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AFTNJ’s objective is to promote state wide organization and unionization of public and private school teachers, paraprofessionals and other school-related personnel; higher education faculty and staff; other workers organized in conformity with More »

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Prekindergarten – 12

From the state’s largest school district to small privates, AFTNJ stands up for New Jersey’s students. Our members teach early childhood education to prepare kids for school, special education and every topic More »

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Higher Education

The American Federation of Teachers New Jersey is the largest higher education union in the state, representing full and part-time faculty, all levels of administrative, professional and supervisory staff, graduate workers, and More »

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Activism

Advocates for Education AFTNJ members work tirelessly in educating decision-makers about the importance of investing in education and research from pre-kindergarten through doctoral studies. New Jersey boasts a skilled workforce and our More »

Controversial teacher prep ranking gives top grades to Kean, Rutgers-Camden, Seton Hall

June 19, 2013

By Kelly Heyboer/ The Star-Ledger

Kean University, Rutgers-Camden and Seton Hall University were among the schools earning top marks in a controversial new ranking of training programs that found most U.S. colleges are doing a dismal job of preparing the next generation of teachers.

Kean

File photo of Kean University commencement ceremonies at PNC Arts Center in Holmdel. Kean, Rutgers-Camden and Seton Hall ranked among the top teacher preparation programs in the nation in a controversial new study by the National Council on Teacher Quality. Patti Sapone/The Star-Ledger

[...]

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, called the report’s four-star rating system a gimmick.

“Best-of and worst-of lists always garner attention, so we understand why NCTQ would use that device,” Weingarten said. “While its ‘do not enter’ consumer alerts will make the intended splash, it’s hard to see how it will help strengthen teacher preparation programs or elevate the teaching profession.”

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Arguing the Costs of Tuition Equality

June 19, 2013

A proposed measure would let all NJ students — regardless of immigration status — pay in-state tuition at state schools

By Hank Kalet

[...]
Donna Chiera, president of the New Jersey chapter of the American Federation of Teachers, which represents a portion of the state’s teachers and college professors, agrees. In her testimony, she said teachers make a promise to students that “if they learn to read and write, to be good citizens, to do math, then they can do whatever they want.”

“These students came to our schools, came to our classrooms and did what we asked them to do and now they can’t afford college,” she said. “Because they are not getting an opportunity to go to college and get the opportunity to get a better paying job, we are paying down the line.”

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Bills aimed at making college cheaper for children of immigrants clear hurdle

June 17, 2013

By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal

Two bills aimed at allowing illegal immigrants and the children of illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition rates at New Jersey’s colleges and universities are headed for a vote in the state Assembly.

Ramos

Assemblyman Ruben Ramos co-sponsored legislation that would allow children of illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition rates at public colleges and universities. (The Jersey Journal)


The first bill — co-sponsored by Hudson County Democrats Assemblyman Sean Connors, Assemblywoman Angelica Jimenez and Assemblyman Ruben Ramos – would allow students who are U.S. citizens to pay in-state rates despite their parents’ immigration status.

The second bill would allow college-bound students to pay in-state rates even if they lack the proper immigration status to qualify.

“For some of these families, the difference between the in-state and out-of-state tuition rate could be the deciding factor in whether or not their son or daughter gets to attend college,” said Ramos (D-Hoboken). “It is incredibly unfair to saddle students, who have done nothing wrong and want to earn a college degree, with higher tuition expenses because of the decisions made by their parents.”

The two bills today cleared the Assembly Budget committee and now move to the full body for a vote.

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Planned civil service changes irk N.J. state workers

June 17, 2013

Jane M Von Bergen, Inquirer Staff Writer.

New Jersey public employees are bracing for what their union leaders say is the latest anti-worker onslaught by the Christie administration.

The New Jersey Civil Service Commission, all of whose members are Gov. Christie’s appointees, has proposed sweeping changes it says would streamline the promotion process, making it easier to advance top-notch people.

That’s not how the unions see it. They say the changes would invite cronyism and political favoritism, discouraging state, county, and municipal workers who don’t want to play politics.

“It’s often been said that one man’s flexibility is another man’s cronyism,” Ben Dworkin, director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics at Rider University, pointed out.

“The major benefit of the . . . program,” the proposed regulations say, “would be the provision of greater flexibility in the advancement of employees.”

Exactly, said Hetty Rosenstein, the New Jersey leader of the Communications Workers of America, the union that represents most public employees in the state.

Unbound by complex protocols that involve examinations and outside reviews, managers would have more flexibility, Rosenstein said, “to select someone they like, someone who supports them politically, someone who looks like them, someone who shares their prejudices, and maybe somebody who gave them a bribe – that’s not unheard of in New Jersey.”

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Budget Cuts Reach Bone for Philadelphia Schools

June 17, 2013

By Trip Gabriel

PHILADELPHIA — When a second grader came to the Andrew Jackson School too agitated to eat breakfast on Friday, an aide alerted the school counselor, who engaged him in an art project in her office. When he was still overwrought at 11, a secretary called the boy’s family, and soon a monitor at the front door buzzed in an older brother to take him home.

Philadelphia

Jessica Kourkounis for The New York Times Marielle Casanova, counselor at Andrew Jackson School in Philadelphia, is being laid off along with all the other counselors in the district.

A School District Braces for a Painful September
Under a draconian budget passed by the Philadelphia School District last month, none of these supporting players — aide, counselor, secretary, security monitor — will remain at the school by September, nor will there be money for books, paper, a nurse or the school’s locally celebrated rock band.

“I am worried sick,” said Lisa Ciaranca Kaplan, the principal, whose homey school in South Philadelphia serves 410 students, speaking 14 languages, all of whom qualify for free meals. “How do I relieve teachers for lunch if I have no one in the lunchroom? I’ll be the only person in this building who’s not in a class.”

Pink slips were recently sent to 19 percent of the school-based work force, including all 127 assistant principals, 646 teachers and more than 1,200 aides. Principals are contemplating opening in September with larger classes but no one to answer phones, keep order on the playground, coach sports, check out library books or send transcripts for seniors applying to college.

“You’re not even looking at a school that any of us went to,” said Lori Shorr, the mayor’s chief education officer. “It’s an atrocity, and we should all be ashamed of ourselves if the schools open with these budgets.”

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How Corporate Greed Is Starving Our Public School System

June 17, 2013

The total cost of K-12 educational cutbacks in recent years is about equal to the amount of state taxes left unpaid by these companies.

By Paul Buchheit

We hear a lot about corporations avoiding federal taxes. Less well known is their non-payment of state taxes, which along with local taxes make up 90% of U.S. education funding.

Pay Up Now just completed a review of 2011–12 tax data from the SEC filings of 155 of the largest U.S. corporations. The results show that the total cost of K-12 educational cutbacks in recent years is approximately equal to the amount of state taxes left unpaid by these companies.

Corporations Neglect Their State Tax Responsibilities

For 2011 and 2012, the 155 companies paid just 1.8 percent of their total income in state taxes, and 3.6 percent of their declared U.S. income. The average required rate for the 50 states is 6.56 percent.

Similar results were found in a Citizens for Tax Justice (CTJ) report on 2008–10 state taxes. In their evaluation of 265 large companies, CTJ determined that an average of 3% was paid in state taxes, less than half the average state tax rate. The results are summarized at Pay Up Now.

How much money is this? The 2011–12 underpayment, for just 155 top-earning companies, is about $14 billion per year. In the 2008–10 study, CTJ noted that “these 265 companies avoided a total of $42.7 billion in state corporate income taxes over the three years.” That’s also about $14 billion per year.

Unpaid State Taxes Are More Than ALL the K-12 Cuts

A comparison of the above results with educational cutbacks shows the devastating impact of tax avoidance on our children. A Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) report revealed that total K-12 education cuts for fiscal 2012 were about $12.7 billion. A separate analysis of CBPP data shows total 2008–12 cutbacks of about $20 billion. According to the Census Bureau, K-12 funding rose about 5% a year from 1998 to 2008, after which it leveled off and began to decline.

More stunningly, higher education experienced a nearly $17 billion state appropriations cut in 2012–13, in comparison to 2007–8. Much of the shortfall was made up by tuition increases. As noted by the CBPP, “The entire increase in tuition at public colleges and universities over the last 25 years has gone to make up for declining state and local revenue.” Tuition has risen almost 600% over those 25 years.

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Working Way Past 65

June 17, 2013
By Colleen Flaherty

At the height of the financial crisis, it was unclear how diminished 401(k)s and general economic uncertainty would impact retirement trends for baby boomer professors. But new data suggest that professors are either significantly – or indefinitely – putting off retirement, and not just for financial reasons. Experts say the trend is forcing institutions to rethink traditional faculty models.

Some 74 percent of professors aged 49-67 plan to delay retirement past age 65 or never retire at all, according to a new Fidelity Investments study of higher education faculty. While 69 percent of those surveyed cited financial concerns, an even higher percentage of professors said love of their careers factored into their decision.

“While many would assume that delayed retirement would be solely due to economic reasons, surprisingly 8 in 10 — 81 percent — cited personal or professional reasons for delayed retirement,” said John Rangoni, vice president of tax exempt services at Fidelity. “Higher education employees, especially faculty, are deeply committed to their students, education and the institutions they serve.”

For the faculty boomers who will delay retirement due to professional reasons, 89 percent want to stay busy and productive, 64 percent say they love their work too much to give it up, and 41 percent are unwilling to relinquish continued access to – and affiliation with – their institution.

Of those who say they will delay retirement for economic reasons, 55 percent are unsure they have enough retirement savings, 42 percent want to maximize Social Security payouts and 42 percent believe they will need continued health insurance.

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Newark Super Calls for Pause in School Closures — For Now

June 13, 2013

Roseville Elementary and other troubled schools to be reevaluated to see which are most vulnerable

By John Mooney

Plans to close Roseville brought out protestors from across the entire city.
School closures in Newark will go on hiatus for at least a year, Superintendent Cami Anderson said yesterday, as she conducts a new analysis of all the district’s schools to determine those most vulnerable.

Plans to close Roseville brought out protestors from across the entire city.

Plans to close Roseville brought out protestors from across the entire city.


That means that the one elementary school slated for closure next year will get a last-minute reprieve, with Anderson’s administration notifying the staff of the Roseville Avenue Elementary School that this spring would not be their last after all.

The announced closure of Roseville sparked protests not just within the school’s community, but also from activists citywide who saw it as a continuation of a pattern of closures sweeping urban districts across the country.

Newark closed a half-dozen schools last year — Anderson’s first — and activists filed a federal civil rights complaint that the closures were destabilizing neighborhoods and targeting minority and especially low-income populations.

Anderson said yesterday said this respite is not an indication that she is pulling back her decisions or rethinking the need to shrink the district overall to offset declining enrollment. And Roseville could be considered in the future, she said.

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AFT Retirees Restructure

June 10, 2013

After Pam Hartkopf completed her last term as President, a change to the constitution created an eight-person board with members of equal power. Those on the board are Sharon Bie, Sylvia Borne, Linda Duke, Millie Juchnik, Brenda Kucin, Pete Lamprakos, Bill Lipkin, and Ilene Zelkin. Each individual member of the Board will be assuming specific responsibilities to be determined this summer.

On Tuesday, September 24, 2013 the AFTR will be holding their fall meeting to greet new retirees at Giovanna’s in Plainfield. Local presidents have been asked to send the names and addresses of their new retirees (anytime during the 2012 – 2013 school year) to Linda Duke, 106 Meisel Avenue, Springfield NJ 07081 or leelouduke@aol.com, so they can be included on the guest list.

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Aug. 8: Kean Institute for the Common Core Statewide Teacher Conference

June 10, 2013

A professional learning experience for NJ teachers designed by NJ teachers
August 8, 2013 8AM – 2:45PM
Kean University, Union Campus, STEM Building
Register

The Kean Institute for the Common Core Statewide Teacher Conference was designed for NJ teachers by NJ teachers who share similar concerns. As committed educators, they realize the need for:

A forum for K-12 educators who want to learn more about the CCSS and how to successfully implement them beyond any professional development they may/may not have received to date.

Sustained, practice-focused professional development relevant to the specific grade level and the content areas they teach in order to make the shifts in instructional and assessment practice called for by the Common Core.

Such professional discussions, facilitated by Lauren Marrocco, 2013 State Teacher of the Year, resulted in the creation of a Statewide Teacher Conference and a grassroots initiative to begin in fall 2013 centered on the development of Common Core Communities of Practice.

Lauren Marrocco graduated from Kean University with a bachelor’s degree in elementary education in 2003 and a master’s degree in educational administration and supervision in 2009. In 2009, she also received National Board Certification in reading and language arts literacy. She began her teaching career in 2003 at the Edward J. Patten Elementary School in Perth Amboy, N.J.

Lauren Marrocco

Co-Sponsors: AFT and NJEA

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