Princeton Public Affairs Group, Inc.

(Courtesy to Garden State Coalition)

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

GOVERNMENT RELATIONS • PUBLIC AFFAIRS • GRASSROOTS ADVOCACY

 

Special Session on Property Tax Reform

Update XXVIII

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

 

The Joint Legislative Committee on Public School Funding Reform (JCSF) met today October 10, 2006, in South Jersey to give residents the opportunity to provide input on achieving property tax reform through changes to the way the state funds its public schools. The special joint legislative committee examining the state's property tax system met at the Ballroom and Theater, Collingswood Scottish Rite Auditorium in Collingswood.

 

The committee began examining the state's school funding formula in August. The panel has until November 15 to craft reforms to the public school aid program that could maximize taxpayer relief by providing assistance based on student needs rather than geographic location, among other changes.

The hearing was the first that was open for the public to provide testimony to the Joint Legislative Committee on Public School Funding Reform; all of the committee's prior meetings have been held in Trenton.

     While there were over 60 people from the public that signed up to testify at the hearing, only two members of the committee were in attendance.  The two co-chairs, Senator John Adler (D-Camden) and Assemblyman Herb Conaway (D-Burlington) were the members of the committee that were present. 

 

Adler opened the committee with the announcement that he is committed to real and lasting property tax reform and is eager to hear ideas from the public on how to address our property tax crisis.

            Many of the public speakers reiterated similar messages including the need for additional federal dollars; opposition to school funding caps; support for S1332/A257; the need for additional funding for special education; the problems that occur when a majority of school funding comes from the property tax; and the need for a new school funding formula.

 

Other areas of concern raised by other speakers included the need to have school elections in November, with the general election; the suggestion to use a dedicated source of funding to cover special education costs; increase funding to vocational and private schools; the problems with flat funding; and the need to fully fund preschools and school libraries.

 

While over 50 special interest groups and taxpayers spoke at the hearing, several groups, such as the New Jersey Business and Industry Association (NJBIA) only provided written testimony to the committee in an interest to save time for others to speak. Everyone that provided testimony at the hearing was required to submit copies to the committee members.  Copies of the testimony and the transcript of the hearing is available online at http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/PropertyTaxSession/jcsf.asp.

 

Along with more than 15 individuals that provided testimony to the panel, some of the special interest groups and representatives from school districts that spoke at the hearing include:

 

-         Ewing Public School District

-         South Jersey Citizens for Property Tax Reform

-         Bernard’s Township School District

-         Special Education Alliance

-         Gloucester County Coalition for Education

-         Superintendent for the Burlington County Institute for Technology

-         Garden State Coalition of Schools

-         New Jersey network of Catholic School Families

-         New Jersey Association of School Librarians

-         Superintendent of Washington Township

-         NJ Association of School Administrators

-         NJ Regional Coalition

-         NJBIA

-         NJ Association of Lifelong Planning

-         South Jersey Regional Equity Project

-         Citizens love metric New Jersey

-         NJ Child Care Association

-         NJ Education Association (NJEA)

-         Special Education Review Commission

-         NJ Parents for Choice

-         Special Education Council

-         Camden County School Board Association

 

Points of interest from the co-chairs include the dialogue that Adler and Conaway had where they announced that they are looking for ways to be more efficient with the money they currently have, and that the goal of the committee is to reduce the tax burden on New Jersey residents. They also stated that there is a limited amount that the committee can do regarding raising additional funds, thus the committee is currently in the process of evaluating different funding formulas that will make long term structural changes to school funding.

 

The chairs also noted that it was highly unlikely that any additional money would be coming to New Jersey from the Federal Government. Also, the co-chairs said that the pensions and benefits joint committee is currently evaluating the option to eliminate the defined benefit plan for employees that have less than five years of experience and for new employees.

 

The next Joint Legislative Committee on Public School Funding Reform will hold a public hearing on Tuesday, October 17, 2006 at 2:00 PM at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, Atrium, Campus Center, Newark, NJ.

     Members of the public are invited to testify before the committee regarding the funding of public schools.

     Those wishing to testify should register with committee staff by telephone at 609-984-6843 or email at blecata@njleg.org. Individuals testifying should bring 20 copies of any written testimony and are advised that testimony will be publicly available on the Internet. Written and electronic comments, questions and testimony submitted to the committee by the public, as well as recordings and transcripts, if any, of oral testimony, are government records and will be available to the public upon request.

 

If you have any questions please contact Amy Dempster at dempster@ppag.com or (609) 396-8838.