ROBERTS TO SUBMIT BRIEF SUPPORTING DAVY, MILGRAM
AGAINST SUPERINTENDENTS' LAWSUIT

(TRENTON) - Assembly Speaker Joseph J. Roberts Jr. today announced his intention to file a "friend of the court" legal brief to help defend from federal court challenge new state education rules designed to reduce administrative overhead and wasteful spending in schools.

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Twenty months ago The Daily Record's Bob Ingle gave the SCI an "A+" for its report titled "Taxpayers Beware" which detailed how "hidden perks greatly inflated the value of school superintendents' compensation" (The Daily Record, 10/16/06).

Sound familiar? The SCI devoted 165 pages to the taxpayer abuses -- a key section focused exclusively on superintendents' "severance package/buyouts". It exposed seven districts where departing supers had pocketed hundreds of thousands of dollars -- including some in the poorest districts in the state.

So why did the SCI report and the ongoing sweetheart-deals-at-taxpayers-expense all but disappear from the headlines until recently?

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ROBERTS: EXPEDITE SCHOOL SUPER CONTRACT AUDITS
Speaker Says County Superintendents Should Review Benefits Pacts In Every District

(TRENTON) - Assembly Speaker Joseph J. Roberts, Jr. today said executive county superintendents should undertake expedited audits of the pay and benefits packages in every administrative contract in every school district in New Jersey.

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Amid growing fury over a lucrative contract awarded to outgoing Keansburg Superintendent Barbara Trzeszkowski, Gov. Jon Corzine said today that he’s asking state Education Commissioner Lucille Davy to review all 31 Abbott district superintendent contracts.

“We have asked each of the Abbott district superintendents to provide their contracts to be reviewed,” said Corzine in a press release. “We will have to work our way through this in the context of how many people we have and the priorities we make. We will try to look to the Executive County Superintendents for every contract.”

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Assemblywoman Marcia Karrow today demanded that state Education Commissioner Lucille Davy resign from her post for not trying to recoup misspent money from Abbott school districts. 

Responding to questions at a hearing last week, where auditors questioned the use of $83 million in state funds for the predominantly low-income, inner city schools, Davy said “We are not going backward to collect money.”

Davy also said that the state would not withhold funds for districts with questionable expenditures.  In all, over half of the state’s education budget goes to Abbot districts.

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Audit Reveals Millions Wasted in Union City School District

Senator Leonard Lance (R-23), the Republican Budget Officer, requested today that Education Commissioner Lucille Davy reappear before the Senate Budget Committee to explain the finances of the Union City School District.

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MEDIA ADVISORY - SENATE BUDGET COMMITTEE TO HOLD HEARINGS ON DEPARTMENTS OF COMMUNITY AFFAIRS AND EDUCATION ON MONDAY

TRENTON – On Monday, the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee will hold hearings concerning the FY 2009 Budget and how it impacts the State Department of Community Affairs (DCA) and the Department of Education (DOE).

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GREENSTEIN SEEKS STATE ED. DEPARTMENT & A.G.
REVIEW OF PRINCETON SCHOOL SEX CASE
Assemblywoman Wants School District's Reporting Actions Examined

(MONROE TWP.) - Assemblywoman Linda Greenstein today called on state Attorney General Anne Milgram and Education Commissioner Lucille Davy to jointly review the actions of Princeton school officials in light of a civil lawsuit filed by parents of a boy who claim the district attempted to cover-up a middle-school teacher's improper sexual behavior with students.

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CONAWAY: SCHOOL FUNDING FORMULA SUCCESS HINGES
ON ACCURATE ASSESSMENT OF PER-PUPIL COSTS

(TRENTON) -- Assemblyman Herb Conaway, M.D. (D-Burlington/Camden), co-chairman of the Joint Legislative Committee on Public School Funding Reform, today said that the success of any new school funding formula is contingent upon an accurate calculation of the per-pupil cost of public education.

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GOVERNOR ANNOUNCES SCHOOL SAFETY INITIATIVE
SAVE: Strategic Actions for Violence Elimination

TRENTON

- Governor Jon S. Corzine today announced SAVE: Strategic Actions for Violence Elimination, a new school security initiative that focuses on the need for a stronger collaboration between school officials, law enforcement and the community. Read More >