The biggest story this week is a bill that seeks to remove the NJ High School Graduation Proficiency Exam. A bill sponsored by Matsikoudis during her final month in office to remove what has been a critical endpoint evaluation measure occurring in a context where the NJ DOE is creating further uncertainty with the NJSLA all signals that once critical and transparent accountability measures may soon go dark. NJEducation Report is providing excellent ongoing coverage of this issue.
Staying on the legislative side with the Assembly – Danielsen is looking to get buy-in on a bill that would significantly change Jersey ballots through
Ranked Choice Voting. Shauna takes a look at the good, bad and politically difficult in the possible transition.
We also started this years 7-District ACFR series comparing the years ACTUAL spending across our Dashboard Districts. We took a bit of a different approach this year in using this opportunity to not only share the data but walk through how to read the ACFR and make the data in our reporting a bit more digestible by breaking up the spreadsheets.
We added one more installment to our “Know Your NJ Government Series” covering Jersey’s multifaceted Justice System with an emphasis on individual rights when coming into contact with law enforcement – a critical read for students who are increasingly forced to interact with police and are subject to surveillance and searches in schools while their ability to record is being taken away.
Next up is the NJDEP , which is seeking to update a host of impactful environmental rules (REAL – Resilient Environments and Landscapes) that is getting strong push-back from developers and some municipalities. We break down where the rule-changes are coming from, what they look like and why some folks aren’t happy with the NJDEP’s plans.
Winding down to the local level we take a look at the Berkeley Heights Public School system where school security costs are skyrocketing in strange and confusing ways. The response from the District focused on transfers and encumbrances and did not answer questions surrounding yet another 100K splurge (most of which is landing in police officer’s pockets) in what has been a concerning multi-year spending spree.
The Socials….
BHPSNJ Strategic Plan is Following a Familiar and Problematic Trajectory
New Providence ACFR Lacks Clarity in where some it’s money is going
Unidentified Group Sends out Mailer on NJ AG Platkin
Top Three Articles in November….
Understanding Your NJ Government: OPRA| New Jersey’s Public Records Law
Open Letter to NJ State Senator Nicholas Scutari Requesting the Immediate Withdrawal of S-4924
From ‘Street Cop’ to State Oversight- NJ Launches Centralized Police Training Institute
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