The New Jersey Family Impact Seminar #2 is a four-part seminar series that occurred in October 2024.

Directed by Nydia Monagas, Montclair University

Overview:

Equitable and adequate funding is necessary for providing a quality education for New Jersey’s students. Research demonstrates that investing resources in schools makes a difference, particularly for districts that are under-resourced and for students from low-income families. The data also indicate negative student outcomes when funds are decreased. New Jersey’s School Funding Reform Act (SFRA) was intended to provide more funding to school districts with greater needs and meet specific outcome standards. However, NJ has faced challenges in fully funding the formula over the years. In addition, the formula has not been updated to adequately meet student needs. In this 4-week Family Impact Seminar Series, national experts will discuss research regarding school funding and student outcomes, share an overview of state school funding systems, provide a framework for evaluating NJ’s current special education funding formula, and offer policy recommendations to ensure that all students are educated in school districts with adequate funding.

Presentations:

Wednesday, October 2nd: Public School Funding in New Jersey: How We Got Here, and Where We Should Go Next

Mark Weber, Ph.D., is a Special Analyst for Education Policy at the New Jersey Policy Perspective; a Lecturer in education finance and law at Rutgers University’s Graduate School of Education; and a veteran public school teacher. Dr. Weber’s research areas include school finance, charter schools, teacher quality, and arts education. He has authored many policy
briefs on education and has published peer-reviewed articles.

• Presentation (pdf)
• Issue Brief (pdf)
• Video (mp4)

Wednesday, October 9th: Informing State School Finance Policy With Empirical Evidence

Bruce Baker, Ph.D., is Professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning at the University of Miami and Co-director and creator of the School Finance Indicators Database. Widely considered the leading expert on the funding of public education, he has been researching, writing and consulting on school finance for over 25 years. Dr. Baker has consulted on
state school funding policy design with several states and testified in numerous state and federal courts on school funding inequalities.

Drew Atchison, Ed.D., is a principal researcher at American Institutes for Research (AIR). His primary responsibilities include quantitative analysis on a wide range of projects examining topics such as education finance, educational equity, and accountability. Atchison has published articles in top education research journals, including the Journal of Research on
Educational Effectiveness, Education Finance and Policy, AERA Open and American Educational Research Journal.

• Presentation (pdf)
• Issue Brief (pdf)
• Video (mp4)

Wednesday, October 16th: (Re)Considering State Funding Policies for Special Education

Tammy Kolbe, Ed.D., is a principal researcher at AIR, specializing in evaluating the resources and costs associated with effectively implementing policies and programs in PK-16 educational organizations. A particular focus of her work has been funding and costs for special education programs for children with disabilities, having led multiple studies of state special
education funding systems. Throughout her career, Dr. Kolbe has led numerous evaluations of education policy and program costs and cost effectiveness, and she was an expert for AIR’s Cost Analysis Standards Project that developed national standards for conducting education program cost analysis and evaluation.

• Presentation (pdf)
• Issue Brief (pdf) (COMING SOON)
• Video (mp4)

Wednesday, October 23rd: Modernizing the SFRA: Policy Recommendations to Improve School Funding in NJ

Danielle Farrie, Ph.D., is Research Director at Education Law Center. Since 2008, she has conducted research and data analysis to support public policy advocacy for ELC and partner organizations. Dr. Farrie is the lead author of ELC’s Making the Grade report and has authored book chapters and peer-reviewed articles on topics such as school finance and school
segregation. She has testified about school funding issues before numerous state and national commissions and has provided expert testimony in state school funding lawsuits.

• Presentation (pdf)
• Issue Brief (pdf)
• Video (mp4)