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NJ Spotlight--Poll: Is There a Good Way to Fix School Funding in New Jersey?
Two school funding plans have been proposed and another is in the works, but will any of them actually get the job done?
Gov. Chris Christie has been pushing his "Fairness Formula" — which would level school funding across the state — both in the courts and by taking it directly to the public. Senate President Steve Sweeney’s plan calls for a special committee to find a solution, and by including only legislators, it bypasses the governor entirely. Assembly Speaker Prieto is said to have his own strategy on the way.
Top of Form
In the waning days of the Christie administration, what’s the best way to address what everyone agrees is an unbalanced school funding formula
October 27, 2016
Trenton Times--Special-ed group asks feds to investigate Trenton schools
TRENTON — A special education advocacy group is asking federal officials to investigate Trenton Public Schools over allegations that the district has failed to provide special-needs students with mandated services and the required support staff in classrooms.
The Special Parent Advocacy Group, along with the Trenton branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, filed two complaints Friday with the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights.
Nicole Whitfield, the group's founder and executive director, said that even though she has spent the last year filing complaints with the state and meeting with school, city and state officials, she still gets almost daily calls from parents and teachers frustrated with the district's continued noncompliance with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
"Our students are still without services and they're still being neglected by the district," Whitfield said Wednesday.
Cristina Rojas | For NJ.com{ October 26, 2016 at 2:45 PM, updated October 26, 2016 at 3:54 PM
NY Times: An Annuity for the Teacher — and the Broker
A look inside the high-pressure job of selling
workplace annuities to public schoolteachers.
Bradley Bergeron’s first professional job out of college was selling retirement savings investments to public schoolteachers in Connecticut. The applications he carried in his black leather briefcase, however, were for one type of product only: a high-priced variable annuity.
“From the teacher’s standpoint, they really miss out getting quality advice,” said Mr. Bergeron, 27, who sold the plans for Axa Advisors’ retirement benefits group. “People who are in the schools pitching them and positioning themselves as retirement specialists are really there just to sell them one product.”
Workers at private companies typically enroll in a 401(k) retirement plan approved by the employer, which is held responsible for the menu of investment options offered. But public school employees and people working for nonprofits and religious institutions are often exposed to brokers who operate in a more unruly marketplace under different rules, which are defined by a patchwork of state laws and less stringent securities regulations.
Brokers and insurance executives say it has become more difficult to walk into schools freely in recent years — the Los Angeles Unified School District, for instance, strictly forbids soliciting on campus.
By TARA SIEGEL BERNARDOCT. 26, 2016
