1

On March 2, I joined Commissioner Hespe and New Jersey

Institute of Technology President Joel Bloom in the

announcement of the Future Ready Schools – New Jersey project

at the State Board of Education meeting.

The program will be a partnership among NJSBA, the New

Jersey Department of Education and NJIT. Its goal will be to

promote digital learning in our schools and help districts secure

the necessary technology.

2

We will launch the program at Workshop 2016.

Future Ready Schools will recognize district efforts to effectively

use technology in teaching and learning. Its structure will be

similar to the very successful Sustainable Jersey for Schools

program.

And by the way, as of this morning, Sustainable Jersey’s

membership stands at 428 schools in 161 districts. That’s 28

percent of the state’s school districts. Impressive!

2

In 2013, shortly after the Newtown tragedy, our Association went

into high gear to address the concerns of school boards about the

safety and security of their students.

Major projects included—

• The Safe and Secure Schools Forum at The College of New

Jersey, which attracted over 600 board members, educators

and other citizens, and

• Our School Security Task Force, which conducted a major

study on issues surrounding school safety…from security

3

personnel, to policies, to training.

Our efforts were noticed. President Don, who co-chaired NJSBA’s

task force, was appointed to the state’s own security task force,

which issued a report that referenced our study and reflected many

of our recommendations.

Today, NJSBA’s efforts continue to be recognized.

On March 1, Commissioner Hespe visited NJSBA to discuss

school security concerns. He was accompanied by Assistant

Commissioner Bob Bumpus and top officials of the department’s

Office of School Preparedness & Emergency Planning

Our dialogue focused on the need to expand training in school

security to all stakeholders, including board members, parents and

school district staff.

Another byproduct of this meeting: We will incorporate a module

on the local board’s role in school security into our online

3

Governance training.

NJSBA information and training efforts in school security

continue. This month’s issue of School Leader focuses on school

safety.

And on June 3, we will conduct our “School Security and Student

Safety Conference at Mercer County College.

I am happy to report that the Commissioner will be a speaker at

the program, along with a couple of key legislators.

3

There’s no greater sign of the effectiveness—and success—of the

New Jersey School Boards Association than the revitalization of

our county associations. Here too, relationships count, whether

they are with the key lawmakers, such as Assembly Speaker

Vinnie Prieto, who attend the meetings to speak with board

members, face to face, or the corporate sponsors who enable the

Educational Leadership Foundation of New Jersey to fund the

programs at no expense to local school boards.

Whether it’s the 8th grade dialogue in Monmouth County, the

4

“Unsung Heroes” recognition program in Middlesex, or the equity

dialogue with students and superintendents in Mercer, I’ve

enjoyed attending this year’s county programs.

I have attended 16 counties, with re-visits to four. During the

spring I will attend meetings for the remaining 5 counties.

Our county associations are having a very successful year.

4

And so is our state association. One area I would stress is

finance.

Tonight, you will act on the proposed 2016-2017 Association

budget. The proposed budget recognizes the financial challenges

facing our members. Therefore, for the seventh consecutive year,

there will be no increase in Association dues.

While dues remain level, the need for services grows. And the

2016-2017 will maintain all service levels.

5

Last year, we reached a milestone, when non-dues revenue passed

the 30 percent mark. For 2016-2017, non-dues revenue will make

up an even larger share of the budget, 32.2 percent to be exact.

That’s critical as we seek to expand services for our members, but

have to remain sensitive to their financial situations.

Here too, relationships matter. The healthy stream of non-dues

income results from creative efforts, such as Workshop

sponsorships, the NJSBA Corporate Partner program, and

initiatives such as NJSBA’s TEC (Technology for Education and

Careers). It also come from sponsorships at successful

programming, like our recent Technology Conference, which

brought together technology leaders, such as Travis Allen, vendors

and school officials for an educational experience that received

excellent evaluations from all participants.

5

Our iSTEAM project—integrative Science, Technology,

Engineering, Arts and Mathematics—is a multi-year plan to increase

workplace readiness skills and positively impact teacher professional

development. The list of potential partners in our STEAM education

efforts is impressive.

In the past, I’ve pointed to the U.S. Army, which will fully sponsor

the iSTEAM Command Center at this year’s Workshop. That’s a

$20,000 sponsorship—up from $10,000!

To advance our STEAM education efforts by gaining information,

6

Immediate Past President John, who has been instrumental in

iSTEAM project, will join John Henry, our STEAM and Sustainability

specialist, and Sgt. FC George Johnson, the STEM education

specialist who has been assigned to NJSBA by the U.S. Army, in a

tour of military training facilities in the Washington area.

We held the second of two New Board Member Orientation programs

this past weekend which was—for the third consecutive year—fully

funded by ETS. Lenora Green, the executive director of the ETS

Center for Advocacy and Philanthropy, stopped by conference center

and spoke to the new board members.

We are very encouraged by ETS continued and support and expect

this relationship continue. Stephanie Fisher, the chair of the

Educational Leadership Foundation of New Jersey, which receives

funding to support our governance training programs, also spoke at

the conference.

NJSBA has also entered into a productive relationship with the

schools insurance group. This year, the insurance group will increase

its sponsorship at Workshop from $10,000 to $20,000.

6

That’s good news. And here’s even more good news for you…

6

In addition to increasing its Workshop sponsorship, the Insurance

Group’s executive director has made verbal commitment to

recommend to his board that they fund one of our weekend New

Board Member Orientation programs next year!

7

Strong relationships are critical to winning—and maintaining—a

seat at the table where important decisions are made. As you can

see, we have lines of communication with key leaders. And I am

particularly pleased with the progress we’ve made in building

relationships with the Administration and the State Board of

Education.

On February 23rd, I met with Mark Biedron, State Board

president, at his request to discuss the School District

Accountability Regulations, which will sunset in November.

8

On February 11, I addressed the State Board’s Strategic Planning

Committee. I presented NJSBA’s perspective on the direction of

public education over the next five years. I stressed the need to

preserve local authority, character education, STEAM education,

the need for flexibility and, above all, the importance of the local

governance of public education that is linked to full funding.

And we have built bridges to other areas of the administration.

Following the Governor’s budget message last month, the

Governor’s counsel called me to obtain NJSBA’s viewpoint on the

proposed state budget, as well as the pension proposal put forth by

his commission.

By the way, we have also been in communication with the

Pension Study Commission, which recently asked us for data on

teacher salaries.

8

At this point in my report, I would like to ask Mike Vrancik to

come forward to report on recent developments in the state

Legislature, including the Governor’s proposed budget for 2016-

2017.

[Mike will provide an update.]

9

Thank you, Mike.

In addition to advocacy, training is a key component of NJSBA’s

mission.

I would like to commend our staff for some of the recent

professional development efforts.

Earlier, I mentioned the success of our Technology Conference

and the March Weekend Orientation program. Both were

10

overwhelming successes. We also had a very effective Salary

Guides program this past weekend. These are tried and true

programs.

On Thursday, we hosted a program that put us on the cutting edge

of an issue that, I understand, is just now being embraced by the

corporate sector—that is, Hidden Bias: Gender, Race and Zip

Code. We had a small, but committed group of participants. They

were genuinely interested in how they could address biases that

people might not realize exist, but which negatively affect

students and contribute to the achievement gap.

10

Another component of NJSBA’s mission is to provide you with

the information that you need to effectively govern your schools.

NJSBA has a wealth of information and data. But I’ve heard time

and again that it is not easy to access online—that is, our website

is not user-friendly.

That’s why, as part of our Strategic Plan, we undertook a major

project to build a completely new website—one that is easy to

navigate, has a logical design, and can get you to the people on

11

our staff who can assist you.

Launching of the new site is on schedule for the end of this

month. And as the last part of my report, I would like to ask Frank

Belluscio and Lauren Cuervo to give us a preview of the new

njsba.org.

[At conclusion, recognize Frank, Lauren and Joseph for their

work on the project.]

11