Official again calls for county schools

By JONATHAN TAMARI
Gannett State Bureau

TRENTON

A key lawmaker searching for ways to cut New Jersey's property tax bills renewed his call Wednesday for a county-based school system, which he believes would trim bureaucracy and administrative costs.

The idea backed by Sen. Bob Smith, D-Piscataway, received a boost when a Maryland school official said her state, which has 24 school districts, spends just $240 per student on administration. By comparison New Jersey's administrative expenses total $1,235 per student. New Jersey has 616 school districts, each with its own officials.

"There is the potential to achieve very significant savings," said Smith, co-chairman of a special committee examining government consolidation. "We right now have developed the most inefficient and wasteful delivery system for education in America."

New Jersey lawmakers heard details of the Maryland school system from Mary Clapsaddle, Maryland assistant state superintendent, via a video conference.

Sen. Joseph Kyrillos, R-Middletown, Monmouth County, called the gap in spending "a staggering variance."

Overall, New Jersey spends roughly $20 billion in state and local money on schools, while Maryland spends about $8 billion, according to Clapsaddle, although her figures did not include costly special education expenses.

Maryland lagged behind New Jersey in reading and math tests, according to data supplied by Senate Democrats, and in graduation rates, according to School Matters, a Web site that collects education data. Maryland and New Jersey students score about the same on college entrance exams, according to School Matters.

A University of Toronto scholar offered a less promising analysis for saving money through consolidating municipalities, based on observations of years of mergers between Toronto and its surrounding areas. She said those efforts often resulted in higher expenses.

"There are reasons to consolidate municipalities, but I would argue that cost saving is probably not one of them," said Dr. Enid Slack, of the Munk Centre for International Studies.

When towns combined, Slack said, workers' salaries usually gravitated up to the level in the higher-paying municipality, costing more money.

Reach Jonathan Tamari at jtamariat gannett.com
Published: September 07. 2006 3:10AM

Maryland may show Jersey the way to pare school costs

Thursday, September 07, 2006

BY TOM HESTER

Star-Ledger Staff

New Jersey spends 10 percent of its school dollars -- $1,235 per student -- on administrative costs. In Maryland, the figure is less than 3 percent.

Whether looking at average per- pupil spending or the percentage of property taxes that go to fund schools, New Jersey outspends Maryland by a significant amount for one key reason: New Jersey has 611 school districts; Maryland has 24, one for each county.

The crash course on how Maryland operates its schools was provided to the Joint Legislative Committee on Government Consolidation and Shared Services in Tren ton yesterday by Maryland Assistant State Superintendent of Education Mary E. Clapsaddle via videoconference.

It delighted Sen. Bob Smith (D- Middlesex), the panel's co-chairman, who wants to create 21 coun tywide school districts to oversee local schools, eliminate hundreds of high-paid administration positions and consolidate purchasing and transportation.

"When we look at the numbers, Maryland's population and demographics are not too far off from our own," Smith said. "They have fewer students in schools, but they actually have more kids enrolled in the federal school lunch program, indicating a higher level of poverty. When you look at the spending sta tistics, however, Maryland and New Jersey are like night and day."

When told by Assemblyman Jo seph Malone (R-Burlington) that New Jersey spends 10 percent of its school funding on administrative costs, Clapsaddle replied, "That is alarming." Maryland spends 2.68 percent -- or $240 per student -- on administrative costs, she said.

New Jersey spends $12,567 on average to educate a child, compared with $9,200 in Maryland.

New Jersey taxpayers see an average of 51 percent of their property taxes go toward school funding. In some school districts, it is as high as 88 percent. In Maryland, 24.6 percent of property taxes is used to finance schools.

New Jersey spends $16 billion for public schools; Maryland, $8 billion.

"There is the potential for seri ous savings," Smith said following the hearing. He said he wants to see the committee propose a school district consolidation bill within a month.

The committee also heard about an example of consolidating municipal governments, but it held less promise of savings.

Enid Slack, a professor and municipal finance and government ex pert at the University of Toronto, told the panel via videoconference how more than a dozen suburbs were consolidated with the Canadian city between 1954 and 1998.

"The rational for the consolidation was to reduce the cost of government," Slack said, but it didn't work out that way. When six police departments combined, she said, the officers demanded they receive the highest salary among them. In some cases, property taxes increased when towns combined. She said the chief benefit was improved planning and municipal services.

William Dressel, director of the New Jersey State League of Municipalities, said Slack's comments confirm his position that consolidating local government does not produce major tax savings. "In fact, the Toronto experience indicates salaries actually increased because when salaries were blended they went to highest salary scale," Dressel said.

The government consolidation committee is one of four special legislative panels created to propose ways by Nov. 15 to lower property taxes.

Tom Hester covers state government issues. He may be reached at thester@starledger.com or (609) 292-0557.