Education Blog

The state Board of Education swore in four new members in February who will help set policy for the Christie administration's education agenda.

New Jersey doesn't just spend a lot of money on education, it also makes a good effort  to distribute it in a fair way that benefits all students according to a report released today.

A bill has been introduced in the state Legislature that would require school districts to incorporate dating violence education into the health education curriculum.

If your child came home today knowing a little bit more about the U.S. Constitution you can thank Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia, who pushed for a law that would require all schools that get federal funds to acknowledge the anniversary of the signing of the Constitution on Sept. 17, 1787.

The $400 million in lost Race to the Top federal education funds was the hot education topic last week, and while the Legislature can have all the hearings it wants on the issue, the money has been doled out and New Jersey isn't getting any. 

The Governor's office late Tuesday afternoon released the report of the Study Commission on New Jersey Nonpublic Schools.

The public school choice bill that would allow students to attend public schools in other districts, is one step closer to becoming law.

The Education Law Center is heading back to the state Supreme Court in its battle with the state over funding for children in the 31 urban districts commonly known as the Abbotts.

 The American Federation of Teachers (the other teachers' union) has launched a "Pink Hearts, Not Pink Slips" campaign to save teaching jobs across the country.

As voters prepare to head to the polls for one of the most difficult budgets in decades, U.S. Senator Robert Menendez was out Monday  drumming up support for the federal “Keep Our Educators Working Act.” The federal act, sort of a "stimulus II" would create a $23 billion Education Jobs Fund to prevent teacher and education job losses.

New Jersey students continue to score among the top states in reading according to the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress results for students in grade four and eight.

Assemblyman Upendra Chivukula is introducing two bills that would, in effect, create countywide school districts by centralizing public school administration and governance.

Gov. Chris Christie sent a letter to the New Jersey School Boards Association and the New Jersey Education Association Tuesday asking them to consider a wage freeze for 2009-2010 to help save jobs that could be cut because of state aid reductons.

The state Department of Education wants to delay a new requirement that all high school students get a half-year course in personal financial literacy.

There's been a lot of speculation about school aid for next year, and none of it is good. 

States are moving closer to aligning high school requirements with college expectations according to a report issued Monday.  But there is still quite a way to go according to the fifth "Closing the Expectations Gap"  report published by Achieve, Inc.  as part of the American Diploma Project.

Gov. Chris Christie's candidate for Education Commissioner, Bret Schundler  came before the Senate Judiciary Committee Monday for his confirmation hearing. For someone so allegedly controversial, he was pretty low key.   

Acting state education commissioner Bret Schundler had a chummy first meeting with the  Assembly Education Committee Thursday in which everyone agreed that the interests of children should outweigh party politics. Glad they got that out of the way.

A bill to expand the public school choice program is alive again in the state Legislature.

            Two state legislators want to make it easier for prospective teachers to start their college educations at a two-year community college.

Substitute teachers are supposed to be just that - temporary replacements.

Richard Stockton College and Montclair University have made impressive progress in improving the graduation rates of minority students according to a report by the Education Trust.

School districts will have to make their legal expenses a little more publicly transparent under new guidelines for how districts file their school budgets.