New formula boosts aid to local schools

The governor has unveiled his new state aid formula and it appears that most districts in the state will be receiving something — at least for now. Beyond that, however, it is unclear what the longterm ramifications of the new aid formula will be.

As the Star-Ledger points out in its brief coverage so far, the formula still has to get through both houses of the state Legislature and then pass muster with the state Supreme Court — by no means a guaranteed outcome.

In the shorterm, however, all four of the districts covered by the South Brunswick Post and The Cranbury Press will be seeing increases in aid.

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick

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Inconsistent logic

I’m having some trouble understanding this editorial in The Star-Ledger. If I’m reading this correctly, the clean-elections program wasn’t much of a success — so let’s try it statewide. There seems to be a logical error here.

I think the ultimate point — that it needs to be tried statewide — is a good one. But the way the paper gets there might cause readers to assume the program should be scrapped. That would be an unfortunate and foolish outcome.

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick

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Quote of the day: Patriotism

This is from Howard Zinn’s latest book, A Power Governments Cannot Suppress:

Patriotism in a democratic society cannot possibly be unquestioning support of the government, not if we take seriously the principles of democracy as set forth in the Declaration of Independence, our founding document. The Declaration makes a clear distinction between the government and the people. Governments are artificial creations, the Declaration says, established by the people with the obligation obligation to protect certain ends: the equal rights of all to “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” And “whenever any form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to “alter or abolish it….”

Surely, if it is the right of the people to “alter and abolish,” it is their right to criticize, even severely, policies they believe destructive of the ends for which government has been established. This principle, in the Declaration of Independence, suggests that true patriotism lies in supporting the values the country is supposed to cherish: equality, life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness. When our government compromises, undermines, or attacks those values, it is being unpatriotic.

Sound familiar?

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick

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