999 with 245)?
DID YOU KNOW...Did you know that from 2001 to 2005 that while the district population increased by 370 students (or roughly 6.4%) the "classified students" requiring special services has increased by 199 (or roughly 43% over the prior classified student enrollment)?
DID YOU KNOW...About the "Educational Facilities Construction and Financing Act," P.L. 2000, c.72 change the law which governed the financing and construction of school facilities? The Law establishes a comprehensive program for the financing, design, renovation, repair and new construction of primary and secondary schools throughout the State. The most significant change in the law is the level of State aid for public school construction. In the past, school districts received State aid for construction debt at the same percentage as their State aid for operating costs. Under that formula, almost half of the State's school districts were ineligible for any construction aid. The new Law guarantees construction aid for every school district in New Jersey. The minimum level of aid is forty percent (40%), and Abbott districts will receive one hundred percent (100%) of eligible costs. How large is the school construction program? It is anticipated that there may be $12 billion expended on school construction over the anticipated ten-year life of this program. Of that amount $8.6 billion will be State contracted debt issued by the New Jersey Economic Development Authority and the balance will be raised through local school district voter approval. The Program is the largest public construction program undertaken by the State of New Jersey and represents one of the largest school construction programs in the nation.
