N.J. is out of running in first round of federal 'Race to the Top' education funding

By Kristen Alloway/The Star-Ledger

March 04, 2010, 5:22PM

New Jersey is out of the running for the first round of the federal Race to the Top education funding, the U.S. Department of Education announced today.

New Jersey was one of 40 states and Washington, D.C., that applied in January for a share of $4.35 billion aimed at education reform. The Race to the Top competition rewards states for education improvement plans, including tying teacher evaluations in part to student achievement and revamping poor-performing schools.

The U.S. Department of Education announced that 15 states and Washington, D.C., are finalists for the grant competition including Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina and Tennessee. States that were not finalists today can reapply for the competition later this year.

"These states are an example for the country of what is possible when adults come together to do the right thing for children," U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said in a statement.

Winners will be announced next month.

Acting Education Commissioner Bret Schundler said today that New Jersey's application was probably denied because union leaders in more than 350 of the state's school districts refused to endorse the application.

New Jersey Education Association spokesman Steve Wollmer said the union is willing to work with Schundler, but is concerned that the federal grants would leave the state with long-term cost commitments.

N.J. appeals court rules state may skip teachers' pension fund payments

By Lisa Fleisher/Statehouse Bureau

March 04, 2010, 2:23PM

TRENTON -- In a ruling against the state's largest teachers union, a three-member appellate court panel this morning said New Jersey is not constitutionally required to pay the millions it owes every year into the fund for teachers' pensions.

The decision came amid a fight in Trenton over how to fix the state's underfunded pension plan -- including a proposal to change the constitution to require the state to fund pensions.

The New Jersey Education Association, which represents more than 200,000 workers in the state's school systems, had sued in 2003 and said their members' pensions were at risk because the state did not pay its pension bills in full.

Since 2004, the state has skipped $9.5 billion of the $12 billion it was expected to pay -- using it to balance the budget and fund other priorities.

As of last June, New Jersey owed nearly $46 billion more than it had available to pay its $135 billion bill for current and future retirees' pensions, according to calculations released last week.

Proposed bills would reduce benefits for future workers and require current workers to pay 1.5 percent of their salary toward health care -- though some workers already do this.

The NJEA has said it opposes a bill that would ask voters to approve a constitutional amendment to fund the pensions, objecting to a provision that would phase in the minimum required payment over seven years.

State workers unions say they also worry voters would turn down the amendment.

The Associated Press contributed to this report