Welcome!

Welcome to Laurie Goodman's blog. I use this space to share news and opinions about education and schools in Ridgewood, the state of New Jersey and the nation, in addition to other issues I'm personally interested in. I invite you to share your thoughts, feelings, questions or opinions, too, by posting comments on any blog entry. Please observe basic courtesy -- keep your comments focused on issues, no personal attacks or bullying, please. Contact me directly at: lauriegood@mac.com

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Sorry for the sporadic posting...work gets in the way!

Just a quick note to let you know I am swamped with work this week so have not been able to post comments or thoughts as frequently as I wish I could. I plan to write something later today about Monday's meeting with the Village Council, and give you more of an idea of where my head is at on that.

Sunday, April 25, 2010

BOE meets Monday with Village Council.

Tomorrow (Monday) the BOE will meet at 5:00 p.m. at the Ed Center, 3rd floor, for a very quick meeting to approve a staffing change and to pay some bills. Then we will adjourn and reconvene over at Village Hall with the Council. That second meeting is supposed to begin at 6:00, and the purpose will be to discuss the school district budget for 2010-11, the failure of the budget to be approved by the community, and what other information the Council needs before they can set the new tax rate.

According to the law, the Council is directed to set the tax levy. There is no presumption or direction that they must cut the levy, although the last time the budget failed, they did make a cut.

I do not know to what extent the Council will want to discuss line items of the budget or where savings might be found or why certain things cost what they do. This is my first time going through this process.

I do not know if there is opportunity for public comment in the meeting at Village Hall. I do know, however, that our abbreviated meeting at the Ed Center will include the customary two opportunities for public comment. Just in case there's anything anybody wants to say to the Board.

I also cannot tell you if the Village Council meeting is televised on Channel 77. I'm sorry, I just don't know about these things. If I find out anything more, I'll post it here.

Friday, April 23, 2010

Cool site: Kids (and you) can feed the world while you improve your vocabulary

I love this simple site. It's called FreeRice and it's sponsored by the United Nations World Food Program in partnership with the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University.

FreeRice has two goals:

1. Provide education to everyone for free.
2. Help end world hunger by providing rice to hungry people for free.

Here's how it works:

Anyone -- students, parents, teachers, you -- click through a seemingly endless series of multiple choice vocabulary questions. For ever word you get right, FreeRice donates 10 grains of rice through the World Food Programme to end world hunger. Get a word right, the next word is a little harder. Get a word wrong, try again with a new word. You can keep going as long as you like -- take a little break from work, feed a hungry child! I just answered a few and got 300 grains of rice donated. That could be a meal for a hungry person!

It's a little gimmicky, but who cares? It's an interesting and engaging way to make a little difference and think about the problem of world hunger. Kids especially seem to be enthralled by the idea of feeding the hungry...learning some new vocabulary words is a bonus. Or is it the other way around?

Share FreeRice with your kids and help them think about world hunger for a little while.

Go to www.freerice.com

Some more info from the FreeRice website:

Whether you are CEO of a large corporation or a street child in a poor country, improving your education can improve your life. It is a great investment in yourself.

Perhaps even greater is the investment your donated rice makes in hungry human beings, enabling them to function and be productive. Somewhere in the world, a person is eating rice that you helped provide. Thank you.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Letter from Dr. Fishbein re: budget next steps.

Emailed to parents today and also available on the District website:

Dear Ridgewood Parents and Guardians,

I write this important letter to you to let you know that a defeated budget does not mean a defeated school system. The Ridgewood schools are strong and the Board and I are committed to keeping them that way.

During the budget presentation process I explained what occurs if the budget is defeated. The process is a complicated one, influenced by state law and regulation, as well as current levels of taxation and spending. The procedure is as follows: The Assistant Superintendent for Business and I prepare a significant amount of state-required documentation about the district's finances, which is then reviewed by the Village Council to establish the school tax levy. After reviewing the materials, the Village Council will recommend one of three options for the 2010-2011 school budget: an increase in the tax levy, a decrease in the tax levy, or no change in the tax levy. If the Village Council requires a decrease in the tax levy (an additional reduction in the budget), the Board will then determine what specific items will be cut to reach that number. When this process is complete our budget will go to the Executive County Superintendent, who can make further changes if he thinks they are necessary. The Village must reach its decision on the 2010-2011 school tax levy by May 19.

These are challenging times for schools and communities. There are harsh realities, including layoffs and program cuts. These realities must be dealt with as intelligently and humanely as possible. However, challenging times can also provide a springboard for cooperation, creativity and renewed commitment to the values and ideas that Ridgewood residents hold most dear. Our obligation as administrators, teachers, Board members and a community is to make sure that our schools remain strong through sustainable budgeting, innovative instruction and ongoing collaboration with the Village Council, our parents and taxpayers, our faculty and staff, and all of our other constituencies.

Ridgewood is a community that has always actively valued education. That's why I chose to live here and educate my own children in this district. The opportunity to safeguard Ridgewood's legacy of educational excellence and lead our schools to greater levels of rigor and diversity for all of our students is also why I chose to work here. Together I know that we can embrace this difficult time and find opportunities for growth.

Thank you for your continued support as we engage in the next steps of the 2010-2011 budget process.

Sincerely yours,
Daniel Fishbein,Ed.D.
Superintendent of Schools

What does it mean?

You know I try to stick to local issues rather than county, state or national politics and "message sending," but I think this excerpt about New Jersey fits for Ridgewood.

Patrick Murray, Director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute, said the following based on Tuesday's votes statewide (comments in parentheses are my translations):

He said, "So, here's what we know about the New Jersey public:

1. They think the size of the cuts in state aid to local schools is unfair. (Translation: the state should give more $$ to school districts)

2. They think the teachers' unions should be willing to come to the table and agree to a wage freeze and benefit contributions. (Translation: They are angry at what is perceived as the teachers' lack of shared sacrifice.)

3. They don't want educational programs cut. (Ummm...no translation necessary)

4. They don't want their property taxes raised. (No translation necessary)

That about sums it up in Ridgewood, don't you think?

How you reconcile those things -- especially when some of them are out of our local hands -- is the challenge. We couldn't do anything about the state aid...we tried to do something with the teachers but they said no (some said yes but not enough) and the contract is legally binding...we cut $6 million in ways that we felt maintained our educational programs as much as possible districtwide, for the most students...and we kept the property tax increase at 4% instead of going higher like some people urged.

And what did that get us? A visit with the Village Council. If these four points were the key, then it would follow that we needed to cut more, period. Of course, you all watched as we made the cuts. You saw what else is on the list...do you see how #3 and #4 cancel each other out, when #1 and #2 are in force?

We'll meet with the Council soon, and take it from there. We'll get there.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Random thoughts the day after the vote…

I have been sitting in a meeting on the 46th floor of a building today, far away (figuratively) from Ridgewood, trying to switch out of BOE mode and into work mode. Every time someone posts a comment on my blog, however, I get an email to my phone…so obviously I’m not doing so well with putting the vote out of my mind for a few hours. (Sorry to my client for another day when you only get my partial attention!)

First, I thought it was clear but let me clarify my comment last night about the guy running down the stairs (who really did exist, by the way). My description of him being “uninformed” was in response only to his comment “I admit I don’t know anything about the issues.” (Well, that and the fact that he thought we were replacing guidance counselors with flat screen TVs.) I thought it was a funny thing to say…don’t you think that’s a tad remarkable…that he admittedly didn’t know the facts, but just wanted to vote? I did…

This budget process, and the election process, was difficult (to say the least). I don’t think a similar perfect storm has existed before. It was hard to communicate the facts of the operating budget in the face of anger about property taxes, the economy in general, state mandates, budget caps, union refusals…I mean, the fact that the total budget is going DOWN next year, and yet our taxes are going UP…that’s a mind-bender that’s hard to explain. (And yet it can be explained, as I did last week – click here.) The vote wasn’t a “landslide” or a “mandate.” It was pretty close. That almost makes it harder.

The day after an election like this, the natural thing is to figure out whom to blame. There are plenty of nuances and perspectives and we can slice the blame up many ways. Some of the biggest “servings” would have to go to the REA (clearly their action – inaction? -- upset voters enough to say no), Governor Christie (telling people to vote no to send a message, mis-speaking when he said if teachers took a freeze then no programs would be cut -- not true), the Bond Referendum in December (two school tax increases in 4-1/2 months), the BOE (maybe we should have cut more after all? $6 million wasn’t enough? In spite of our vast improvement in communications, we must still do better).

Beyond that, I’m going to resist too much quick Monday-morning quarterbacking. This takes some thoughtful, careful consideration and analysis, and we will be undertaking that as a Board very soon. We will be asking for your thoughts and listening to your input.

For now, we’ve got to work with the Village to get the tax levy set, so we can get to work moving the district forward. I’ll post when I know more about the timing, steps, etc.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

School budget is defeated 2601-2508

updated 4/21/10 @ 8:10 AM

The unofficial budget results show a defeat in a close vote. The absentee ballots still need to be counted, which will happen tonight, so updated numbers should be available in the newspapers in the morning.

Updated results 4/21: Yes = 2537; No = 2639

We'll have plenty of opportunity to deconstruct what happened. For now we need to act quickly to get the Village Council the information they need so they can set the new tax rate. Will keep you posted on the process, timeline, etc.

But first, a quick humorous (sort of) story:

Tonight at 5 minutes before 9:00 I left the Planning Board meeting at Village Hall in order to head to the Ed Center for the election results. As I was going down the stairs, a man ran past me, saying, "I need to hurry up and go vote the budget down!" I sort of gasped, and he said, "They're firing guidance counselors and buying flat screen TVs for the classrooms!" I told him, in the interest of full disclosure, that I'm on the School Board. He said, "I don't care. I admit, I don't know anything about the issues...I just know the union is killing us and the crazy taxes have got to stop!" I tried to say something, but he didn't want to listen and ran off.

So there you have what is may be a classic "no" voter: semi-informed, angry about high taxes and not interested in having a conversation because he's in a hurry to send a message. Sorry if I sound bitter -- can you indulge me for one evening? Tomorrow I'll get back to proactively engaging with the public (I hope I meet that guy again someday, so I can better explain the issues -- and the facts) and working to move our schools and school finances forward. Good night.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

$89 million school budget:
a "NO" vote does not "send a message" to anyone.

The following is reprinted from an anonymous post on The Ridgewood Blog 4/18/10:

...Unfortunately, some people don't seem to understand the implications of this vote.

First, a "NO" vote does not "send a message" to anyone. It does not have an impact on teachers benefits or their raises for next year. It simply means that the budget will get turned over to the Village Council (who know NOTHING about the school's needs or situations) to determine the amount of the tax for next year. They can assign ANY tax rate they want. They can increase the budget and raise taxes more, or they can cut the budget and limit the taxes. They are accountable to NO ONE on this issue. The most likely outcome is that they cut the budget more and reduce taxes, which will result in further teacher cuts...unfortunately, they will be the newer and more enthusiastic teachers, who most of us would prefer to have teaching our children. I, for one, do not want Annie Z or Keith K making any decisions about my children's education.

A "YES" vote simply preserves the budget that the BOE has presented with its existing cuts for next year. This does not send a message to anyone either. However, it ensures that the people, who are most knowledgeable about our school system, are making the decisions about how much and what to cut. This vote ensures guarantees that we do not cut any more teachers, that have already been proposed. While some of us would like to see some tenured teachers, who are in "coasting" mode lose their jobs, that will not happen, regardless of the voting results.

Note from Laurie:

This is basically the exact post I intended to write today, so thank you to "anonymous" for saving me some time. I have been so frustrated all weekend, whenever I heard someone say they want to vote "no" in order to teach the REA "a lesson." I just don't see the logic in that. And I've listened to enough comments from teachers to feel that for many of them, no matter how bad it gets, they're dug in for the long haul (or at least until the next contract negotiation).

Please vote YES on Tuesday. Polls are open from 7:00 AM to 9:00 PM. Results will be posted as soon as they are known.

Reason #1 to Vote YES on April 20:
It’s up to us.

No one else is going to help us. The state has made it clear that we are on our own. No union will be riding in on its white horse to save the day with last-minute concessions. It’s up to us. The taxpayers. The community. We must take care of business for the good of Ridgewood. We owe it to our children and we owe it to the property owners of this town. Keeping our schools strong is the best way we can prepare our children for the future. Keeping our schools strong is our best chance for getting our property values back up. Approving this budget is the first step to keeping our schools strong.

This business of creating the budget, making the cuts and getting out the vote...this has all been just the prelude to the actual work that needs to begin to evolve the district...and it needs to begin soon.

Let’s stop blaming Christie. Let’s stop blaming the NJEA. Or the REA. Let’s stop blaming Trenton. Or whoever else “out there” you feel is undermining our schools. Forget about "sending a message." If you want to send a message, get involved and voice your opinion. When you’re in the election booth, none of that matters. In the booth, it’s time to stop the talk, and walk the walk (couldn’t resist).

It's up to us. Let’s come together, move past the budget and get busy improving the district and making the adjustments necessary to work within the economic reality of 2010-11.

Reason #2 to Vote YES on April 20:
It’s not all doom & gloom.

So much of the conversation surrounding the budget has focused on the unprecedented number of cuts we had to make, first to keep the budget under the state cap and then to make up for the loss of our state aid. But it’s important to remember the positives:

Student achievement is high. U.S. News & World Report ranks RHS in the top 2.5% of high schools nationwide. SAT scores are high. Our Class of 2010 has four National Merit Finalists, 36 Garden State Scholarship recipients and 102 College Board AP Scholars. And more...

Our staff is accomplished. RHS Social Studies teacher John Dombille was named 2009 VFW New Jersey Teacher of the Year. GW Teachers Dee Kuiken and Jen Make published a children’s book. Janelle Rose Jacoby, GWMS Orchestra Director, was selected to conduct the 2010 Jr. Regions Orchestra. And more...

Our class sizes are low. One of the things parents have communicated over and over is their commitment to keeping class sizes as low as possible. We've been able to continue to honor that commitment with this budget.

Our extra-curriculars are strong. A Ridge student was a winner of the National Geography Bee. Two BF violinists won seats in the 2010 New Jersey All-State Intermedia Orchestra. The RHS Ice Hockey team won the NJTCC Bergen/Hudson Division championship. And more...

Our program is growing and improving. The 2010-11 budget contains programs and services that exceed the State Board of Education’s Core Curriculum Content Standards, including: New math textbooks for grades 3-5 (funded by ARRA grant). New middle school courses in Shakespeare, Speech & Debate, Realistic Fiction & Short Stories, Foundations of Algebra, Dramatic Expressions, Conversational Spanish and Social Skills (Special Ed). New high school courses include Advanced Math Applications, Integrated Physics & Art, Entrepreneurship, Music Mentors, Journalism Production, and more. And new high school textbooks for AP Calculus, Physics, Chemistry, Psychology, Sociology, AP Macro/Mico Economics...And more...

I’ve said this before: The cuts we had to make are painful. We’re all going to have to work hard to adjust. (Or as Jack Lorenz says, “ a lot of people will have to do a lot more work”). We will do it. When you vote on April 20, you’re not voting for all the cuts we made…you’re not voting for the things we’re leaving behind. You’re voting for the future. In spite of the economic forces working against the district, the budget we approve will move us forward. Because on April 21, the day after the budget vote, we’ll still have the things that make Ridgewood great. We’ll still have amazing students, we’ll still have involved parents and we’ll still have excellent staff.

Please vote YES on April 20!

Saturday, April 17, 2010

At least Christie will honor our referendum construction grants.

From the department of "What, me worry?"

Press release from the New Jersey Association of School Business Officials, 4/17/10:

GOVERNOR CHRIS CHRISTIE ANNOUNCES SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION FUNDING


Trenton, NJ -- Governor Christie announced today that schools construction projects in school districts across New Jersey will soon begin to receive funding for projects following approval for the sale of $500 million in new bonds by the Board of Directors for the New Jersey Economic Development Authority.

The New Jersey Schools Development Authority (SDA) will use proceeds from the bonds toward school facilities projects in SDA Districts and continue the SDA grant program for Regular Operating Districts (RODs). These state-funded ROD grants represent at least 40 percent of costs for projects in non-Abbott districts, addressing health and safety issues, student overcrowding and other critical needs. Local districts fund the remainder.

"It is important for these school projects to move forward with state financial support," said Governor Christie. "My administration is committed to providing exemplary educational facilities for our students in all school districts across New Jersey. The sale of these bonds is a fiscally responsible way to continue to address the school-construction needs of New Jersey's public schools."

A story for the grandkids someday...

Feeling sorry for the RHS students and staff who are trapped in Germany due to the freaky cloud of volcanic ash. Everyone is fine, and their host families are graciously allowing them to stay longer, but I'm sure it's nerve-wracking to be there with no idea of how long it's going to last or how they're going to eventually get home. We've received reports that everyone is OK and they are just hanging out and keeping busy with day trips and US-vs.-Germany soccer games as they monitor reports on the airspace and when flights will be allowed to leave.

The staff who are accompanying the kids are doing a great job of keeping everyone calm and upbeat. I'm sure it is hard for them to be away from their families longer than anticipated.

What a crazy thing...it will definitely be a great story they can all tell their grandchildren some day!

Dollars & Sense will testify before Assembly budget committee on Monday.

Reprinted from Dollars & Sense Advocacy email 4/16/10.

The Office of Legislative Services recently released their analysis of the proposed budget. It didn't offer a positive assessment regarding the impact on public education.

"The proposed FY 2011 budget reduces direct aid to schools districts by $1.09 billion. The Executive Branch has suggested that school districts can cope with the recommended decrease in aid by entering agreements with personnel to forego scheduled salary increases and contribute 1.5 percent of their salaries to the cost of health insurance premiums."

The paragraph concludes saying, "In summary, it is estimated that if all school districts took these actions, they would still have to address a budget shortfall of at least $849.3 million (77.9% of the proposed aid reduction)."

It also said, "The proposed State aid calculation departs significantly from the funding provisions of the School Funding Reform Act (SFRA) of 2008." We remember very well what the State Supreme Court's opinion said. Our organization took great exception to the SFRA, but at least it was an attempt to deliver funding for every child. Proposed language changes alter the viability of the formula. For all of that work and all of those efforts to be cast aside is unacceptable. It is clearly an invitation for the litigation we can expect in the near future.

Looking ahead, the cost to recover from the proposed budget cuts is much too high. Some of the proposed cuts carry an after the fact cost that increases exponentially. The recent report of AHSA (the current alternate high school exit exam) scores illustrates the point. Of the 10,000 students who took the alternate assessment, the passing rates were only 10% in language arts and 34% in mathematics. Approximately 7000 students are going to need remedial help if they are to graduate. These students' needs aren't going to disappear. Seriously reducing programs, like summer school, will lead to an increase in our high school dropout rate. It's bad business and we can't afford it.

Monday, April 19th, Dollar$ & Sense Education Advocacy will testify before the Assembly Budget Committee. Among the points we hope to make are the following:

1) The issues at hand aren't about the Governor or the NJEA. Nobody, on either side of any issue, responds well to a bully. A governor bully and a union bully both do a disservice to those they serve. The point is, good ideas and necessary reforms are often lost when poorly presented.
2) At a recent forum, Senator Gordon said. "We can't solve 15 to 20 years of problems with one budget." This simple truth must be clear to everybody.
3) The issues we face aren't strictly fiscal. We have to realize that social, educational, and fiscal perspectives must all be considered together. The proposed approach looks only to fiscal, and only the upfront costs at that. The cost to recover from certain cuts is well beyond the value in savings. That is where the proposed budget fails. "Penny wise and pound foolish" is shortsighted, socially deficient, educationally devastating, and fiscally irresponsible.
4) Chopping and slashing provides short-term relief and long term regret. The education of our children and those in need of social services or medical care are still going to need remediation or health care tomorrow. We know from vast experience that problems left for tomorrow cost more than addressing them today. If we can't do it all, we still must do the very best we can.
5) We don't fund schools efficiently. We don't distribute aid equitably. We don't tax citizens or businesses fairly and this continually is to our regret. If we can be told that everything is on the table, then all possible solutions must be on the table as well. Possible solutions are available that address the true core of our problems.

Friday, April 16, 2010

Reason #3 to Vote YES on April 20:
There is no such thing as “back to the drawing board.”

I’ve heard a couple of people say they want to vote “no” on the budget in order to “send a message.” Some want to send a message to the teachers’ union, whose members voted against offering concessions to help the budget. (I think I’ve already stated how I think this strategy is wrong-headed and dangerous.) Others want to send a message to the District, saying things like “voting no will force them to go back to the drawing board” and come up with different cuts.

Unfortunately, there is no such thing as “back to the drawing board.” We already exhausted the drawing board. Our budget process over the past few months explored so many options for cuts and savings. We listened to administrators and teachers, we listened to the public, we listened to each other and we came up with the best combination of cuts for 2010-2011. There aren’t a bunch of other cuts sitting out in the margin somewhere. $6.4 million contains pretty much every cut we feel we could manage.

And even if there were alternatives, going back to the drawing board is not how the process works. If the budget fails, then by law it goes directly and quickly to the Village Council. That body will then set the new tax rate. Whatever number they set, is the number we have to live with. Obviously, our elected Village Council members will want to do what they think the public wants…they are feeling their own pressures as they make their own plans to raise taxes for the municipal budget. So it’s virtually certain that the Council will mandate further cuts. So our school budget would basically contain all the cuts currently proposed plus more cuts to meet the Council’s tax rate.

Let’s not put the budget in the hands of the Village Council…They’re perfectly nice people, but they are not operating with the functioning of our schools as their top priority. They are not well-versed in the ins and outs of the school budget or day-to-day school operations. With their own election looming, they can’t help buy let political concerns influence, even just a tiny bit, their decisions.

Please Vote YES on April 20!

Governor Christie's latest "deal o' the day" could be devastating for Ridgewood

I'm truly sorry that every idea that Governor comes up with -- and he seems to have a new one every day -- is met by my skepticism or negative prediction. Honestly, I wish the guy would come up with something thoughtful and positive, something that shows he actually grasps the complexities of the issues and the ramifications of his sound bite education policy. I'd love to support some good, creative, non-destructive ideas.

Instead, the latest Hail Mary from Trenton is one of those over-simplified ideas that could harm our schools for years:

The governor has proposed changes to the state's pension and benefits rules that would give an incentive to teachers to retire. Under the plan, teacher retirements could jump seven-fold, with as many as 30,000 veteran educators statewide exiting before the next school year. In Ridgewood, estimates are that as many as 100 teachers could suddenly retire. While the money savings realized by replacing those higher-paid senior teachers with lower-paid new teachers could be significant, let's just think about the further ramifications:

If 100 teachers suddenly retired over the summer, Ridgewood would need to scramble to hire replacements. If 30,000 teachers retired statewide, we would find ourselves competing mightily to fill our staffing holes. And what happens when there's competition? Higher salaries...more expensive benefits...other forms of compensation or enticements to potential employees. We could find ourselves having to pay more to attract new teachers.

Another fallout -- with a seller's market created and staffing holes all over the state, we would likely see some of our remaining teachers deciding to test the waters and see if they can get a better deal somewhere else.

Then there are the effects in our classrooms. Many of our senior teachers function as either formal or informal mentors for our younger teachers. We would suffer with the loss of this experience.

Logisticallty, 100 new teachers getting up to speed, getting to know the district, the curriculum, getting to know students, parents and administrators...that's not the most smooth transition.

And, finally, what on earth is the Governor thinking in encouraging so many teachers to start drawing pensions? Can the state afford to pay out all those pensions? Considering the state has NOT funded its obligations into the pension system for 11 of the 15 years, I highly doubt the system can afford such a large outflow of cash.

I can't wait to hear what Governor Christie's idea is for today...

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Reason #4 to Vote YES on April 20:
We already enacted, long ago, the “typical” cost-saving measures.

In some ways, Ridgewood Public Schools are a victim of our own success when it comes to finances. When state regulations imposed the infamous “cap” that allows us to increase our tax levy no more than 4%, school district budgets were essentially frozen in time. From that day on, the potential increase of any budget was limited. Districts that were wasteful and bloated or, shall we say, robustly or luxuriously funded (depending on how you look at it) at that time, began their tiny increases at the higher level. When cuts were needed to stay under cap, those districts had plenty of “fat” to cut. Districts that had already taken cost-saving measures and were already lean, found it harder and harder to identify “extras” to eliminate.

That’s where we are today in Ridgewood. We already have one of the lowest Cost Per Pupil spending rates around. We already have one of the highest ratios of students to administrators. Our class sizes are already on the higher side (not “high,” per se, but compared to some neighboring towns). And over the past 20 years, Ridgewood Public Schools has already undertaken many of the cost-saving efforts that some districts are just now contemplating:

-- We already outsourced our custodial & maintenance services 14 (or was it 17?) years ago
-- We already outsource our cafeteria services
-- We participate in a bid consortium for purchasing all instructional, office and co-curricular supplies
-- We belong to a consortium that buys energy in bulk to save $$
-- We contract with an energy monitoring company that has saved us hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years
-- We belong to a telephone service consortium for buying telephone services at discount
-- We upgraded our phone service to VoIP last year, reducing our phone service fees from $100,000/year to $700/month
-- We participate in an insurance consortium for purchasing our property, liability, etc., insurance

Every day I seem to see another story in the newspaper about a district “looking into” outsourcing its custodial service or food service. How nice for them that they have that option! Because we already did these things – and we have saved thousands of dollars since – we unfortunately don’t have those relatively “easy” options available to us today.

As you can see, Ridgewood Schools work hard to save money and be as efficient as possible in our spending. This is another good reason to Vote YES on April 20.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Glen Rock teachers agree to pay freeze.

Reprinted from Bergen Record, www.northjersey.com, 4/12/10

In a bold move going against the grain of the state’s teacher’s union, the Glen Rock Education Association (GREA) agreed Monday to take a pay freeze for the 2010/2011 school year.

In exchange, the BOE agreed not to outsource any custodial positions for at least one year.

"I cannot tell you how grateful we are, and the entire town of Glen Rock should be, that our teachers have proven once again that they do put the welfare of our children and this district paramount in their thinking," said BOE Vice President Barbara Steuert, a member of the negotiation committee.

Meanwhile, the Glen Rock Administrators Association will also agree to a wage freeze – meaning that all employees in the district will be working at the current salaries in the next school year.

On March 31, the BOE voted 5-3-1 against ratifying a tentative agreement it reached with the GREA in February after more than two years of negotiations. The agreement was reached before school officials learned the district would receive no state financial aid for 2010-11. At the March 31 meeting, Superintendent of Schools Dr. David Verducci and Business Administrator Michael Rinderknecht agreed to take pay freezes, and some BOE members asked the district’s teachers to make similar concessions.

On Monday night, the BOE voted 8-0-1 in favor of the revised agreement. Trustee Carlo Cella III, whose wife is a teacher in the district, abstained. The mood at the meeting was jovial, with rounds of applause coming from the audience of mostly parents and teachers after the announcement.

GREA President Sue McBride said the teachers voted "in a significant majority" to support the revised contract at its meeting on Monday afternoon, and called her membership’s decision "magnanimous."

"They acted with grace under pressure, keeping in mind the students, programs and schools of Glen Rock, and also with hopes of saving the jobs of colleagues," she said.

McBride said that although the state teacher’s union, the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA), had advised the GREA to "stand up to the bullying of the governor," Glen Rock had been in a unique position.

"There were a lot of things in play here: protracted bargaining, significant cuts in the budget and an upcoming [public] vote," McBride said. "At the end of the day, it’s the [local] membership’s vote. The NJEA respects that."

A spokesperson for NJEA could not be reached for comment at press time.

Rinderknecht said the pay freezes from the GREA will save the district about $800,000, and the freeze from the administrators association should save approximately $35,000. Further, in exchange for pay freezes, Governor Chris Christie offered last month to give districts the money the state would save on Medicare and Social Security tax contributions — an amount that would provide 7.65 percent in extra aid for every dollar gained in savings.

Steuert emphasized that the BOE will "do our best to focus the reinstatement on classrooms."

Verducci underlined that even with the concessions, there was still an $857,000 budget shortfall in Glen Rock, and the district’s list of cuts will still be applied.

"But based on the concessions of all employees, that list would get dramatically shrunk," Verducci said.

Rinderknecht said such a jostling of the budget leading into a school election was unprecedented.

"I’ve been in the business 30 years and I’ve never seen this before," he said. "We’re freeing up money where we can bring back lost positions, but post-election, so the cart’s in front of the horse. We’re going to try to spare as many positions as possible with the monies that were freed up."

The district’s agreement with the GREA includes pay increases already negotiated for most employees for each school year from June 2008, when the union’s previous contract expired, to this year. The district anticipated those pay increases in its 2008-09 and 2009-10 budgets, and the raises will be applied retroactively.

Steuert added that the new agreement includes some pay adjustments for the top tier of teachers, so that no employee would be paid less after healthcare premium adjustments were made.

Reason #5 to vote YES on April 20:
We kept the budget cuts out of the classroom as much as possible.

As we looked at places to cut from the school district budget, we avoided some “quick fixes” that could have taken big chunks out of our expenses. For example, we have maintained class sizes at the relatively small numbers we currently enjoy and which the community has supported over the years. Even though there is not “scientific” evidence or studies that "prove" class sizes directly affect student achievement, it has long been felt by parents, and by teachers and administrators, in Ridgewood that class size has an impact on learning, classroom management, etc. As someone who came from California, I personally survived in very large classes (average of about 30) growing up. My daughter was in a classroom with 40+ students in 2nd grade. This was the norm and we dreamed about the luxury of having 22 or 25 kids in a class. (A little perspective is good.) In talking with the community during the budget process this year, I heard over and over parents asking that we please keep class sizes where they are. Luckily we were able to maintain that priority.

Other cuts we made in an attempt to stay away from the students’ daily classroom experience included: supervisors, supplies, secretaries, professional development, co-curricular, athletics, staff development, Director of MIS, Director of Curriculum, freezing aide and non-affiliated salaries.

Obviously, we couldn’t keep all the cuts away from students. Unfortunately, our cuts to Guidance services at the high school, Reading Recovery in first grade, textbooks, and other cuts will be felt throughout the district. But overall, we were able to lessen the impact and retain as much of our programs as possible. Click here to see the complete list of cuts...If you spend a few minutes looking carefully, I think you will see that we have been mostly successful in minimizing the impact of the cuts.

Something to remember: as painful as the cuts are, and as hard as we’re all going to have to work to adjust, we will do it. On April 21, the day after the budget vote, we’ll still have the things that make Ridgewood great. We’ll still have amazing students, we’ll still have involved parents and we’ll still have excellent staff. Those are the things that truly make our education excellent.

Any questions about the budget, please get the facts: Visit the district website's budget page, email questions to budget11@ridgewood.k12.nj.us, or post comments here.

Please vote YES on April 20.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Reason #6 to vote YES on April 20:
Our budget is DECREASING from 09/10 to 10/11.

While it’s correct that our tax levy is increasing at the cap-induced maximum of 4%, in reality, the Ridgewood Public Schools’ overall budget is going down next year.

Huh? How does that work?

If you look at the budget for the district (click here), you will see that revenues are decreasing from $90,494,444 in 09/10 to $89,441,565 in 10/11. This is due primarily to the cuts in state aid.

Because we have a balanced budget, you will also see that our expenses are likewise decreasing from $90,494,444 in 09/10 to $89,441,565.

Once we factored in the increases in our expenses (contractual increases, tuition increases, health insurance premiums going up, transportation costs going up, etc.) and then factored in the decrease in our revenue (thank you, Governor Christie), we were left with a big gap. A tax increase of 4% closed part of the gap. And the $6.4 million of programming/staff cuts closed the rest.

The important point I wanted to make today is: we have trimmed a lot from our budget. We are not increasing our overall budget. We still have the same number of students. And we’ll still educate every one of them. Voting YES on the budget will allow us to provide the education that we’ve worked so hard to maintain, through the budget cut process. Voting NO on the budget means we’ll have to cut even more (assuming the Village Council would recommend additional cuts).

Please VOTE YES on April 20.

Monday, April 12, 2010

Christie has either lost his mind or he really doesn't care who gets hurt in his quest to break the NJEA.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the rabbit hole, the other side of the looking glass, the place where nothing makes sense.

I just read this headline on NJ.com:

Gov. Chris Christie urges voters to reject school districts' budgets without wage freezes for teachers.

I am speechless.

Except for this:

Please, voters of Ridgewood, use your heads and don't be swayed by what Governor Christie wants.

Christie wants to break the NJEA? OK.

Christie is playing power and politics? Whatever.

At the end of the day (sorry, I do hate that phrase), the residents of Ridgewood only owe their allegiance to one entity -- and it's not a big guy in Trenton, whether that big guy is the governor or the chairman of the NJEA. The citizens of Ridgewood answer to ourselves. And our children.

The REA should have voted to accept the concession presented by their leadership -- not because Christie told them to, but because it was the right thing to do for Ridgewood.

We need to pass the budget on April 20 because it's the right thing to do. Failure of the budget will result in further cuts to our educational programs. Failure of the budget will not teach the NJEA or REA a lesson. It will only hurt our schools.

More to come...

Reason #7 to Vote YES on April 20:
We held the tax increase to the 4% cap.

Before anyone starts in with complaints that the Board views the 4% cap as a “target,” consciously choosing to budget to that level of growth no matter what…let me just say this about that (as my Dad used to say):

Six months or so ago, we started talking at Board meetings about the upcoming budget. We discussed looking at several options, including versions with tax increases of 0%, 1%, 2%, 3% and 4%. For myself, I can say that I was hoping there would be some way to create a budget with a less-than-cap tax increase. I knew it would probably mean some cuts, but I wanted to at least see what it would look like.

Of course, this was long before we knew about our health insurance premiums going up almost 30%...before we knew exactly how much our transportation costs or out-of-district tuition costs would be rising…and before we ever could have imagined losing 100% of our categorical aid from the state.

The fact is, the District had to cut over $6 million just to create a budget that was based on a 4% tax increase. These cuts are painful and deep. The idea that we could somehow cut even more, to increase taxes, say, 3%, is basically unfathomable. To me.

So, I guess in one sense, this year the 4% increase did become something of a target. It was a target that would let us establish a limit to the cuts to our programs and our Ridgewood education.

Now we could have, legally, created a budget that incorporated a 5% tax increase. Or 6%. Or more. Our loss of state aid qualified us to get a waiver to raise taxes over the cap. Board members heard from many community members who actually asked us to do this. The common theme of these emails and calls and conversations was: please don’t cut so deeply. We’re willing to pay more for our schools.

The Board discussed the idea of going above the cap, and determined that our community, overall, would not support such a budget. There were two primary themes in the communications I personally received: 1) some people said they simply could not afford to pay more. 2) Others said they might be willing to pay more, if the teachers’ union had been willing to give some concession on their contract.

In the end, the Board’s goal was to approve a budget that we felt the community could support. We need the budget to pass (or else more cuts will be made...more on that in a future post).

Any questions on the budget, feel free to comment here, or send an email to budget11@ridgewood.k12.nj.us. You can also review the budget, the cuts and other budget information by clicking here.

Please vote YES on April 20.

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Reason #8 to Vote YES on April 20:
Want cuts to administration? We’ve done it.

Throughout the process of talking about the budget over the past few months, some in the community urged us to try for equity in spreading the impact around and keeping the fallout as far away from students as possible. If you look at the entire list of cuts, we are actually making fairly major cuts in administration & Ed Center staff.

As part of a restructuring of supervisors, there will be a reduction of three supervisors: there will be a new, combined position of Director of Wellness & Athletics. Similarly, the positions of Math Supervisor and Science Supervisor will be combined. The Director of World Languages position will be eliminated and those responsibilities moved to another supervisor (at the moment, I can’t remember where).

At the Ed Center, the cuts include:
-- Elimination of the Director of MIS
-- Elimination of the Director of Curriculum
-- Elimination of a Staff Developer
-- Elimination of the Public Information Officer*
-- Elimination of a secretary in the Curriculum Dept
-- Elimination of a secretary in HR
-- Cutting a Community School secretary to half-time

There may be a couple more secretarial positions, but the administrative cuts listed here total approximately $850,000

I know there is a perception among some people that we are "administrator-heavy." But the facts do not bear this out. We are a large district, the largest in the county. We have very few administrators, and these cuts will help to streamline even further. (See Reason #9 for voting yes on April 20: high ratio of students-to-administrators.)

For those who advocate cutting in the Curriculum area: we do need someone to direct our curriculum. Aside from the regular updating that must take place to keep up with the state's core content standards and to keep our curriculum current, many of the changes we're implementing due to these cuts will require that new curriculum be written or existing curriculum be revised. In addition, the Office of Curriculum and Instruction is responsible for all staff development, instructional improvement, state testing & analysis, observations & evaluations of first-year teachers, supervising K-12 librarians and supervising K-5 Language Arts, Math, Social Studies and Science.

Don’t forget – one of the issues that was discussed during the recent math "situation" was the community's desire for less "site-based management" of elementary curriculum and instruction, and more consistency across the district. The Asst. Superintendent of Curriculum is responsible for that consistency.

That being said, the administration has proposed cutting the Director of Curriculum, which removes a "layer" from that department.

All in all, the 2010/11 budget represents a pretty significant reduction in administration and supervision.

Please vote YES on April 20.

Reason #9 to Vote YES on April 20:
Our ratio of students to administrators is high. We are leaner than most districts.

One of the ways to evaluate how “top heavy” a district is, is to look at its ratio of students to administrators. The more students there are per administrator, the better. Right? So how do we stack up?

According to the recently released Comparative Spending Report from the New Jersey Department of Education, Ridgewood’s ratio of students to administrators for 2009/10 is 207.2. This ranks us at #25 out of the 105 districts, grades K-12, with enrollment of 3501 or more. This is relatively efficient: many districts have far more administrators than Ridgewood.

Even though our current ratio of students to administrators is already fairly high, it will be even higher in next year’s DOE report, since we’re cutting administrators and supervisors inthe 2010/11 budget. Tomorrow, in Reason #8 to Vote YES, I’ll outline the administrative cuts that are planned.

Please vote YES on April 20.

Reason #10 to Vote YES on April 20:
A Ridgewood education is a good value, with a relatively low Cost Per Pupil.

According to the recently released Comparative Spending Report from the New Jersey Department of Education, Ridgewood’s Cost Per Pupil ranks below the state average. Our CPP for 09/10 is $13,096. This ranks us as #49 in a low-to-high ranking of 105 K-12 districts with enrollment of 3,501 and up. (Last year, our ranking was #58, meaning our costs have risen less than other districts in that group.)

The highest spending district of comparable size is $18,882 in Pemberton Township. Do you think they get as high quality education in Pemberton Township as our children do in Ridgewood? Even with all that spending? I don’t think so.

FYI, the lowest spending district is Monroe Township at $10,132. The state average for districts of our size is $13,860.

The fact is: a Ridgewood education is a good value.

Please vote YES on April 20 so we can preserve -- and improve -- the efficiencies and the education we currently have.

Friday, April 9, 2010

Host families needed for students attending Global Classroom Conference in Ridgewood June 9-18

Ridgewood High School is the only North American High School involved in the Global Learning Classroom project. Our students collaborate with students from Sweden, Japan, Cape Town South Africa, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Czech Republic and the Shetland Islands on a themed topic each year. The year of collaborative study culminates in a student-led conference in June in a host country. This year, Ridgewood is the host, which is quite an international honor.

Right now, the RHS coordinators for the Conference are signing up families to host students from around the world. 50 families are needed. Each family is asked to host two (2) students (or a single teacher chaperone) from June 9 to June 18.

The students need a place to sleep, shower and receive some meals. The home stay provides them with an opportunity to experience, first hand, American family life. Students will sleep in sleeping bags and do not expect extraordinary or fancy accommodations. Friendship is the key.

All of the students are motivated learners and will be traveling with teacher chaperones. They will be kept fairly busy during their time in Ridgewood, with a pre-set schedule, although there will be some free time to spend with host families.

This truly is a memorable experience of a lifetime for Ridgewood families, who will have the opportunity to get to know teens from other countries and share a little bit of Ridgewood.

For more information or if you would like to sign up to be a host, please contact Principal Jack Lorenz's secretary, Julie Beites, at Julie Beites at jbeites@ridgewood.k12.nj.us.

Click here to read more about the Global Classroom Conference at RHS.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Education cuts all over...

Clever video on the sorry state of education funding in my home state of California...is New Jersey heading in that direction? (It's good to laugh at the craziness sometimes...)

Monday, April 5, 2010

Educators, parents protest aid cuts at Paramus forum

I couldn't make it to the Forum at Paramus High School tonight...I know some Ridgewood residents attended. Here's the story from the Bergen Record at www.northjersey.com:

Educators, taxpayers and students took to a forum at Paramus High School Monday night to protest cuts in state aid that they contend will devastate the quality of their schools.

“Governor Christie’s proposed cuts … are the most irresponsible, insensitive and reckless act by a public official I have ever witnessed,” Charles Reilly, a former president of the New Jersey School Boards Association, told the crowd of about 120. “It cannot be justified.”

Christie’s proposed budget for fiscal 2011 slashes state aid to schools by $819 million, with some districts losing as much as 5 percent of their entire budget. Christie blames the severity of the cutbacks on the loss of $1 billion in federal stimulus money for schools this year, and says he was hired to clean up the state’s financial mess after years of overspending.

Signs reading “Bergen County United” dotted the auditorium and organizers hope the county’s 15 state legislators will fight to reverse the cuts. Dollar$ and Sense Education Advocacy, which pushes for effective school funding and says Bergen County deserves a fairer share, arranged the forum.

Bergen faces $102 million less in state aid next year, a 41 percent reduction. Passaic will get $64 million less, an 8.5 percent cut.

The average reduction in aid for counties is 17 percent.

“Maybe the districts’ anti-bullying policies should be applied to the governor as well,” said Richard Snyder, a Ramsey school board member who runs Dollar$ and Sense.

Paramus Superintendent James Montesano said he hosted the forum in part because his district, which is losing 99.8 percent of its state aid — $3.5 million — is a “poster child” for the harsh impact of the cuts. The district faces the loss of 18 teaching positions and 18 support staff.

“Given the fact that Bergen is densely populated, when you tally up the amount of dollars floating down the Turnpike south to Trenton in sales tax, income tax, licensing fees for motor vehicles, with Paramus shopping centers … and seeing so few dollars float back this way,” he said.

State Sen. Bob Gordon, D-Fair Lawn, said prior to the forum that Bergen had “taken a disproportionate hit. If these cuts are sustained we’ll see a dismantling of some of the best schools in the state.”

Gordon said superintendents have warned of more than 1,000 layoffs countywide, and that he and his allies would do their best to push for a different plan for distributing aid. The Christie administration asserts that they used a 2008 court-approved school funding formula when calculating aid cuts, but critics disagree.

“When we get into budget negotiations we’ll argue for an alternative approach,” said Gordon, citing examples such as temporarily re-imposing the so-called “millionaire’s tax” on residents with incomes over $400,000. Christie has said New Jersey needs to cut spending and stop relying on boosting taxes that push businesses and high earners to leave the state.

“I’m hoping there will be give and take,” Gordon said. “We can’t solve 15 to 20 years of problems with one budget.”

Matthew Howard, student council president and a football player in Glen Rock, said he is worried about how fellow students would fare with fewer AP course options, bigger classes and the elimination of freshman sports teams.

“If I was only able to participate in three years I don’t know how far I would have been able to go,” he said. “It wasn’t just about winning games. You really find your character being a member of an athletic team. It’s hard to make a team in four years let alone have to do it in three.”

David Verducci, the Glen Rock superintendent, said that while he doesn’t object to the governor’s mission to conquer the state’s deficit, “he wasn’t elected to decimate schools. We could accomplish his goals if he’d talk to us.”

Verducci and other administrators said easing costly, wasteful mandates that impose tons of red tape on districts would be a better way for Trenton to save money.

“He should try diplomacy instead of strong-arm tactics,” Verducci said. “What political capital will he have left when schools in Bergen County are decimated?”

Saturday, April 3, 2010

Realizing the mistake that was NCLB.

Interview in US News & World Report with Diane Ravitch, former Assistant Secretary of Education under George W. Bush. Ms. Ravitch has gone from a conservative advocate of school choice, vouchers and high-stakes testing to being critical of same. Change of heart? Her book, The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice are Undermining Education, is reportedly a strong indictment of No Child Left Behind and other Bush-era policies she helped create.

In the interview, Ms. Ravitch answers the question, What should parents do to ensure that their children are getting the best education? She answers:

There are two different questions. One is what should parents do, and the other is what should policymakers do. If policy makers simply say, "It's every family for itself," we're going back to the early 19th century, before we had public education. Some people had private tutors, and some people sent their kids to religious schools, and some people got together and had little schools that they created. Then at a certain point, there was an awareness that the public had a responsibility to educate the children of the community. If we're doing a bad job of that, we really should develop public policy that looks to improving the quality of those schools and not just close them down and hand them over to private entrepreneurs. Because then we're creating a marketplace, and markets have failures. Markets do not succeed in providing equal opportunity. They succeed in creating winners and losers. We saw that in the [economic collapse] of the fall of 2008, and that could happen to our schools as well.

Interesting and sure to incite protests from pro-school marketplace folks. I have to admit, the winners vs losers point is a good one...because when there are losers they will be children, and that's not acceptable.

Some states are looking at alternatives to seniority-based teacher layoffs

Interesting op-ed piece in the LA Times about the frustrations and ramifications of laying off teachers according to seniority only. California is laying off around 30,000 teachers, so this is a pretty big concern throughout the state. The authors of this article talk about creating a "quality-based layoff system." Supposedly some other states are doing it...teachers in these other states seem to support it. I wonder what New Jersey's teachers would think? Is anyone working on this here?

Check it out...
California's quality-blind layoffs law harms teachers and students

Posted using ShareThis

Friday, April 2, 2010

Bad Friday for NJEA

On a day when I have too much work to do for my clients and no time to post, it's nice to run across a good post from another blog, NJ Left Behind. Reprinted (reposted?) here:

Two highly regarded columnists – Kevin Manahan of the Star-Ledger and Alfred Doblin of The Record – take a cohort of teachers and the NJEA leadership to task today for, respectively, infantile behavior on Facebook and calamitous stewardship.

Manahan describes profane language plus poor grammar and spelling on the the New Jersey Teachers United Against Governor Christie’s Pay Freeze page.

Peter Griffin, supervisor of the music department at Hopewell Valley Regional High School, who makes $114,787 a year, asked on Facebook: "How do you spell A--hole? C-H-R-I-S C-H-R-I-S-T-I-E. To those of you who voted for this fat piece of sh-t, shame on you!"…These are the same teachers who demand to be treated like professionals. What’s next, Chris Christie poopy jokes?

Doblin looks specifically at the NJEA leadership team, whom have eschewed Gov. Christie’s request for a one-year salary freeze, in spite of the fact that such a gracious move would save at least a few jobs by lowering payroll costs and increasing state aid. Our school districts are 600 Titanics and Christie is “one sharp piece of ice.”

The NJEA either can hold firm while it watches hundreds of its members lose jobs or it can blink and save many union jobs while gaining credibility with taxpayers. The answer is so easy to see. But the same might have been said on April 14, 1912, about a large chunk of ice.

Can the NJEA resuscitate its image? A goodwill gesture of a one-year salary freeze would serve everyone well, especially students and (mostly young, non-tenured) teachers about to join the ranks of the unemployed. Can NJEA's leadership muster the good sense and strategic foresight necessary? Stay tuned.