Marie Corfield: @NJSenatePres 's @Path2ProgressNJ & the 800lb Gorillas In The Room

Marie Corfield: @NJSenatePres 's @Path2ProgressNJ & the 800lb Gorillas In The Room

@NJSenatePres 's @Path2ProgressNJ & the 800lb Gorillas In The Room

Expert analysis and witnesses are essential to the successful outcome of a trial, but in the court of public opinion, politicians often fail to enlist experts who may raise red flags about the policies they're trying to sell to the general public. In my little corner of the universe—education—it happens too frequently. Analysis is done by study groups and commissions that often lack any real, working K-12 educators.

The latest example is Senate President Steve Sweeney's 'Path to Progress', which touts, among other things, regionalizing many of the state's school districts and slashing (yet again) retired public employees' deferred compensation.

Here is the complete list of the commission's members:

MEMBERSHIP

Co-chairs:

• Senator Paul Sarlo – Chairman, Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee
• Senator Steven Oroho – Senate Republican Conference Chair
• Assemblyman Louis Greenwald – Assembly Majority Leader

Legislative Members:

• Senator Steve Sweeney – Senate President
• Senator Dawn Addiego – State Senator
• Senator Anthony Bucco – Senate Minority Budget Officer
• Assemblywoman Eliana Pintor Marin – Chairwoman, Assembly Budget
• Senator Troy Singleton – Chairman, Senate Military and Veterans’ Affairs

Subcommittee Chairs:

• Dr. Ray Caprio – Rutgers Bloustein School of Planning & Public Policy; Bloustein Local Government Research Center
• Frank Chin – Managing Director, American Public Infrastructure
• Richard Keevey – Rutgers University Bloustein School of Planning & Public Policy and Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs
• Dr. Michael Lahr – Rutgers Bloustein School of Planning & Public Policy and Rutgers Economic Advisory Service
• Marc Pfeiffer – Rutgers University, Bloustein School of Planning & Public Policy; Bloustein Local Government Research Center

Non-Legislative Members:

• Dr. Henry Coleman – Rutgers University, Bloustein School of Planning & Public Policy
• Lucille Davy – Of Counsel, Mason, Griffin & Pierson
• Feather O’Connor Houstoun – Adviser for Public media and journalism at Wyncote Foundation
• Ray Kljajic – American Public Infrastructure Inc.
• Robert Landolfi – Business Administrator, Woodbridge Township (retired)
• Senator Raymond Lesniak – Chair, Lesniak Institute for American Leadership
• Jerry Maginnis – Rowan University, William G. Rohrer College of Business
• Dr. Donald Moliver – Monmouth University, Kislak Real Estate Institute
• Dr. Joel Naroff – President, Naroff Economic Advisers Inc.
• Peter Reinhart – Monmouth University Kislak Real Estate Institute
• Kurt Stroemel – President, HR&S Financial Services
• Ralph Thomas – CEO/Executive Director, New Jersey Society of Certified Public Accountants

While this list reads like a Who's Who of New Jersey public policy experts, notice the one highlighted name: Robert Landolfi. He is the only K-12 representative on the commission—and he's retired. There are no real K-12 voices here, and none from South Hunterdon Regional School District, the only district in the past 25 years to successfully consolidate.

While Sen. Sweeney exults in the plan's proposed successes at town hall meetings across the state, he and his cohorts fail to address the three 800 lb gorillas in the room:

1. Public schools are not businesses:

While consolidation may bring about some savings in certain situations, we must not forget that school districts are not convenience store chains. We don't sell soda and lottery tickets; we teach children, each of whom comes with different needs, and each district strives to meet those needs. Before we go down this road, the study commission CONTINUE READING: Marie Corfield: @NJSenatePres 's @Path2ProgressNJ & the 800lb Gorillas In The Room