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Cristie BOE cuts


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Guest Smitty

I heard on the radio that Christie was cutting $1.4 Million to the Kearny Board of Education. Instead of cutting back student programs or laying off teachers, how about we scale back the number of vice principals in the high school and stop paying benefits to lawyers. That would be a good start, you could probably save half the $1.4 million right there alone, getting rid of 2 unnecessary VP's and making BOE attorneys cover their own health costs like every other lawyer in the state.

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I heard on the radio that Christie was cutting $1.4 Million to the Kearny Board of Education. Instead of cutting back student programs or laying off teachers, how about we scale back the number of vice principals in the high school and stop paying benefits to lawyers. That would be a good start, you could probably save half the $1.4 million right there alone, getting rid of 2 unnecessary VP's and making BOE attorneys cover their own health costs like every other lawyer in the state.

I have been noticing the same thing. Kearny not only has Master Teachers (who do not teach, but oversee) for as young as Kindergaten, as well as Vice Principals. There is not a need for both and the Vice-Principals also have other things associated to their position as well. It is something that should be seriously looked at. Hoping someone can enlighten me becuase I just see it as a total waste of Education budget.

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I heard on the radio that Christie was cutting $1.4 Million to the Kearny Board of Education. Instead of cutting back student programs or laying off teachers, how about we scale back the number of vice principals in the high school and stop paying benefits to lawyers. That would be a good start, you could probably save half the $1.4 million right there alone, getting rid of 2 unnecessary VP's and making BOE attorneys cover their own health costs like every other lawyer in the state.

Also cutting teacher aides and instituting merit pay because some of those teachers don't deserve to be paid that much money for ineffective teaching.

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I have been noticing the same thing. Kearny not only has Master Teachers (who do not teach, but oversee) for as young as Kindergaten, as well as Vice Principals. There is not a need for both and the Vice-Principals also have other things associated to their position as well. It is something that should be seriously looked at. Hoping someone can enlighten me becuase I just see it as a total waste of Education budget.

The VP should be in charge of the curriculum in each school. There is so much waste in the budget!!!

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VP in charge of curriculum? WE HAVE A VP OF ATTENDANCE IN KHS! I mean there is just so much waste. We have a VP of Athletics and activities, and to boot we give him TWO secretaries. And what do we get for such expenditures? not much! It's not like Kearny has an elite sports program. Actually it's pretty dismal. And we are not putting out Broadway productions every month too, not to mention the marching band is becoming horrific.

Cal the athletic office of most any high school in NJ. Most A.D. handle all duties without a secretary, some like Westfield (one of the best sports schools in NJ) have a single secretary. We have TWO secretaries. And an A.D. with TWO offices! Talk about WASTE!

A VP of Discipline and ATTENDANCE! Come on. Mr Kirk ran the discipline of the school for years by himself. Now this VP has 2 secretaries, an aide that comes in and gets paid plus a teacher that sits in for periods at a time. Is the school more disciplined now than it was a decade ago? CERTAINLY NOT! It is actually WORSE. There are drugs sold at the school, kids coming in drunk, kids going out to smoke pot on lunch breaks. these are FACTS. More waste.

Education? funny. Kearny used to have students going to Ivy League schools and top universities. Now where do kids end up? HCCC.

There has to be change in our district. The people we have now are not even doing a passable job. Please get out and vote this election

The VP should be in charge of the curriculum in each school. There is so much waste in the budget!!!
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While I concede that Gov. Corzine made far too little progress cutting expenditures in New Jersey, Gov. Christie's plan smacks of the usual crass and callous Republican tendencies -- stick it to higher education and the students who have worked so hard to earn a scholarship and a ticket to a better life; stick it to the poor, who have no lobby and no defense against the ravages of modern Republicanism, stick it to the middle class taxpayers, who will make up the difference in the K-12 school cuts.... and, oh yes, pat the rich folks on the back and let them off scott free. Cutting the NJ Stars program is a tragedy for NJ and the country. Failing to raise revenues from the best possible source -- those who can afford it and those who will only bank it and hide it if they aren't forced to pay more -- is a poke in the eye and a stab in the back to the rest of us

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don'tpanic this is on the web today.

The New Jersey Council of County Colleges is working to sustain the NJ STARS scholarship program, according to a report in The Press of Atlantic City.

The report said Gov. Chris Christie’s proposed budget eliminates funding for the program. NJ STARS offered students who rank in the top 15 percent of their high school graduating class tuition and fees at state community colleges, plus scholarships to go on to state four-year colleges.

Colleges try to find a way to save NJ STARS scholarships amid budget cuts

Print this Article Share this ArticleStory Discussion By DIANE D’AMICO Education Writer | Posted: Monday, March 22, 2010 | 0 comments

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The state’s community college presidents hope to come up with a plan to save the NJ STARS scholarship program in time for this year’s high school graduating class.

“Parents have been counting on this,” said Jacob Farbman, spokesman for the New Jersey Council of County Colleges.

Gov. Chris Christie’s proposed budget eliminates funding for a new freshmen class in September. It provides funding only for students who are already in the program. High school and college counselors had been recruiting for the program, unaware the cut was coming.

NJ STARS guarantees students in the top 15 percent of their high school graduating class free tuition and covers fees at local community colleges. They are also eligible for additional scholarships under the NJ STARS II program if, after getting an associate degree, they transfer to a four-year college to complete their bachelor’s degree.

Now, county college officials are worried they may lose the program permanently. Atlantic Cape Community College has already posted a note on its Web site that the funding is under review.

“We had a big turnout at our first meeting in February,” said Lucy Acevedo, senior admissions counselor at Cumberland County College. “We had another planned for April 6. Now we’re just telling parents to write letters supporting the program.”

Eliminating a new freshman class from the scholarship program will save about $1.7 million, according to the proposed state budget. The budget increases funding about $1.5 million, to just more than $20 million, for students already in the NJ STARS I and II programs.

Peter Mora, president of ACCC, said colleges hope to find ways to continue the program even if it means reducing the scholarships or the number of eligible students.

“It is important enough to maintain it however we can,” Mora said, adding that he would be willing to consider having the college provide some of the funding.

Farbman said middle-class families would be hurt the most by the cut, since low-income students would still be eligible for other federal and state grants.

Donald Doran, vice president of student affairs at Ocean County College, said it is very hard to recruit for the program without a clear message to give to parents. The program has been very popular in Ocean County, and the college has 760 NJ STARS students.

“The scholarship was an incentive to keep students in state,” Doran said. He suggested going back to the original design, which funded just the first two years at the community college.

“The evidence so far is that students in the program have done extremely well,” he said.

The New Jersey Student Tuition Assistance Reward Scholarship, or NJ STARS, program has thrived despite a rocky political history. The law that created it in 2004 provided free community college tuition to the top 20 percent of high school graduates. The first group of 933 students enrolled in the fall of 2004.

The program grew rapidly, and the state Legislature followed with the NJ STARS II program.

But the program also quickly became more costly than anticipated as more middle-class families, ineligible for other financial aid, took advantage of the scholarships, worth about $3,700 per year at community colleges and an average $11,000 per year at four-year schools.

In December 2008, with almost 5,300 NJ STARS students attending community colleges, the Legislature reduced eligibility to the top 15 percent of high school graduates, and also cut the NJ STARS II scholarships to a maximum $7,000 per year based on grade point average.

The future of NJ STARS may not be decided until a state budget is approved, usually in late June. High school counselors said some students had already made plans to attend community colleges because of NJ STARS and it seems unfair to cut them off.

“We have a lot of students who go to ACCC for financial reasons,” said Anne Cancelmo, a counselor at Mainland Regional High School. “We weren’t expecting this. They may still go to ACCC, but it will be more of a hardship.”

Contact Diane D’Amico:

609-272-7241

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