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‘School Budget Woes’ by Michael P. Riccards, Executive Director, The Hall Institute
'Christie says voters against school budgets are for him' Associated Press
'N.J. towns, schools are urged to consult unions on failed budget reviews' Star Ledger
EDUCATION » Topics » Education
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‘School Budget Woes’ Written by Michael P. Riccards, Executive Director, The Hall Institute |
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Thursday, 22 April 2010 15:21 |
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Rarely do people vote in school budget elections. We don’t know what the numbers mean in terms of our property assessment, and we don’t know the school board candidates. Yet this election, nearly double the number of citizens voted, and in 59% of the districts the allocations were turned down—the toughest verdicts in a generation. Incumbents on the school board were often defeated, unheard of in this state. The people who vote in these low visibility election are usually the teachers, their families, and people with young kids in the schools. When on Election Day 2010, I voted in Hamilton (Mercer) and I was surprised about the large number of older people voting. That signaled trouble, and indeed it did as the budget fell by almost a two to one margin. Clearly, the repudiation of school budgets across the state, especially in working class areas, reflect sympathy with the governor in his war with the NJEA. Even the Democratic politicians are relegated to taking potshots at Christie, but they have few alternatives except soak the rich. The difficulty they must admit is that all the gimmicks Trenton lawmakers have used over the decades are no longer available. The time for reckoning has come.
One of the problems is that to save money, one must really re-think from the bottom up the whole array of services we offer. Let me propose some heretical notions: Do we really need high school athletics? Let them be run by community clubs. Do we really need to bus older kids? Let their parents be responsible for getting them there and then home. Do we need to fund special education at the very high levels we do? Isn’t it time to end the Abbott and class based alternatives to funding, and simply set a level that is acceptable for a thorough and efficient education? Why do so many of our kids not meet national standards, let alone international standards? And let us stop saying that New Jersey schools are the best in the republic. They are not. Massachusetts schools are, so let us adopt their content standards. Let us offer parents charter schools and voucher alternatives, but let us be honest with parents and tell them the research does NOT show they are any better than public schools. Give teachers merit pay that is significant (not $300 or so) and establish some accountability to get rid of those teachers who cannot teach. It is time for all of us to start selling education and the American dream, and we can best start by holding families, kids, and teachers accountable. Michael P. Riccards is Executive Director of the Hall Institute of Public Policy - New Jersey. |
EDUCATION » Topics » Education
|
Written by Michael P. Riccards |
|
Thursday, 22 April 2010 15:21 |
|
Rarely do people vote in school budget elections. We don’t know what the numbers mean in terms of our property assessment, and we don’t know the school board candidates. Yet this election, nearly double the number of citizens voted, and in 59% of the districts the allocations were turned down—the toughest verdicts in a generation. Incumbents on the school board were often defeated, unheard of in this state. The people who vote in these low visibility election are usually the teachers, their families, and people with young kids in the schools. When on Election Day 2010, I voted in Hamilton (Mercer) and I was surprised about the large number of older people voting. That signaled trouble, and indeed it did as the budget fell by almost a two to one margin. Clearly, the repudiation of school budgets across the state, especially in working class areas, reflect sympathy with the governor in his war with the NJEA. Even the Democratic politicians are relegated to taking potshots at Christie, but they have few alternatives except soak the rich. The difficulty they must admit is that all the gimmicks Trenton lawmakers have used over the decades are no longer available. The time for reckoning has come.
One of the problems is that to save money, one must really re-think from the bottom up the whole array of services we offer. Let me propose some heretical notions: Do we really need high school athletics? Let them be run by community clubs. Do we really need to bus older kids? Let their parents be responsible for getting them there and then home. Do we need to fund special education at the very high levels we do? Isn’t it time to end the Abbott and class based alternatives to funding, and simply set a level that is acceptable for a thorough and efficient education? Why do so many of our kids not meet national standards, let alone international standards? And let us stop saying that New Jersey schools are the best in the republic. They are not. Massachusetts schools are, so let us adopt their content standards. Let us offer parents charter schools and voucher alternatives, but let us be honest with parents and tell them the research does NOT show they are any better than public schools. Give teachers merit pay that is significant (not $300 or so) and establish some accountability to get rid of those teachers who cannot teach. It is time for all of us to start selling education and the American dream, and we can best start by holding families, kids, and teachers accountable. Michael P. Riccards is Executive Director of the Hall Institute of Public Policy - New Jersey. |
Christie says voters against school budgets are for him
By GEOFF MULVIHILL
Associated Press
The state pastime in New Jersey may be complaining about the state's highest-in-the-nation property taxes, but it's rare for voters to stand up against them.
That changed this week.
Urged on by first-year Republican Gov. Chris Christie as he tries to cut spending at all levels of government, voters rejected 59 percent of school budget proposals in local elections on Tuesday, sending them to municipal governing bodies for cuts. It was the first time in 34 years that the majority of budget proposals has been nixed.
In New Jersey, where the schools are considered among the nation's best - and most expensive - the public seemed to validate that they, too, should share in the sacrifice.
While the results were close in many of the 537 school districts where budgets were on the ballot, they were strong enough for Christie to declare victory.
"Voters are saying they can no longer afford a government that wishes problems away," he said yesterday. "We need to heed the direction the public is asking us to go in."
But to many educators and parents, Christie is cast even more now as an education-cutting villain.
Last month, he proposed cutting the state and federal allocation to schools by 11 percent in the fiscal year that begins July 1. Districts responded by crafting budgets calling for both tax increases and layoffs.
Then, Christie called for teachers to take voluntary pay freezes and begin paying part of their health-insurance premiums, saying no layoffs would be necessary if they did. Next, he went further, imploring voters to reject budgets in districts where teachers didn't make concessions.
Teachers in only 20 districts have agreed to pay freezes or reductions.
The dispute got ugly. On an anti-Christie Facebook page with nearly 70,000 followers, one educator compared Christie to former Cambodian dictator Pol Pot. Christie accused schools that sent home election information with students as using them like "drug mules," although the New Jersey Education Association says the material in question wasn't advocating voting any specific way.
The teachers unions and the New Jersey Education Association both said the election results did not just reflect people siding with the governor over teachers.
"This was definitely a referendum on Gov. Christie," said NJEA spokesman Steve Wollmer, who says Christie has tried to vilify the union and teachers. "But it was on his decision to force property taxes higher" by reducing state and federal education aid to public schools.
Montclair State University political scientist Brigid Harrison, however, sees the governor's interpretation as right: "When the governor goes out and urges people to reject school budgets, and they do that," she said, "you have to chalk this one up as a win for the governor."
A group of retirees who gather every morning for coffee at the Cherry Hill Mall's food court all opposed the budget proposals in their districts.
They see schools as having too many administrators and have problems with their own finances: Medicare copays are rising, for instance, while Social Security checks aren't.
"We don't have the money," said Tony Alongi, 87, of Cherry Hill. "I was brought up that you don't buy things unless you have money."
N.J. towns, schools are urged to consult unions on failed budget reviews
By Victoria St. Martin/The Star-Ledger
April 22, 2010, 7:45PM
After a record number of school budgets in New Jersey were voted down on Tuesday, it’s now up to local governing bodies to decide whether to sharpen their financial axes.
For some government officials across the Garden State, where 58 percent of the school spending plans failed at the polls, today was the first lesson in the process.
Education Commissioner Bret Schundler encouraged government officials, who will determine local tax levies after reviewing the defeated spending plans, to reach out to union leadership during the process.
"In a negotiation between a union and a school board, they are the counter parties to the discussion," Schundler said during a conference call with municipal and school officials. Schundler said there are times when a third party, such as a town council, can help two parties look at another side.
Schundler, who said at times an opinion from a third party helps him and his wife come to an agreement, invited officials to look at opening contracts.
About 600 government and school officials tuned into Schundler and other panelists on a conference call where experts outlined the next steps for municipalities to take with their failed budgets.
Council members in the districts where 316 budgets failed have a month to review the spending plans and to decide what changes, if any, should be made, said officials from the New Jersey School Board Association and the state League of Municipalities, which sponsored the call.
Schundler encouraged government officials, who will determine local tax levies after reviewing the defeated spending plans, to reach out to union leadershipThe need for the teleconference was obvious, participants said.
Michael Kaelber, the call’s moderator and director of legal and policy services for school boards association, said that since the election, he keeps hearing people say: "We’ve never seen this before." Tuesday’s results were the highest failure rate since the association began keeping track in 1976.
School board officials have until April 28 to send their defeated budgets to the local governing bodies. From there, the process calls for a series of meetings between school and government officials where they review the school district’s budget presentation.
If representatives from both the school district and the government meet as committees instead of large groups, the meetings do not have to be open to the public. Panelists said the municipalities could hold all of the meetings publicly or choose to hold one public meeting after several committee meetings.
Woodbridge Council President Jim Major, who said the council most recently reviewed a defeated school budget in 2002, said he expects to hear from members of the public during the public comment portion of the upcoming council meetings. He said depending on how much feedback they hear, council members will either continue to gather comments about the school budgets at council meetings or they will hold a special public meeting before making a decision.
Previous coverage:
• Gov. Chris Christie says N.J. school budget defeats should serve as 'wake up call'
• Two Essex County school election races hang on provisional ballots
• N.J. public school breakfast, private school lunch subsidies to be cut
• Gov. Chris Christie says school budget election results are proof that N.J. voters want change
• Majority of N.J. school budgets rejected for the first time since 1976
• N.J. voters reject school budgets in heated elections
• N.J. school elections Q&A: What happens when school budgets fail
Governing bodies must make a decision by May 19.
"It’s an awesome task and one that none of us take lightly," said Major. "It's serious and the voters have spoken. We need to make sure their voice was heard and we need to make sure the whole process is fair and that it's not emotional."
For Kinnelon Councilman Steve Cobell, this will be the third time in several years he has had to review a defeated school budget. One year, the council slashed about $800,000 from the school spending plan. A few years ago, the council did not make any cuts.
He predicted this year the council would look to make some reductions in the $31.7 million school budget.
"People don't want programs cut, but there's taxpayers that don't want a 3.3 tax increase on the school budget side," Cobell said. "We’re going to try to work with the school board to see if there are any cuts we can make without affecting programs."
Fanwood Mayor Colleen Mahr said the borough’s finance department plans to review the Scotch Plains-Fanwood Board of Education’s budget.
"It costs money for us to do that," Mahr said of hiring an auditor, "and we are very bare-bones at this point."
Staff writer Kristen Alloway contributed to this report
