2006 NJPSA Legislative Conference Focuses on School Construction And Funding

The New Jersey Principals and Supervisors Association held their 20th Annual Legislative Conference at the Lafayette Yard Hotel & Conference Center in Trenton, on March 3. Many school leaders gathered to hear about the latest educational issues impacting schools statewide.

The future of school construction was one critical topic discussed. Barry L. Zubrow, the new Chair of the Board of Directors of the NJ School Construction Corporation, in one of his first public appearances, discussed reforms in the works to ensure the success of school projects statewide. Mr. Zubrow has more than 26 years of corporate finance experience and worked at Goldman, Sachs & Co. as the Chief Administrative Officer and head of the Operations and Administrative Division.

"Principals across the state urge the Governor and our State Legislature to act now to renew the funding for school construction for our children’s sake," said NJPSA President Tim O’Halloran, Principal of Somerville High School. "Every day that passes without action increases construction costs, jeopardizes construction projects that have already been approved by the public, and most importantly robs thousands of students of a safe and educationally adequate place to learn."

Others who addressed the attendees included Dr. James W. Hughes, Dean, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy. Dr. Hughes is a nationally–recognized academic expert on demographics, housing and regional economics at Rutgers University. Dr. Hughes provided a comprehensive overview of New Jersey&’s budget and economic outlook for this budget cycle.

NJDOE top officials including Dr. Penelope Lattimer, Chief of Staff; Barbara Gantwerk, Acting Commissioner, Division of Student Services, and Dr. Jay Doolan, Acting; Commissioner, Division of Educational Programs and Assessment, provided an overview of the Department’s priorities for the year ahead. They include the implementation of the new state monitoring law, NJ Quality Single Accountability Continuum (NJQSAC), the controversial special education code proposal currently under consideration by the State Board of Education and state testing.

Scott Young, Senior Policy Advisor, Communities for Quality Education (CQE) spoke of a new study on the impact of NCLB on New Jersey if that federal law remains in place, unchanged, until 2014 the national target date for all students and schools to succeed. Despite New Jersey’s top performance levels, this study indicates that the law will mislabel over 80% of New Jersey schools as failing in 2014, if significant reforms are not made in next year’s congressional reauthorization process.

The conference concluded with a panel discussion with key lawmakers. NJPSA members had the opportunity to voice their concerns about critical education issues including this year’s state budget and state aid figures, the need for the development of a new school funding formula, special education, pension funding, the school budget cap law, the proposed property tax convention and school vouchers. Lawmakers who participated included Senator Joseph Doria (D–31), Assemblyman Louis Greenwald (D–6), Assemblyman Craig Stanley (D–28), Assemblywoman Linda Greenstein (D–14), Assemblyman Joseph Malone (R-30), Assemblywoman Joan Voss (D–38) and Assemblyman Bill Baroni (R–14).

Frank Palatucci, Principal of Highland Regional High School urged lawmakers to prioritize public school funding this budget cycle, "Schools cannot keep doing more with less and still meet student needs and mandated performance standards. Our district is beyond the bottom of the barrel in struggling to find resources to maintain the programs and services our parents demand and our students deserve."