Dear Community Member:Each April, we ask you to travel to the polls and decide whether our budget for the next year should be approved and who should represent you on your board of education. I think sometimes we make many assumptions in doing so.
First, we assume that you are familiar with the quality of education here in Mount Laurel. That may be true for those of you with children in our schools today. But if your child is not yet of school age, or graduated from eighth-grade, or if you have no children, perhaps that assumption is unfair.
And while I can fill a month's worth of newsletters with the accolades our students and staff have earned just in this school year thus far, I'd like to offer you some impartial resources to help with your decision.
Every year, the state of New Jersey compiles all of the data collected in its public schools into the New Jersey Report Card. Each school is analyzed not only in comparison to other district schools, but also to similar schools in our District Factor Group and across the state. You can learn more here about school environment, student performance, staff information and financial data.
The
State School Report Card is a great tool in assessing how your investment in your schools is faring. Please take a look at ours before making your decision at the polls next Tuesday.
And while you're on the New Jersey Department of Education website, you will certainly want to view the
2010 Comparative Spending Guide for Schools. This document will show you where Mount Laurel ranks in spending within various categories. Be sure to open the K-8 Report, and you will want to look for the section comparing K-8 Districts with 751 or more students. That's where our schools appear.
I hope you will incorporate the information found in these crucial tools with what you have seen in our schools and found to be true in your own neighborhoods of our students. They are happy and productive and their parents send them to school ready to learn. It's a situation that bodes well for the future of Mount Laurel and its residents.
