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I was listening to the radio and they were discussing this bill and what it means. They addressed the funding issue by saying that the money will follow the student. Unfortunately no one could say exectly what money will "follow the student". Based on what they said the STATE money allocated for each pupil in a district would follow them to the new district. Additionally the new district would gain the right to claim that student in their numbers for the purposes of formula aid. What I don't get is what about the large differences in tax dollars between districts and what is spent per pupil.
Some districts get almost no aid per student, so to really cover this, the state should cover the per pupil cost (number of students divided by school budget) but that would make it a much more expensive bill.
Inevitably any system the state of NJ comes up with will be half baked for at least two reasons -- one is that the state is in dire financial trouble, and the other is that most people in NJ feel the current system works for them -- the conservatives like the "keep the bums out" approach to education, and the unions enjoy the rigidity of the labor market. A system that keeps a large chunk of conservatives and liberals happy or at least complacent enough not to push for substantive reform, is inevitably a pretty stable equilibrium.
Everyone seems to be forgetting that both districts must be in agreement. Any afflient school district that opens itself up to any town not at least on the same economic level will find themselves voted out.
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the former district was responsible for the costs of transporting the student to the new school.
Or more accurately, the taxpayers. How is this saving costs. This guy doesn't have a clue.
You want your kid to go to a great school, do what everyone else does. Work to earn the tuition. Not put the cost on the taxpayer. Better yet, privatize the schools and let the parents pay to educate their own kids.
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the former district was responsible for the costs of transporting the student to the new school.
"Or more accurately, the taxpayers. How is this saving costs. This guy doesn't have a clue."
This is what I don't get, either. It seems very expensive, depending where the student lives and where the school is. Is there a distance limit? What happens if the kid is in football or cheerleading or something else that requires they be at the school at times other than school hours? I assume the "home" district has to pay for that transport, too?
Maybe this bill will give towns the incentive to improve their education, quit being on the failing list, and do the right thing - simply for fear of losing funds. If losing kids = losing funds, then we may see some real changes in education in some towns.
bill will give towns the incentive to improve their education,
That won't happen until the parent(s) start giving a dam and stop looking at the school system as a babysitter. How many have aclue what their kids are doing in school? Not as many as there should be.
There is still the option of renting in a top notch town for the school system, so why even buy in a rich town just rent in a top notch town and when the kid graduates, move the heck out! Maybe expensive but if you cant afford that town with that school system as far as home ownership RENT.
There is still the option of renting in a top notch town for the school system, so why even buy in a rich town just rent in a top notch town and when the kid graduates, move the heck out!
I would in a heartbeat, if we could. We're stuck for now, in a crappy situation, which I believe I told you about in the past, Marilyn.
And to the poster before, you're right, parents don't give a crap, which is the problem to begin with. When you are fighting the majority though, it helps to have a choice.
And as I said before, the parents that don't care won't even look into sending their kids out of district, simply because "they don't care".
I totally disagree with the concept of opening school districts, specifically that there are many home owners who have worked and sacraficed to purchase a house in a desirable school districts. In fact many home owners sacrafice on a continous basis to maintain and keep there homes in a school districts. Bottom line house values are directly related to school perfromance and reputaions.
It would be unfair for those who have worked hard to send their kids to good school districts. Property values would probably go down say if Millburn allowed Newark students to go to their school districts. This is an extreme example but you get the point.
If you bought you house in the past 3-4 years during the real estate high and were planning to sell and up grade but are now stuck, why should people who bought houses in a good school district be penalized for your decision.
People note that they would cover the transportation cost, this cost is a small drop in the bucket when assessing the total cost per pupils as a whole, not including other issues such as safety, reputation, etc.
This proposal is just window dressing and will never happen, school districts will lawyer up, all I see is lawyers making allot of money and no end to the issue.
Tenafly has been going through this issue for years, regarding expanding the school district borders.
The politicians will never get elected again if they let that happened.
Just my opinion.
I totally agreed with you. I paid a premium to move to Cranford because school.
Some peoples' situations have nothing to do with the boom. They have to do with other circumstances beyond their control. Maybe what used to be a good district has gone to crap, maybe the market has dropped so much that they just can't afford to move. There are many things going on in many peoples' lives. You never know what someone is dealing with when you talk to them.
We just had a car wash for my daughters' softball team to raise money for breast cancer research (they're playing in a charity tournament), and a man pulls his disgusting car around, looking disheveled as could be. The car wash price was $5. He hands us a $10, says "keep it, and thank you for doing this, my mother has breast cancer and isn't doing well". To look at this man, you would have thought he wasn't a very upstanding person, when really, he is dealing with so much, he is probably either too busy or too emotionally drained to take care of things that most of us think are necessities.
Point, just because of someone's address/look/dress/car, you shouldn't judge them. There are good and bad everywhere. There will only be a handful of parents in a so called, "bad" zip codes that will look into trying to help their kids better themselves.
I don't see why anyone would have a problem with good, high performing kids going to a different school if there is money to be had by the receiving district.
If that is the case, Chris Christie is a sham and con man. Everyone deserves a good education not just the rich.
People who work their tails off all their life (to get a great education & then a job that pays well) are supposed to just support your kids in our school system?...who don't live in our town?? hahaha. How about you either: a) work on improving the school system in your own town (and paying the taxes or putting in the work to do it) - what a concept!! or b) lower your own personal standard of living and get an apartment (instead of a house, for example) in a district with a good school system. If you're too selfish to do either of these things, don't expect to milk off the efforts, education, and money of others who have worked hard for many years to actually earn it.
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