By Neil Schulman
Long Branch — The state government announced last week that it was allocating extra money to all schools in the state. Some are seeing minor increases in aid, and others, including Long Branch, are receiving millions more.
On July 12, Governor Chris Christie announced that he was allocating an extra $600 million in aid to schools around the state. Following a court ruling in May, Abbott Districts — which the state says are entitled to extra support, and which includes the Long Branch school district — will receive a total of $450 million more than originally anticipated.
Long Branch will receive a little more than $4.3 million extra in aid for the 2011-12 school year.
Non-Abbott schools will receive $150 million more.
This money is in addition to the $250 million aid increase that had already been allocated by Christie before the court decision. Much of that restored the aid which had been eliminated in the 2010 budget.
“This year, New Jersey increased state aid to school districts by $850 million over last year, restoring every dollar of the cuts we were forced to make last year and increasing aid by an additional $30 million. We are keeping faith with our commitment to New Jersey’s children and families, spending more money per pupil on New Jersey’s students than almost any other state in the country,” said Governor Christie in a statement.
The governor also called for reform in education.
Long Branch Schools Superintendent Michael Salvatore said that the funds — and the idea of changing how education is conducted — were welcome in Long Branch.
“Governor Christie’s education allocation plan will fully fund the school funding formula for the former Abbott districts, which has been a challenge since the inception of the (School Finance Reform Act). We are waiting for guidance from the Department of Education, on the specific resources and initiatives that will be proposed under the governor’s education reform agenda,” he said.
“Additionally, It was great to learn acting commission [of education Chris] Cerf has called for targeted standards based instruction and assessments, which has been a worthy movement in the education arena nationwide. “
Salvatore has made it a priority to increase standards during his term as Superintendent.
“In Long Branch we have embraced the movement and will utilize any additional funding for standards based digital learning and assessment platforms such as read180 and study island, which are diagnostic tools used in the classroom to adequately monitor student outcomes,” said Salvatore.
Long Branch school officials said they would work with the state and closely monitor how the funding is used.
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Other communities are receiving more modest increases in aid. Oceanport received about $31,000 more than originally budgeted for, which board members have voted to use to reduce the taxpayer burden. (Long Branch schools had no tax increase this year.)
Even though the Oceanport Board of Education had a meeting scheduled for Wednesday night, they needed another one earlier in the week to approve this, to comply with the county’s schedule of sending out tax bills.
Eatontown Memorial Student is 10,000th Child to Benefit from Free Vision Screening by New Jersey’s Eatontown Lions Club The Eatontown Lions Club began its sixth year of vision screening with a bang on Thursday, September 14, 2023. As a result of partnering with the Eatontown and Ocean Township School Districts the Lions club provided the 10,000th free vision screening. On Thursday in recognition as the 10,000th screening recipient, Ashton Vassor, an eighth-grade student at Eatontown’s Memorial School, was given a citation and gift card from the Lions Club. Ashton has been screened annually by the Lions since second grade. Also given a Lions Club Certificate was Memorial School Nurse Lucy Craig, one of the first Eatontown School District nurses to collaborate with the Lions when vision screening began in 2017. She was Ashton’s school nurse at Meadowbrook School when his vision was first screened. Working in conjunction with school nurses, vision screenings are done annually by the Eatontown Lions in September and October for students in Pre-K through 8th grade. “We really appreciate your help as well as the support of the Lions. Your work and partnership with us make a difference. The vision screening process as well as the resources the Lions provide to our students if a vision problem is discovered help our students to be in a better position to learn and succeed. Thank you.” said Scott T. McCue, Superintendent Eatontown Public Schools More than 12 million school-age children in the United States have some form of vision problem. Many vision problems run the risk of becoming permanent if not corrected by the time the eye reaches full maturity. Vision also plays an important role in education. According to educational experts, 80 percent of learning is visual. “Early screening leads to early detection, which helps ensure that children get the follow-up care they need,” said Club President Linda Butler. “We want to make sure that cor