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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
Dear Editor:
Is home rule chaos, as
Contrast that to the scene in
Anne Newman and Paul Nadler
Metuchen
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
______________________________________________________________
'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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