By Josh Eidelson
Public school teachers cheer at a rally of thousands of teachers outside the Chicago Board of Education district headquarters on Tuesday, September 11, 2012.(AP Photo/Sitthixay Ditthavong)
Eight months after negotiating “performance bonuses” funded by a Facebook fortune, Newark Teachers Union President Joseph Del Grosso was re-elected Tuesday by a margin of nine votes.…
Read MoreSenate President Stephen Sweeney’s bill to dismantle Rutgers’ Board of Trustees, if it passes, isn’t likely to survive the inevitable court challenge. The 1956 law that gave Rutgers to New Jersey enshrined the trustees’ power. It’s ironclad, and can’t be undone by anything as simple as a bill.
That makes the debate an academic one, which is appropriate.…
Read MoreBy Kelly Heyboer and Matt Friedman/ The Star-Ledger
PISCATAWAY — State Senate President Stephen Sweeney’s attempt to pass a law eliminating the Rutgers Board of Trustees ran into a legal wall today when experts in the Legislature’s non-partisan legislative services office determined the university board may have to consent to its own demise.
[…]Rutgers’ faculty union sent an e-mail to the school’s professors Wednesday calling on them to phone and e-mail lawmakers to quash the “over-hasty measure.”…
Read MoreBy John Schwartz and Richard Perez- Pena
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court’s decision to send a thorny affirmative action case back to the lower courts for additional review left both sides claiming victory on Monday.
Students and visitors on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin on Monday.
Civil rights groups that favor race-conscious admissions cheered the ruling, arguing that the court had upheld its 2003 decision in Grutter v.…
Upstart ‘New Vision’ slate nearly ousts longtime president, gains majority on union’s executive board
By John Mooney
Still outspoken, if no longer quite as militant, Joseph Del Grosso has been the president of the Newark Teachers Union – the state’s largest teachers local — for 18 years, for a total of nine terms in all.
Yesterday, he barely made it to his 10th term.…
Read MoreBy Jeanette Rundquist/The Star-Ledger
Students in charter schools fared better than those in traditional public schools in some states — including New Jersey — but a majority of charters across the United States still deliver no better education than traditional public schools in reading, and 40 percent are about the same in math, according to a new study released Tuesday by researchers at Stanford University.…
Read MoreBy John Mooney
[…]
Joseph Del Grosso, the president of the Newark Teachers Union, which reached the labor contract agreement with the district, said not all retroactive pay has gone out yet and that the payments remain subject to a labor grievance. The two sides are still arguing over whether teachers who retired in the last two years will receive retroactive pay, he said.…
Though previous efforts have foundered, the state Assembly is trying again on a measure to allow the children of undocumented immigrants to qualify for the in-state tuition rates at New Jersey’s colleges.
The Assembly Budget Committee advanced the Tuition Equality Act this month, positioning it for consideration by the full Assembly, though it was quietly pulled from yesterday’s voting agenda.…
Read MoreBy Matt Friedman/The Star-Ledger
TRENTON — A bill to allow students living in the country illegally to pay in-state tuition at the New Jersey’s public colleges and universities has stalled amid political concerns and technical issues.
The Tuition Equality Act (A4225) was initially included on the list of bills to be voted on by the full Assembly today, after it was approved last week by the budget committee.…
Read MoreBy Kelly Heyboer/ The Star-Ledger
TRENTON — The American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey filed a lawsuit today to stop the state from giving more than $11 million in construction funds to two religious colleges.
The money is slated to go to Beth Medrash Govoha, a Lakewood school that trains orthodox Jewish rabbis, and Princeton Theological Seminary, a school that trains Christian ministers.…
Read MoreBy Angela Delli Santi, Associated Press
[…]He’s also benefited from decisions to stay neutral by New Jersey Education Association, the state’s biggest and most powerful teachers union, and the American Federation of Teachers, the predominant teachers union in Newark.
The teachers’ endorsements probably would have gone to Rep. Frank Pallone, a staunch labor supporter or Rush Holt, a former research scientist.…
Read MoreWASHINGTON—As education leaders across the nation are calling on Congress to act before July 1 to prevent student loan interest rates from doubling, a new report released today by the American Federation of Teachers warns that the combination of massive student debt and public disinvestment in higher education threatens Americans’ ability to gain access to and successfully complete college.…
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Krystal leads a group of Montclair State University students in a service week house rehab in Keansburg, NJ. Superstorm Sandy flooding damaged the home and Krystal’s students are volunteering to help fix it back up.…
By Kelly Heyboer/ The Star-Ledger
Syracuse University Chancellor Nancy Cantor will take a major pay cut when she becomes head of Rutgers-Newark next year, but will still be among the highest-paid officials at the state university, according to details in her hiring letter.
Rutgers officials released Cantor’s two-page hiring agreement today after she was officially named to the post during the Rutgers Board of Governors meeting in New Brunswick.…
Read MoreBy 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.
[…]Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, called the report’s four-star rating system a gimmick.…
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