There’ll Always Be A Newark: the Star-Ledger sits in on a rowdy school board candidate debate as 11 hopefuls vie for 4 slots. (Update here.)

An ugly showdown erupted at the end of the meeting, when Bishop Timothy Pernell began yelling at city Councilwoman Mildred Crump and Rutgers professor Junius Williams, insisting they were wrong in insinuating his sister Chris Pernell was not a Newark resident.

“If you are a black man with dignity then you need to learn the facts!” he shouted to Williams, a long-respected voice in Newark education and head of the Abbot Leadership Institute.
Pernell had to be restrained by members of his own team. He then accused Crump of being a liar.

The Record reports that the DOE received 58 applications for new charter schools.

The State Supreme Court has accelerated the schedule for deciding the constitutionality of Gov. Christie’s 2010-2011 school aid cuts.

Assemblywoman Caroline Casagrande takes the State to task for sticking with an obsolete list of 31 high-needs districts (also known as “Abbotts) in spite of the fact that other districts are now poorer and some, like Hoboken, no longer belong on the list.

The Courier-Post says that regardless of Special Master Peter Doyne’s conclusion that the school aid cuts were unconstitutional, NJ doesn’t have the $1.6 billion lying around to square accounts. At any rate, it’s not about money:

With these long-struggling urban schools, it’s about making the radical changes that value children over entrenched institutions and unions; real changes and options that will lead to underprivileged kids actually getting the “thorough and efficient” education they deserve.

But the Philadelphia Inquirer chastises Gov. Christie for not fully funding the school funding formula.

And The Press of Atlantic City wonders whether a decision in favor of ELC would send more money to non-Abbott districts.

Assemblywoman Connie Wagner suggests that Bergen County, with 70 municipalities, could get by with fewer than the current 75 superintendents.

NJ School Boards Association compares Gov. Christie’s and Senator Sweeney’s plans for pension and health care benefit contributions.

Rishawn Biddle over at Dropout Nation has some stats particular to New Jersey:

$38,437.63: the average annual annuity of a New Jersey teacher in 2009.
$36,000,000,000: The unfunded retired teacher healthcare liability for New Jersey in 2009.
124,983: Number of eighth-graders who originally made up California’s and New Jersey’s Class of 2009 who dropped out and fell into prison and poverty.

Speaking of state money, Rutgers is paying “New Jersey Shore” reality show star Snookie $32K to speak at Commencement (and, no, it’s not April 1st anymore).

Intercepts reports that “the average retired teacher in California made more than the average working teacher in 28 states, according to the salary rankings published by NEA.”

Mike Petrelli and Fordham Institute colleagues reconsider their ed reform priorities.