Quality Public Education for All New Jersey Students

 

 
     Property Tax Reform, Special Legislative Session & School Funding
2-2-07 Grassroots letter to editor & communications message to Trenton re S19 'Super' County Supt and S20 Tax Caps bills
Members - you can use these well written advocacy letters as models to communication your concerns to Trenton about pending legislation S19 'Super" County Superintendent and S20 Tax Caps bills that have real potential to diminish quality education and local decision-making.In addition to you local legislators please make sure you addres your communications to Governor Corzine, Senate President Codey and Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts directly: Gov.Jon Corzine http://www.state.nj.us/governor/govmail.html (609)-292-6000

Senate President Richard J. Codey SenCodey@njleg.org (973)-731-6770

Assembly Speaker Joseph J. Roberts, Jr AsmRoberts@njleg.org (856) 742-7600

Feb. 2, 2007

Dear Editor:

 

Is home rule chaos, as Trenton and the media like to suggest, or is it democracy at its best?  Our 566 municipalities and 616 school districts are not just another New Jersey joke. Towns like ours practice taxation with representation at its most basic level: Our school board meetings are televised live; we know the agenda in advance; people get off their couches, drive to meetings, and argue with their bipartisan elected representatives in open debate. We fight hard to keep costs down, share services with districts, and struggle to fund from our own pockets the costly federal and state mandates that rarely come with the aid pledged by Trenton and Washington (the state pitches in just 5% of our town’s school spending). We know months ahead the dates for hearings on our local school budget, and as taxpayers we are actively involved in shaping an education for our children that ranks second in the nation.

 

Contrast that to the scene in Trenton: Scores of bills hammered out in closed sessions are so confusing that the statehouse staff can’t explain them when citizens call to ask. Legislation is slated for a vote a week after it’s introduced. Bills that claim to save money by eroding local control have no cost analyses attached, and would create yet another layer of expensive and potentially corrupt political appointees.  If New Jersey wants to preserve its greatest natural resource—the education of the children who will shape its future—the lawmakers need to stop using home rule as a whipping boy. If Trenton honestly wants to find a solution to school funding that is fair and equitable to all taxpayers—and to our children—it should look no further than its own small-town, democratic roots.

 

Anne Newman and Paul Nadler

133 Woodside Ave.

Metuchen

 

______________________________________________________

 

Please oppose the appointment of a “Executive County Superintendent
of Schools” (Bill S19), who would have broad powers to override local
school decisions.

Please amend or oppose new bill on property taxes (Bill S20):  Voters
should be free to choose the level of taxes they are willing to pay
to support quality education – but with a 50% pass-mark, not 60%; we
pay for 90-95% of our schools with property taxes - therefore school
funding should be a local decision without State interference.
Please oppose the line-item school budget power proposed for the
Commissioner of Education.

Regards, Mr. and Mrs. Alan Routh
Chatham, NJ

 

______________________________________________________________

ALERT!

'Super' County Superintendent on Monday's Senate Agenda

Next Monday, Feb. 5, the state Senate is scheduled to act on a new version (S-19) of legislation to create "super" executive county superintendents, and another bill (S-20) which has several provisions which could adversely affect our schools..

Thanks to your previous efforts, we not only held off action on these proposals, but also successfully eliminated a provision that would have moved school board member elections to the partisan November election.

It's time to act again.

These bills would

·         Give a politically appointed state official sweeping powers over local school district budgets.

·         Eliminate savings school districts have already achieved.

·         Affect school district grade organizations and boundaries.

These bills would not save property taxes

Take action now .

Please spread the word to friends, relatives and co-workers here, and those who live elsewhere in New Jersey.

Call, e-mail and fax members of the Senate ASAP, and certainly before Monday.  If you want, you can cut and paste the points below. 

        1. Vote "No" on S-19, and oppose the appointment of an "Executive County Superintendent" who would have broad powers to override local schools decisions, and whose purpose would be to cut expenses, with no mandate to preserve quality education.  This bill would create a costly and unnecessary bureaucracy.

        2. Amend  S-20 so that budget votes and referendums have to pass by the usual     50% majority, not the proposed 60% "super-majority."

        3. Oppose the line-item school budget power proposed for the Commisioner of Education in S-20.

        4. Make sure that the cap waivers in A-1 which are essential to the educational health of our districts do not get "amended out" of the Senate version.

        5. Establish a time frame of no more than one year for the development of an equitable funding formula that works for ALL of New Jersey's children. 

To find state Senator contact information, consult the NJSBA Legislative Directory or visit the NJSBA Legislative Action Center online.  Below, we're providing you contact information for the Governor and key Senators from similar districts:

Governor Jon Corzine--(609)-292-6000 http://www.state.nj.us/governor/govmail.html

Senate President Richard Codey--(609) 292-5215, 973-731-6770, SenCodey@njleg.org.

Senator Leonard Lance--Minority Leader--(908) 788-6900, SenLance@njleg.org

Senator Barbara Buono--(732) 819-8141, SenBuono@njleg.org

Senator Nia H. Gill--(973) 509-0388, SenGill@njleg.org.

Senator John H. Adler--(856) 489-3442, SenAdler@njleg.org

Senator Ellen Karcher (732) 462-8883, SenKarcher@njleg.org

Senator Shirley K. Turner--(609) 530-3277, Sen Turner@njleg.org

Senator Joseph Doria--(201) 451-5100, SenDoria@njleg.org

Senator Nicholas J Sacco--(201) 295-0200, Sen Sacco@njleg.org

Senator Bernard Kenny--(201) 653-1466, SenKenny@njleg.org

Senator Joseph Coniglio--(201) 576-9199, SenConiglio@njleg.org

Senator Loretta Weinberg--(201) 928-0100, SenWeinberg@njleg.org

Senator Paul A Sarlo--(201) 804-8118, SenSarlo@njleg.org

Senator John A Girgenti--(973) 427-1229, SenGirgenti@njleg.org

And of course, if you've time, thank our Senator, Tom Kean, (908)-232-3673 for leading the opposition to these bills.

Remember .

·         S-19 will not reduce property taxes.  It will hurt our children's education.

      Thank you for taking action!

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