LWV Teaneck Calendar of Events

LWV Teaneck Current Events Calendar

March 3, 2012 ILO Women's History Celebration
Sunday, March 4, from 2:00 to 4:00 PM at the
Celebration of Women's History in Park Ridge.

March 5th: Women's History Discussion 8 PM Janet Austin's House
Remembering "When: The Way it Was and Is Not Now"
We will discuss progress that has been made on women's issues.
Have they been resolved ---or not? What remains to be legislated, done, moved forward with, abolished?

All are urged to bring souvenirs of those long-ago
days, such as old N.O.W. cards, rally posters, programs on Women and the
ERA, etc.

You can look at old issues of Ms. Magazine (available on March 5th)to refresh your memory. Check Ms.Magazine's recent issues for the issues being discussed now.

Anyone wanting to review Gail Collin's book(interview linked here):
When Everything Changed" is welcome to do so and share what was read.

-----Patricia O'Brien Libutti, facilitator

April 23: Candidates Forum: Primaries, Town Council

May 1: Citizen Swearing In Ceremony, New Bridge Landing


June 8-12 LWV US Convention, Washington DC, Hilton Hotel Theme “Power the Vote.”

About The League of Women Voters of Teaneck

Pictured: Members, LWV-Teaneck, Sen.Loretta Weinberg (at podium) and Mayor Hameedudin. Proclamation of 90th Anniversary Women's Equality Day and LWV-Teaneck's contributions to the town, Town Council meeting, Sept. 28th, 2010.

Are you interested in public policy issues? Do you want to help others be informed? Want to meet others who have these interests?

Come and join us!

We have been in the USA since Feb. 14, 1920, the year the 19th Amendment was passed, and are the proud descendants of the suffragists.

And we’ve been in Teaneck since April,1952.

The League of Women Voters Teaneck (LWV Teaneck), a nonpartisan political organization, encourages the informed and active participation in government, works to increase understanding all major public policy issues, and influences public policy through education and advocacy.

LWV Teaneck’s members organize and run an Observer Corps, Candidate Forums for the Board of Education and Town Council elections and Voter Registration Drives.

LWV members look at current issues with resources from local, regional, state and national levels.

Topics are studied to provide positions for local, state and national levels and have included:
• In-State Tuition for Unauthorized Immigrants (2010),
• Health Care Reform (2009),
• National Popular Vote Compact(2009)
• Health Care Reform
• and Federal Role in Public Education. [ 2011-12.]
and privatization (2011-12)

2011: 91th Anniversary of the Passage of the Nineteenth Amendment
2012: 92nd Anniversary of the LWV of the United States
2012: The year you join the League?
Come be a part of it.

Join. Think. Act.

Click here for more LWV Information

LWV Teaneck Contact Information

Board, League of Women Voters, Teaneck

To contact members of the Board, email: lwvteaneck@gmail.com

Vice President, Program: Arlene Gartenberg
Vice Presidents, Voter Services: Shirley Sosland & Barbara Ostroth:
Secretary: Joyce Jacobs
Treasurer:Louise Williams

Directors:
Women's History: Janet Austin
Membership: Naomi Cramer:
Editor, League Lines: Doris Long Thurber

County, Stare and National
LWV Websites:


League Information:
The LWV -US: Policies, positions, all 50 states' contacts and resources.

New Jersey: http://www.lwvnj.org/ Blog, contacts for NJ, history and positions.

Bergen County ILO:Local contacts, photo gallery, county government

LWV Study Topics and Policy Positions

LWV members look at current issues with resources to formulate balanced positions with facts. Topics are studied to provide policy positions for local, state and national levels The LWV US public policy positions guides future work in advocacy, investigation and education.

At the state level, these topics have been studied recently:
"In-State Tuition for Unauthorized Immigrants", NJ,(2010) and
"Health Care Reform" (2009) and "National Popular Vote Compact" (2009).
Look at the positions that LWVNJ Study and Action paper to see all the topics studied and positions adopted.

Two current studies done at the national level will be forming
positions at the 2012 convention.are linked below. The papers and resource materials are at these links.

"The Federal Government's Role in Public Education' (2010-2011)

Most current is the "Privatization" (US)
Privatization study.



The League has made all articles available from the Privatization on the web. They are listeed both together and separately for your convenience.

All the materials for LWV members, LWV are located here The individual resources are listed below and linked. There are twelve papers and supporting materials (About the study, Leader's Guide, Consensus questions.)

There is a section at the bottom listing some external resources onprivatization in education (articles, research papers, organizations.) If you find a relevant article on education privatization, please send the headline and link to libutti@gmail.com to be shared.


Leaders' Guide for the Privatization Study Consensus

Privatization Study Consensus Form May 1.

About the Privatization Study

Federal Privatization: The Ryan Plan

Surveying State Laws Addressing Privatization

Privatization: The Public Policy Debate

State Level Privatization 2011

Public Library Privatization - A Case Study

Strategies for Best Practice

Deregulation of Railroads

Privatization of a Publicly Owned Waste Water Treatment Plant
Education

The Legal Framework of Transparency and Accountability within the Context of Privatization


Subcontracting Public Education

Links & Excerpts to Articles discussed on the lwv-privation list

This assemblage of links to privatization resources is an example of the many kinds of information available on this topic--- a caveat:evaluate carefully the sources of the articles linked.


Privatizing Education : Monthly Review "Education is an essential part of modern economic progress, yet in recent decades, the right wing has consistently been unfriendly to public education".

Public Schools: Make Them Private by M. Friedman - Jun 23, 1995 – "Such a reconstruction can be achieved only by privatizing a major segment of the educational system--i.e., by enabling a private, for-profit ..."

Research Center: Privatization of Public Education Oct 5, 2004 – "Privatization of Public Education. Turning the operation of public schools over to private companies is a controversial idea based on the ..."

ECS Education Policy Issue Site: Privatization "The privatization of K-12 public education is a multi-faceted issue. In one of its forms, school districts sell advertising space on school district property, such as ..."

Confronting the Challenge of Privatization in Public Education" by ...Jun 13, 1998 – "Proposals for privatization of public education in the United States are not new. The proposal to use government funded school vouchers to pay ..."

The One Minute Case For Privatizing Education - One Minute Cases
Jun 7, 2007 – "Public schools are immoral The title “public schools” is misleading. In almost all cases, these schools are run by the government, taught with ..."

From the lwv privatization discussion list:

The Path Not Taken, Krugman:

Gail Collins: Reading on the Privatization of Education"Today, let’s take a look at the privatization craze and the convictionthat there is nothing about molding young minds that can’t be improved
by the profit motive."

"The goal of the National Center for the Study of Privatization in Education is to provide an independent, non-partisan source of analysis and information on privatization of education."
Research papers featured on the Center's website include
What Makes KIPP Work? A Study of Student Characteristics, Attrition, and School Finance Gary Miron, Jessica L. Urschel, and Nicholas SaxtonCollege of Education and Human Development Western Michigan University."While several studies have considered the outcomes related to KIPP schools, this study examines two key inputs: students and funding. The study finds that while KIPP serves more students that qualify for free and reduced lunch than local schools districts, it serves fewer students with disabilities and students classified as English language learners.

The study finds high levels of student attrition in KIPP schools; a finding that is common for high poverty schools and in line with earlier research on KIPP. In its closer examination of attrition data, this study found that African American males were substantially more likely to leave KIPP schools. Alternative explanations for student attrition in grade cohorts over time—such as higher retention rates—could not explain the drop in enrollment since the size and demographic composition of students in entry grades did not change from year to year. The study found that while charter schools typically receive less in public revenues—largely due to spending on special education, student support services, and transportation—the KIPP schools were actually receiving $800 more per pupil in public sources of revenue than local school districts.

While KIPP schools reported no private revenues in the federal district finance data set, a review of IRS 990 tax forms revealed that KIPP schools were receiving an average of $5,700 per pupil in private sources of revenue in 2008. Combined, the evidence suggest that during the 2007-08 academic year KIPP schools receive—on average—$6,500 more per pupil than local districts. The per pupil estimates of private revenues exclude revenues received by the KIPP Foundation, and instead considers only private dollars given to the KIPP regional groups or independent schools. The study argues that KIPP is a model that serves public education by pushing the discussion of increased instruction for children in poverty and for its unique approach to training, mentoring, and supporting urban school administrators. The study finds, however, that because of selective entry and exit of students and the higher levels of funding received by KIPP this model may not be easily replicated in traditional public schools."October 11, 2011

Private and Public Education: A Cross-National Exploration with TIMSS 2003. 2010. Author: Leslie Rutkowski & David Rutkowski."This article investigates cross-national mathematics and science achievement differences between public and private schools. Using the TIMSS 2003 data, we empirically examine differences through a set of multilevel models that attempt to control for select student background factors. We also attempt to correct for selection bias using propensity score matching methods. A number of methodological issues including the treatment of missing data and the construction of a quality student background measure are also addressed. While our analysis generally supports previous findings of higher private school achievement, we have found that higher private school achievement is not uniform across educational systems or the content domains analyzed. This variation is significant in light of the blanket privatization policy currently promoted by large international organizations."

LWV Local Study Resources

Local GovernmentTeaneck NJ website

Minutes Videos of meetings are available within one month of the meeting. You can borrow a CD from the Public Library. Minutes are archived on the Teaneck school site, BOE.
Teaneck, NJ school site
Board of Education Videos and Minutes

NJ Government; EducationBergen County School Directory
New Jersey Dept. of Education
NJ Education Data including School Reports 2010 NJ Legislature:
Assembly &Senate Education CommitteesCharter Schools Directory, Annual Reports, Legislation news

NJ Administrative Code Education

Advocacy Groups
Education Law Center

News SourcesLocal Education coverage:
Both The Bergen Record & The (Teaneck) Suburbanite use the northjersey.com electronic service.

Other NJ Education coverage: Education sections:nj.com Education
mycentralnj.com: Education
njspotlight.com Education
New York Times Education section



Northjersey.com:Recent Headlines on Shared Services

BOE says it may be open to talking about shared services ...


Town joins in study to share serviceWEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2011
...Several towns have considered outsourcing or consolidating dispatch services as a cost-cutting move.
The Tri-Boro towns — Montvale, Park Ridge and Woodcliff Lake — have been sharing dispatch services for more than six decades. Bergen County also provides dispatch services for nine municipalities at its new operations center in Mahwah.
The township joins Westwood, Old Tappan, Emerson, Hillsdale, and River Vale in funding the study. The money will be used to hire a consultant who will gather and analyze information and outline both initial cost estimates and a proposed timeline for the project. Under the proposal, all costs related to the establishment and operation of the dispatch center — which would be in Old Tappan's former police headquarters — would be shared equally between the six municipalities, and every town would be involved in the center's operation and the hiring and dismissal
of dispatchers.

Furloughs for workers and forfeited salaries for politicians in Prospect Park.A two-year wage freeze and increased surplus spending in North Haledon. A crucial sewer repair project in doubt in Haledon....

Prospect Park is paying $18,000 of Hanenian's salary in exchange for his services, which frees up the official who previously had to handle construction, housing, zoning and code enforcement duties. Hanenian said he typically pulls in between $75,000 and $100,000 per year in code violation fees, which — minus courtfees — go directly into borough coffers.

In Bergen County, Waldwick and Midland Park will share a court administrator for a six-month trial — something Allendale and Ho-Ho-Kus have been doing for years. Waldwick expects to save $12,500 through the deal.

Three groups of towns — North Arlington and Rutherford, East Rutherford and Carlstadt, and Montvale and Woodcliff Lake (which hope to join with Park Ridge, Upper Saddle River and River Vale) — may merge their municipal courts. When five towns in Morris County did so in February, they predicted savings of $2.7 million over 10 years...

Bogota and Teaneck have been boldest with a proposal to combine police departments, as police costs account for more than a third of Bogota's budget. Municipal tax increases in all three towns, plus Hawthorne....

Additionally, Hawthorne has projected yearly hikes through 2012, and when asked if North Haledon property owners could expect more tax increases in
coming years, George said, "If the governor continues
to cut state aid, then yes." That seems likely, as Charles Ferraioli — auditor for
Haledon, North Haledon and Prospect Park — said at a recent Haledon council meeting that state aid was not expected to return to 2007 levels until at least 2014.

Local Study Resources: Sharing Municipal Services

LWV History and Links

From top: Alice Stone Blackwell,Inez Belmont, Lucy Burns,Susan Anthony,Alice Paul, Anna Howard Shaw,Lillian Feikart& Carrie Chapman Catt. All of these women were suffragists who formed the foundation of the League of Women Voters

The League of Women Voters-New Jersey history was prepared by Dr. Fernanda Perrone of the Special Collections Department, Rutgers University Libraries.Shew described the history decade by decade. The abridged history is available on the LWVNJ web site.

The records are archived (Administration, Minutes, events)at the Alexander Library, Rutgers, New Brunswick.The first set of Minutes , April, 1920,are visible on the web, courtesy of Rutgers University Libraries, which houses all the papers from 1920 through 1991.

LWVUS-History Resources

League of Women Voters History

Library of Congress American Memory:
Women's History


"Votes for Women" Suffrage Pictures

Women of Protest: Photographs from the Records of the National Woman's Party


Exhibits Featuring Women


Suffragists Oral History Project

About Alice Paul: Web site.
Basic Information

League of Women Voters
Frequently Asked Questions about Registration and Voting, Know your State’s Deadlines, and sections on major issues (Campaign Finance Reform,
Civil Liberties, Election Administration, Ethics and Lobbying Reform, Global Climate Change, Health Care Reform, Tax Policy, etc.) make the League site an essential one for voters. Voter information is provided in English and Spanish.

New Jersey Board of Elections

To register to vote, turn to this central site. All the information you need, including down loadable registration forms (in English, Spanish, Cantonese, Mandarin, Korean, and Gujarati.)

Research on Issues

League of Women Voters, above

American Association of University Women
Examine AAUW’s position statements on issues. Relevant to a voter examining issues is the AAUW report Where the Girls Are (2008). which examines gender parity in education. Pay equity, an issue since women’s suffrage began, is updated in the AAUW report Behind the Gap (2007, downloadable).

Center for American Women and Politics
Features to explore and use later in the election season include CAWP Election Watch. Those interested in fact-gathering about the voting populations by gender and race will find tables on this site.


International Women's Suffrage
Gain a wider perspective on woman’s suffrage. This site charts the dates women in each country in the world gained suffrage.

Living Room Candidate Look at the television-and Web- ads for presidential candidates, back to 1953.


Project Vote Smart
Look up a candidate’s position on issues (termed a Political Courage measure on this site.)

Women’s Vote

Emily's List: Women Vote .
This blog expertly summarizes political activity by women in support of women candidates.

The White House Project
“Add women, change everything.”
Use the “Research and Resources” section to focus on women political leaders, the skills needed and their representation in media.

Women's Voices, Women's Vote
This site provides materials and connections for single women to promote the vote to others.

Young Voters

Rock the Vote
Rock the Vote is a site on voting aimed at young people. The site uses music and high technology to engage the young voter.

Declare Yourself

Norman Lear designed and funded this site for young voters. The section on Issues contrasts candidates’ positions on each issue.