Melvin L. Wyns is an expert in New Jersey Public School Finance and a former Director of the NJ Department of Education’s Office of School Finance (1988-2001),is the only witness today. He was retained to analyze the reduction of state aid and the impact of level of accuracy in the current spending level SFRA.
SFRA (School Funding Reform Act) is a statute and as I was reading the statute I found this to be particularly interesting: “The State in addition to any constitution mandates , has a moral obligation to ensure that New Jersey’s children, wherever they reside, are provided the skills and knowledge necessary to succeed any school funding formula should provide, resources in a manner that optimizes the likelihood that children will receive an education that will make them productive members of society”. It seems to me that the State has been failing our children for a long time. Since the beginning of this trial I have heard testimonies over and over on how the lack of funding has hurt children across the State of New Jersey.
For example, Mr. Wyns testified today that Trenton was above adequacy in funding in 09-10. Now with the current level of funding, it is below adequacy. The districts with the highest At-Risk students lost the most in state aid. Mr. Wyns had a power point that he explained in detail which I could not see and could not catch it all, but I did ask David Sciarra if it would be posted online and he said it would be on their website. I would suggest that you look at it because it was quite interesting. The spending adequacy in current year shows 72% are being educated in districts that are defined as being under adequacy. Mr. Wyns stated that if fully funded most districts after 3 years would be in adequacy. See Mr. Wyns' certification with some of the data, but not the Powerpoint.
The other thing in the SFRA statue I found interesting is “The Constitution of the State of New Jersey states that the Legislative shall provide for the maintenance and support of a thorough and efficient system of free public schools for the instruction of all children in the state between the ages of Five and Eighteen years'. The State must provide, and they have a Moral Obligation to ensure, that children in Public Schools have a thorough and efficient education with resources to make them productive members of society. Well they failed. Our children are not getting what they are supposed to be getting under the current budget and may not get it with the proposed budget for next year. The State has not even provided all the necessary resources that kids need to pass the test that they have imposed. What is wrong with this picture?
I am rooting for our children.
SFRA (School Funding Reform Act) is a statute and as I was reading the statute I found this to be particularly interesting: “The State in addition to any constitution mandates , has a moral obligation to ensure that New Jersey’s children, wherever they reside, are provided the skills and knowledge necessary to succeed any school funding formula should provide, resources in a manner that optimizes the likelihood that children will receive an education that will make them productive members of society”. It seems to me that the State has been failing our children for a long time. Since the beginning of this trial I have heard testimonies over and over on how the lack of funding has hurt children across the State of New Jersey.
For example, Mr. Wyns testified today that Trenton was above adequacy in funding in 09-10. Now with the current level of funding, it is below adequacy. The districts with the highest At-Risk students lost the most in state aid. Mr. Wyns had a power point that he explained in detail which I could not see and could not catch it all, but I did ask David Sciarra if it would be posted online and he said it would be on their website. I would suggest that you look at it because it was quite interesting. The spending adequacy in current year shows 72% are being educated in districts that are defined as being under adequacy. Mr. Wyns stated that if fully funded most districts after 3 years would be in adequacy. See Mr. Wyns' certification with some of the data, but not the Powerpoint.
The other thing in the SFRA statue I found interesting is “The Constitution of the State of New Jersey states that the Legislative shall provide for the maintenance and support of a thorough and efficient system of free public schools for the instruction of all children in the state between the ages of Five and Eighteen years'. The State must provide, and they have a Moral Obligation to ensure, that children in Public Schools have a thorough and efficient education with resources to make them productive members of society. Well they failed. Our children are not getting what they are supposed to be getting under the current budget and may not get it with the proposed budget for next year. The State has not even provided all the necessary resources that kids need to pass the test that they have imposed. What is wrong with this picture?
I am rooting for our children.
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