Click here for a transcript of the Delegate Assembly speech by NJSBA President Patti J. Pawling
SCHOOL BOARDS CALL FOR CHANGE IN KINDERGARTEN AID
NEW BRUNSWICK, May 19, 2001—Representatives of the state’s local school boards today called for a change in state funding to recognize the true costs of full-day Kindergarten.
Meeting as the Delegate Assembly of the New Jersey School Boards Association (NJSBA), the local district representatives also called on textbook publishers to producer lighter-weight books to avoid student injury and voted to seek a change in law and regulation governing charter schools. NJSBA is a federation of the state’s 602 local school boards; the Delegate Assembly is its major policy-setting body. More than 170 delegates from all 21 counties attended today’s meeting.
In all, the delegates acted on nine proposals submitted by local boards of education.
Full-day Kindergarten Delegates approved a resolution submitted by the Union Township Board of Education (Union County) that calls for changing the state aid formula to recognize the true costs of providing full-day Kindergarten.
"Research tells us that full-day Kindergarten provides children with greater dividends, both academically and socially," said Edwina M. Lee, NJSBA’s executive director. "For all but the poorest school districts, New Jersey’s school funding system calculates enrollment in full-day Kindergarten at the same level as half-day programs (that is, half the weight of students in grades 1-5). This has resulted in less state aid, has endangered full-day programs in some districts, and discourages others from implementing the program."
"Union believes that what helps youth helps Union. That should be a statewide philosophy," said Melinda Middlebrooks, the board’s delegate. "We’ve been a leader in providing full-day kindergarten, and we believe that it should be fully funded statewide."
Union Township, which submitted the resolution, has provided full-day kindergarten for more than 20 years. However, for Union and 110 other districts, the state’s funding system weights full-day programming as half-day. Township school officials say the program is at risk when budgets get tight, and the district will need to place a $2.3-million question before voters to keep their full-day program afloat.
Beverly Bowns, a representative of a high school district, agreed with the Union proposal.
"What these children learn at an early age is the most important to their future success in school," said Bowns of the North Hunterdon-Voorhees school board.
In the 1983-84 school year, only 78 districts in New Jersey offered full-day Kindergarten. Last year, the number had grown to 264 school districts.
The resolution approved today calls for the state funding formula to increase the weight it applies to each student in a full-day Kindergarten program from 50 percent, which supports only a half-day program, to 100 percent. The change would reflect actual costs and would enable more districts to retain and implement full-day programs.
Reduced textbook weight The delegates also asked NJSBA to petition textbook publishers to lighten the weight of heavy textbooks.
The issue of heavy textbooks centers on student health. A 1999 survey by the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons (AAOS) found that more than half the physicians surveyed reported seeing children whose back and shoulder pains came from carrying heavy backpacks. The AAOS subsequently recommended that students carry loads no greater than 15 percent of their body weight. In addition, the Alfred I. Du Pont Hospital for Children in Wilmington, Delaware, is in the midst of an 18-month, 1,000-student study of the effects of heavy backpacks.
"Eighty percent of all Americans will suffer back pain," said Dr. Robert Kleinberg of the Marlboro Board of Education (Monmouth County), which proposed the resolution. In addition to injuries to children carrying the heavy books, "heavy backpacks also create safety hazards in school hallways."
NJSBA will enlist the support of the National School Boards Association to address this issue.
Today’s decisions by the delegates guide NJSBA in representing school boards’ interests before the state Legislature, Congress and the courts.
Charter school teachers The school board representatives also approved a resolution calling for a change in law to prevent disruptions when teachers leave the regular public schools to work in charter schools.
Under New Jersey’s charter school law, public school teachers can request leaves-of-absence of up to three years to work in charter schools. The regular public schools must find replacements for these teachers. In addition, regulations currently permit the teachers on leave to return to their positions in mid-year, requiring districts to bump replacement teachers and disrupting the school program.
The Atlantic City Board of Education (Atlantic County) proposed the resolution. Currently, 54 charter schools—publicly financed schools, which operate independently of the local board of education—are up and running in 16 New Jersey counties. Thirteen more are slated to open in the future.