One year after the New Jersey Department of Education released the flawed report on the cost of education that led to a storm of criticism and slowed efforts to rush a new school funding formula through the State legislature, a new round of debate is opening up. This time it may be a "lame duck" legislature considering proposals and a new set of "cost studies" — though not from the NJDOE. In the next few weeks, the Education Law Center, the Committee of Advocates for Newark's Children, and the Our Children/Our Schools Campaign are slated to release a series of four cost studies that they have commissioned which will focus attention on critical issues related to educational equity and adequacy.

Proposals that will have a major impact on every middle and high school in New Jersey are likely to go before the State Board of Education later this fall. New graduation requirements, changes in the Special Review Assessment, the state's alternate pathway to a diploma, and reform initiatives including the American Diploma Project and the Abbott Secondary Education initiative will all be up for action. A November 1 Public Education Institute forum, will provide an opportunity for public dialogue on these issues with advocates and New Jersey Department of Education officials.

Nearly three decades of legal battles for school equity sprang to life at a Public Education Institute forum on September 19. The PEI forum on the history and significance of the landmark Abbott rulings brought together four retired New Jersey Supreme Court Justices and Education Law Center founder Professor Paul Tractenberg before an engaged audience of educators, advocates, state and local officials. The verdict: Abbott was an historic step forward toward educational justice that must be sustained, but there is also major unfinished business that New Jersey must attend to.

On September 17, the New Jersey Education Collaborative (NJEOC) held a School Funding "Teach-In," the first of many planned activities for parents, community members and allies from the State's largest Abbott school Districts--Newark, Jersey City, and Paterson. Over a hundred people gathered at Essex County College.

An Education Department incapable of doing the job, Star Ledger, Friday, September 21, 2007

With   eyes  on  the  future,   justices  look back  at   Abbott , Star Ledger, Thursday, September 20, 2007

State revising easier graduation path: Alternative Exam to Be Improved, Not Shelved, The Record, Thursday, August 23, 2007

Corzine bungling school-funding crisis again, Home News Tribune, Saturday, 9/29/07

NJ Black Issues Convention 25th Annual Leadership Conference, October 4-7, contact info@njbic.org.

Graduating Every Paterson Child Community Conversation, Paterson Education Fund, Saturday, October 20, 8:30-3:00 at Passaic County Community College. For info call (973) 881-8914.

Race Still Matters Conference, Saturday, October 20, Essex County College.

Education Summit, sponsored by the NAACP Maplewood-Orange Branches, October 27, at St. Paul AME Church, 15 Sanford Avenue, East Orange, NJ. Contact: puryeartl@gmail.com.

PEI Forum on Secondary Issues, with Commissioner Davy and other DOE officials in dialogue with advocates and authors of the recent report "NJ's Special Review Assessment: Loophole or Lifeline?" Program details here. Thursday, Nov. 1 sponsored by the Public Education Institute, Paul Robeson Center, Rutgers-Newark. For info/registration contact: rupei@rci.rutgers.edu.

Blue Bayou Ball, annual fundraiser for BlueWaveNJ, Montclair Women's Club, Saturday, Oct. 20, 7 pm. For info: 973-744-3813