The Legislative Action Team for Camden County needs YOU!
Like in years past, we are doing the phone banks at the CCCEA office the four days before the election. We are only calling NJEA members who live in Legislative District 4...there are 2700 phone calls to be made.
The hours are as follows:
Saturday, November 5: 10 to 3
Sunday, November 6: 12 to 4
Monday, November 7: 3 to 7 *** NJEA Endorsed Candidate Shelly Lovett will be joining us at 4:30.
Tuesday, November 8: 3 to 7
*** We would love to put a full group together from 4 to 5 to welcome her. Please send at least one member from your district to work at this time for phone bank coverage.
There is no limit to the time that you can join us, so grab a group of friends from work, and show up even for an hour. Food will be provided.
This is a deciding hour for NJEA members. We must have a strong showing as we enter the Lame Duck Session. If we had 10 members show up for each of the 17 hours we are doing the phone banks, you could make 11 phone calls and go home!
Can we count on you... and your members... to make 11 calls in the upcoming days?
You do not have to call ahead of time... we'll take you at whatever time you can fit the activity into your schedule. Do be sure to sign in, however, because there will be a fabulous "thank you" party later on in the month and you won't want to miss it!
Thursday, November 03, 2011
Friday, June 03, 2011
PILOT EVALUATION PROGRAM
Recently, the N.J. Department of Education announced that it will launch a grant program to have selected districts pilot the evaluation proposals of Gov. Christie’s Educator Effectiveness Task Force, beginning in September. District superintendents have been asked to reach out to educators and other stakeholders to discuss the possibility of participating in the pilot program.
To date, very little information about the pilot has been provided. Most importantly, we do not know what impact it would have on members in the pilot districts. It is also unclear what additional standardized testing districts would be required to implement and how the new evaluation system would affect teaching and learning.
Because of the uncertainty and lack of information, at this time NJEA recommends that local associations not volunteer to participate in the pilot program. While it is not clear that local association sign off will be necessary for a district to participate, we recommend that local leaders wait until more information is available from the Department of Education before adding their endorsement to any district’s application.
Please contact your local presidents and ask them to alert you if they are approached about participating in the pilot program.
We expect more information to be available this summer, some time prior to an anticipated August deadline to apply for the pilot program. As more information is available, NJEA will analyze it and update this advice as appropriate.
In the meantime, we recommend that any local leader who is approached to discuss proposed changes to teacher evaluation should share NJEA’s evaluation proposal, “Establishing a Strong Evaluation System,” which presents best practices in teacher evaluation and provides a helpful contrast to the Governor’s deeply flawed proposal.
To date, very little information about the pilot has been provided. Most importantly, we do not know what impact it would have on members in the pilot districts. It is also unclear what additional standardized testing districts would be required to implement and how the new evaluation system would affect teaching and learning.
Because of the uncertainty and lack of information, at this time NJEA recommends that local associations not volunteer to participate in the pilot program. While it is not clear that local association sign off will be necessary for a district to participate, we recommend that local leaders wait until more information is available from the Department of Education before adding their endorsement to any district’s application.
Please contact your local presidents and ask them to alert you if they are approached about participating in the pilot program.
We expect more information to be available this summer, some time prior to an anticipated August deadline to apply for the pilot program. As more information is available, NJEA will analyze it and update this advice as appropriate.
In the meantime, we recommend that any local leader who is approached to discuss proposed changes to teacher evaluation should share NJEA’s evaluation proposal, “Establishing a Strong Evaluation System,” which presents best practices in teacher evaluation and provides a helpful contrast to the Governor’s deeply flawed proposal.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
SICK LEAVE CAP
SICK LEAVE CAP
Last fall, the first bill in the Governor’s “toolkit” was sent to his desk for consideration. The legislation S-2220 (Sarlo, Lampitt, Albano, Casagrande, Moriarty) called for a limit on unused sick leave pay and vacation leave at $15,000 at the expiration of a current contract.
While NJEA strongly opposed the legislation, we did achieve a series of favorable amendments to protect current employees.
On December 15, 2010, the Governor conditionally vetoed the legislation strictly limiting payouts to school employees for accrued sick and vacation days. The lead sponsor, Senator Paul Sarlo (D-LD36) immediately announced “I do not intend to revisit the sick leave bill.” Sarlo continued in a December 16, 2010 press statement, “the bill received bi-partisan support and there was consensus from all involved including (organized) labor. The administration never opposed this bill during the legislative process and it appears they are opposing it now—just for the sake of arguing with the legislators.”
However, that was then and this is now.
Last week, unannounced to anyone in organized labor, Senator Sarlo met with the Governor’s Office and offered to move the conditional veto and reduce the sick and vacation accrued value from $15,000 to $7,500. Concurrent to these discussions, the Assembly sponsors (Lampitt (D-LD6), Albano (D-LD1), Casagrande (R-LD12) and Moriarty (D-LD4) have reintroduced A-3953 (attached) with all the newly negotiated issues included in this version. An analysis by NJEA attorneys is also attached for your information. Currently, there is no Senate companion bill to A-3953 but we can expect one soon.
Since the state budget trumps all current legislative negotiations between now and June 30—we expect discussions on sick leave caps to be included in a package of bills extending from healthcare and pensions to educational reform.
MEMEBERS NEED TO ACT NOW! PLEASE CALL/EMAIL:
SENATOR Paul Sarlo, D
Fleet Bank Building, 2nd Fl
207 Hackensack Street
Wood-Ridge 07075
201-804-8118; 201-804-8644 FAXSenSarlo@njleg.org e-mail address
ASSEMBLYWOMAN Pamela R. Lampitt, D
1101 Laurel Oak Rd., Suite 150Voorhees 08043
856-435-1247; 856-435-3849 FAX
AswLampitt@njleg.org e-mail address
Tell them not to post S-2220 or A-3953 with any changes which reduce the accrued value from $15,000 to $7,500 and not to agree to the conditions set forth in the Governor’s conditional veto message.
Any questions, please contact Wayne Dibofsky wdibofsky@njea.org.
Last fall, the first bill in the Governor’s “toolkit” was sent to his desk for consideration. The legislation S-2220 (Sarlo, Lampitt, Albano, Casagrande, Moriarty) called for a limit on unused sick leave pay and vacation leave at $15,000 at the expiration of a current contract.
While NJEA strongly opposed the legislation, we did achieve a series of favorable amendments to protect current employees.
On December 15, 2010, the Governor conditionally vetoed the legislation strictly limiting payouts to school employees for accrued sick and vacation days. The lead sponsor, Senator Paul Sarlo (D-LD36) immediately announced “I do not intend to revisit the sick leave bill.” Sarlo continued in a December 16, 2010 press statement, “the bill received bi-partisan support and there was consensus from all involved including (organized) labor. The administration never opposed this bill during the legislative process and it appears they are opposing it now—just for the sake of arguing with the legislators.”
However, that was then and this is now.
Last week, unannounced to anyone in organized labor, Senator Sarlo met with the Governor’s Office and offered to move the conditional veto and reduce the sick and vacation accrued value from $15,000 to $7,500. Concurrent to these discussions, the Assembly sponsors (Lampitt (D-LD6), Albano (D-LD1), Casagrande (R-LD12) and Moriarty (D-LD4) have reintroduced A-3953 (attached) with all the newly negotiated issues included in this version. An analysis by NJEA attorneys is also attached for your information. Currently, there is no Senate companion bill to A-3953 but we can expect one soon.
Since the state budget trumps all current legislative negotiations between now and June 30—we expect discussions on sick leave caps to be included in a package of bills extending from healthcare and pensions to educational reform.
MEMEBERS NEED TO ACT NOW! PLEASE CALL/EMAIL:
SENATOR Paul Sarlo, D
Fleet Bank Building, 2nd Fl
207 Hackensack Street
Wood-Ridge 07075
201-804-8118; 201-804-8644 FAXSenSarlo@njleg.org e-mail address
ASSEMBLYWOMAN Pamela R. Lampitt, D
1101 Laurel Oak Rd., Suite 150Voorhees 08043
856-435-1247; 856-435-3849 FAX
AswLampitt@njleg.org e-mail address
Tell them not to post S-2220 or A-3953 with any changes which reduce the accrued value from $15,000 to $7,500 and not to agree to the conditions set forth in the Governor’s conditional veto message.
Any questions, please contact Wayne Dibofsky wdibofsky@njea.org.
Monday, January 31, 2011
VOUCHER BILL ON THE MOVE
Take action now to defend public education!
On January 20, the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee voted to release S-1872, a private school voucher bill known to supporters as the Opportunity Scholarship Act. This bill would divert up to $1 billion in tax revenue away from public schools and into the hands of private and parochial school operators.
Now comes word that the assembly version (A-2810) is scheduled to be heard on February 3 in the Commerce and Economic Development Committee. Should it pass that committee, only the Assembly Budget Committee stands between this bad bill and possible votes by the entire senate and assembly.
Time is short. NJEA members, and all those who support public education in New Jersey, must act now to stop this harmful legislation which drains much-needed resources from our public schools.
Please plan and carry out face-to-face actions against this legislation. We ask you do the following:
· Identify at least (5) people that are committed to contacting senators and
assembly members to voice their opposition to these bills before February
3rd.
· Identify at least (2) people that will visit the offices of Pamela Lampitt,
Angel Fuentes, Domenick DiCicco, Stephan Sweeney before February 3rd.
· Identify the date, time, and place you will meet with your members to
provide this voucher update before February 2nd.
· Identify other interactive organizing activities the local will implement
between Feb 1st and February 16th to get the message out into the
community, that they must notify legislators to oppose spending public
funds to private schools.
Associations may want to use breakfast meetings, legislative lunches, or any other creative activity. We recommend phone calls and written letters. It appears the emails are not getting read. When writing, urge legislators to call you to discuss the issue directly, or ask that they reply in writing.
This is a perfect organizing activity to do with parents, friends, family, and neighbors. Every member in every local must be involved to block the efforts of legislators. Go to njea.org for detailed information and up-to-date breaking issues.
Feel free to contact the UniServ office if you need talking points or any other assistance. Let us know what you are doing in your association.
On January 20, the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee voted to release S-1872, a private school voucher bill known to supporters as the Opportunity Scholarship Act. This bill would divert up to $1 billion in tax revenue away from public schools and into the hands of private and parochial school operators.
Now comes word that the assembly version (A-2810) is scheduled to be heard on February 3 in the Commerce and Economic Development Committee. Should it pass that committee, only the Assembly Budget Committee stands between this bad bill and possible votes by the entire senate and assembly.
Time is short. NJEA members, and all those who support public education in New Jersey, must act now to stop this harmful legislation which drains much-needed resources from our public schools.
Please plan and carry out face-to-face actions against this legislation. We ask you do the following:
· Identify at least (5) people that are committed to contacting senators and
assembly members to voice their opposition to these bills before February
3rd.
· Identify at least (2) people that will visit the offices of Pamela Lampitt,
Angel Fuentes, Domenick DiCicco, Stephan Sweeney before February 3rd.
· Identify the date, time, and place you will meet with your members to
provide this voucher update before February 2nd.
· Identify other interactive organizing activities the local will implement
between Feb 1st and February 16th to get the message out into the
community, that they must notify legislators to oppose spending public
funds to private schools.
Associations may want to use breakfast meetings, legislative lunches, or any other creative activity. We recommend phone calls and written letters. It appears the emails are not getting read. When writing, urge legislators to call you to discuss the issue directly, or ask that they reply in writing.
This is a perfect organizing activity to do with parents, friends, family, and neighbors. Every member in every local must be involved to block the efforts of legislators. Go to njea.org for detailed information and up-to-date breaking issues.
Feel free to contact the UniServ office if you need talking points or any other assistance. Let us know what you are doing in your association.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
YOUR CHANCE TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE
We just received word from our GR person, Fran Pfeffer, that Jim Beach is very interested in hearing how our members feel about the voucher bill. He indicated that he could be persuaded if he hears from enough NJEA members. Presidents are encouraged to utilize their local communications system and ask each of your members to contact Senator Beach. His contact information is below. We expect that the vote will be taken tomorrow.
856-429-1572
SenBeach@njleg.org
Tell him:
This voucher scheme would drain up to a billion tax dollars from the state at a time when we are cutting education funding and other critical programs.
856-429-1572
SenBeach@njleg.org
Tell him:
This voucher scheme would drain up to a billion tax dollars from the state at a time when we are cutting education funding and other critical programs.
- Please oppose S-1872/A-2810.
- No more bailouts. We need to focus our resources on highly accountable public schools, not send money to subsidize struggling private schools with no meaningful accountability.
- Public education is our future - we should be investing in it, not destroying it.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
LEGISLATIVE ALERT!!!
Legislative Alert: The Opportunity Scholarship Act S-1872 (voucher bill) will be considered in committee on January 20. S-1872 is bad policy and must be OPPOSED. It would strip $360 million in tax dollars from public schools already facing deep budget cuts, and give that money to unaccountable private and religious schools, while doing nothing to improve New Jersey public schools in need of assitance and support.
TO DO: Contact Senator James Beach (D-6) 856-429-1572 to oppose S-1872 for the reasons above.
WHEN CONTACTING HIM: Encourage him to stand up for public schools.
Stay tuned to http://www.njea.org/ and your email for up to the minute information.
TO DO: Contact Senator James Beach (D-6) 856-429-1572 to oppose S-1872 for the reasons above.
WHEN CONTACTING HIM: Encourage him to stand up for public schools.
Stay tuned to http://www.njea.org/ and your email for up to the minute information.
Monday, January 10, 2011
LAT Meeting CANCELED - Tuesday, Jan. 11
Due to the forecasted snow for Tuesday, January 11, 2011 into Wednesday, January 12, 2011, we have decided to cancel and reschedule the Legislative Action Team Meeting scheduled for Tuesday, January 11, 2011 at 4:30 p.m., at the CCCEA Office. We will notify you when a date has been chosen to reschedule. Please pass this information on to any member who was signed up to attend.
Thursday, January 06, 2011
UNISERV ALERT!
The UniServ office is expecting a message to leaders/members which deals with urgent legislative issues which we believe will be addressed tomorrow by Sweeney and by the Governor on January 11th during the State of the Union address. Please monitor your email throughout the rest of the afternoon and evening since these initiatives have the potential to be damaging. The message will require members and leaders to contact their legislators immediately.
We'll keep you updated.
We'll keep you updated.
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