Joanna Gagis fills in for David Cruz this week on Chat Box and looks at the issue of school funding in New Jersey. With a new report out on the true costs to keep our schools and students competitive, pressing questions have come up about how the school-funding formula needs to be revised to meet the needs New Jersey’s urban and suburban districts. Gagis talks with Rutgers Professor Bruce Baker, a school finance expert and co-author of the New Jersey Policy Perspective’s report. New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission Chair Dianna Houenou discusses the timeline for recreational marijuana market sales in the Garden State. Gagis also talks with Dr. Chris Pernell from University Hospital about the latest on NJ’s COVID-19 numbers, hospitalizations, vaccines for children under five and when we may see COVID-19 turn from pandemic to endemic.

Watch Chat Box live on NJ Spotlight News and the NJ Spotlight News YouTube channel, Facebook page and Twitter account Thursdays at 6:30 p.m., and on NJ PBS Saturdays at 6:30 p.m. and Sundays at 10:30 a.m.