"Our Children, Our Schools" Campaigns for Excellence & Equity. All children deserve an excellent education, and the State must not be allowed to simply walk away from its legal and moral obligations to students in New Jersey's high poverty urban school districts. Those two messages are at the heart of the "Our Children, Our Schools" (OC/OS) campaign. The group was formed to make sure that any new school funding formula preserves and sustains the equity commitments embodied in the New Jersey Supreme Court's landmark Abbott decisions, and extends them to all children with special needs.

Tentative December 18th Hearing on the State's Secret Ed Cost Study; Advocates Oppose "December Rush Job" on School Costs and Funding. The NJ Department of Education may soon issue a report on its secret 2003 effort to determine the cost of educating New Jersey's 1.2 million public school children, and hold a public hearing on the cost figures on December 18th. There has been no official announcement of the report's release or the specific time and location of any public hearings. Advocates, concerned parents and citizens are urged to check the ELC website regularly for further details.

NJ One of Few States Making Progress Closing Achievement Gaps. Academic achievement gaps remain "perplexing and persistent" according to a recent New York Times survey. But New Jersey is one of the few states that has made even "moderate gains," in part because of the Abbott mandates. NJ was one of only eight states identified in the Times report where some progress was being made.

Abbott Pre-K Success Paves the Way for Expansion of Early Childhood Programs. Amidst a grim picture of growing child poverty rates, the Association for Children of New Jersey has found rays of hope in the educational progress linked to Abbott reforms. The findings come as the State considers expanding NJ's model urban early childhood programs to more districts and children. "By far the brightest news for these children," says the new ACNJ report, "is an increase in available child care and preschool, significant gains in the percent of students passing state achievement tests and a substantial increase in graduation rates."

Let's see. It's called "the Urban Schools Scholarship Act," proposed to pay $20 million a year in "scholarships" in at least five cities including Newark for low-income students to attend private schools, funded by corporations which would receive dollar- for-dollar tax credits for contributions made into the scholarship fund. In other words, public money for school choice. Hmmm... sounds like vouchers to me.

Parents push for full implementation of Abbott's parent engagement program. Leaders of the NJ Statewide Education Organizing Committee (SEOC) are stepping up their campaign to make the NJ Department of Education take parent and community concerns more seriously, including implementation of required programs to support parent participation in school improvement efforts. On Saturday, November 11, 60 public school parents, community leaders, students, and education advocates from Newark, Jersey City, Asbury Park, Camden, Plainfield, Trenton, and Union City attended the 5th Annual SEOC Conference in New Brunswick, NJ.

Dec 4 Our Children, Our Schools funding coalition meeting. Share updates, information and plans about the fight for an equitable new school funding formula. Monday, 12/4, 4:30 PM in Room 292 at Rutgers Law School, Newark (corner of New and Washington St.)

Dec. 11 NJEA Plans "Back-off Rally" available.

Dec. 18 NJ DOE Hearings on School Funding Formula. Place and time to be determined. Check the Education Law Center's Events Calendar for details as they become available.