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NJ Spotlight--With State Aid in Deep Freeze, Towns and Schools Are Out in the Cold
What does a flat budget look like? Higher property taxes, fewer services and staff, and nothing extra for teachers and students
Home owners in New Jersey, which has the highest property taxes in the nation, should expect taxes on their homes to rise even higher as a result of Gov. Chris Christie’s budget proposal to freeze state aid to nearly all municipalities and school districts.
The state-imposed 2-percent property tax cap should blunt tax increases, but could mean cuts in services or staff in some places. School aid is also being kept flat, which will put even more pressure on districts already struggling to keep teachers happy and give students what they need.
Although the law caps property tax increases at 2 percent, there are enough exemptions to allow for a slightly larger increase. Between 2015 and 2016, the average property tax bill in New Jersey rose by 2.3 percent.
“Local budget makers should be commended for the quality of services they continue to provide, while struggling to keep those (property tax) increases as low as possible,” said Jon Moran, senior legislative analyst with the New Jersey State League of Municipalities.
http://www.njspotlight.com/stories/17/03/07/with-state-aid-in-deep-freeze-towns-and-schools-are-out-in-the-cold/
Colleen O'Dea | March 8, 2017
Star Ledger--N.J. just made it easier to become a certain type of teacher
TRENTON -- Facing a shortage of bilingual teachers in its public schools, New Jersey has made it easier to become one.
The state Board of Education this month approved what education officials called a "slight relaxation" to the score teachers need on the written proficiency test for bilingual teachers, a move officials expect will boost the number of bilingual educators by 10 to 15 percent.
The change applies only to prospective teachers for students learning English as their second language. It does not affect foreign language teachers for native English speakers.
Adam Clark | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com| March 07, 2017 at 8:45 AM, updated March 07, 2017 at 4:37 PM
Jersey Journal--Jersey City to hire lawyer to fight school funding changes
JERSEY CITY -- Facing renewed threats of cuts to state funding for its public-school system, Jersey City wants to hire a law firm the mayor's spokeswoman says will "protect" the city's interests if state lawmakers move to slash state aid.
A resolution on Wednesday's City Council agenda would award a $75,000 contract to Morristown-based Riker, Danzig, Scherer, Hyland & Perretti to represent the city in the expected battle over state funding for schools.
Questions emailed to city spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill about what the law firm's role would be -- whether it would lobby state lawmakers against making changes to the school funding formula or whether it would draft a lawsuit to stop any changes -- were not returned.
Terrence T. McDonald | The Jersey Journal| March 07, 2017 at 12:50 PM, updated March 07, 2017 at 1:05 PM
