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'New Jersey voters should look at more than teacher salaries before deciding on school budgets'
- By Jim O’Neill/Star-Ledger guest columnist
"There is a social compact that obliges every generation to help the next. A quality education is a critical component of that compact. If ever there was a year that responsible adults should vote yes on the school budget, it is 2010. Further cuts cannot be sustained and fairness dictates that students should not be adversely impacted because adults cannot resolve their differences..."
'Gov. Chris Christie: Vote against school budgets that don't include shared sacrifice'
- By Chris Christie/Star-Ledger guest columnist
"...When fewer resources available, local school districts and education associations are being asked to share in the sacrifice. New Jersey is facing a reality that can no longer be ignored..."
Education, Hot Topics, Politics, Taxes »
New Jersey voters should look at more than teacher salaries before deciding on school budgets
By NJ Voices Guest Blogger/For NJ.com
April 18, 2010, 7:00AM
By Jim O’Neill/Star-Ledger guest columnist
There is a social compact that obliges every generation to help the next. A quality education is a critical component of that compact. If ever there was a year that responsible adults should vote yes on the school budget, it is 2010. Further cuts cannot be sustained and fairness dictates that students should not be adversely impacted because adults cannot resolve their differences.
Gov. Chris Christie concludes that one casualty of his hostile battle with the teachers union should be school budgets. Most surprising is the fact that the governor only uses one metric to determine how citizens should vote: Did the teachers in your district take a wage freeze?
The governor’s advice ignores all of the following: quality of the education; health and safety of students; test scores; graduation rates; value to the community and positive impact on the lives of students. Since the governor has been so intent on emphasizing fiscal responsibility, it is even harder to understand why he would not encourage voters to support a school budget when there is overwhelming data to demonstrate that public dollars are spent prudently and effectively.
The unfortunate conclusion is that the governor believes students in quality schools are a necessary casualty of his power struggle with the leadership of the New Jersey Education Association. Voters must further conclude that the governor has lost sight of the goal and, worse yet, is using his bully pulpit to advocate against those he should be ethically committed to protecting.
It is disheartening that the good will and high hopes which brought the governor into office have so quickly dissipated. Everyone understands Christie inherited a financial crisis and we recognize he had hard choices; most people were more than willing to share in the sacrifice.
But there is an eerie parallel between the governor’s recommendation to vote no and the teacher who punishes the whole class because one student misbehaved. The governor goes further and wants to punish the class because he is mad at the teacher. Unfortunately, this irrational response to one of the many serious problems he will face as governor causes us to question his judgment on other issues as well.
The governor has expressed his strong opposition to revisiting the surtax on those making over $400,000 a year. Some people disagree, but at least there is a rationale for his opposition. Yet how does he explain the disconnect between his stand on the surcharge and his nonchalant attitude about suburban towns sending hundreds of millions of dollars in income taxes to Trenton annually and being forced, through his cuts in school aid, to increase their support of local schools up to 100 percent through property taxes?
This was not the rhetoric of candidate Christie. These property tax increases are the result of Draconian cuts in school aid that have precipitated unprecedented reductions in staff, services and programs. The disproportionate number of excellent schools in the state is one of the few attractions that still bring people to New Jersey. Ignoring this fact and using schools as the whipping boy to displace blame from decades of ill-conceived legislation runs the risk of exacerbating the exodus and further diminishing the revenues.
It was reckless for the state to reduce each district’s budget by the same 5 percent. What logic treats all schools the same — high performing/low performing; growing enrollment/declining enrollment; those spending thousands over the state average per pupil and those spending thousands under? Are we to believe there is not one well-run school district?
The governor and Education Commissioner Bret Schundler persist in talking about tools which will allow schools to cope with reductions in aid. What legislation will they introduce in May that will help school budgets by Tuesday’s school budget votes? None!
A yes vote on Tuesday will help confirm the importance of education to New Jersey residents.
Jim O’Neill is superintendent of the School District of the Chathams and president of the Garden State Coalition of Schools. The views expressed in this article are his own.
Gov. Chris Christie: Vote against school budgets that don't include shared sacrifice
By NJ Voices Guest Blogger/For NJ.com
April 18, 2010, 6:55AMTuesday is Election Day in New Jersey, and this year’s fiscal and economic crisis has created hard choices that demand attention.
I am a product of New Jersey’s public schools. I know how good our schools and hardworking teachers are. I owe a lot to my teachers in Livingston for helping to lay the foundation for my success. But the dedication and quality of our teachers is not in question and never has been. Right now, we are addressing the challenge of providing our children the highest quality education while responsibly addressing New Jersey’s fiscal mess and crippling taxes.
When fewer resources available, local school districts and education associations are being asked to share in the sacrifice. New Jersey is facing a reality that can no longer be ignored.
I have encouraged the teachers’ union leadership to work together in finding savings by implementing a salary freeze for one year. While governments at every level have to do more with less, many public employee unions have continued putting a strain on budgets without regard to changing circumstances. At a time when salary raises are unheard of in private industry across New Jersey and when harmful tax hikes are at the doorstep for many communities, it is unreasonable to have union leadership continue to demand raises from taxpayers. A simple fact: According to the New Jersey Business and Industry Association, during 2007-2008, 40 percent of the workers in New Jersey’s private sector had their wages frozen or reduced.
A recent Rasmussen poll found that 65% of New Jerseyans support the idea of administrators, teachers and school workers sharing in the sacrifice. School salary and benefits costs in New Jersey are the highest in the nation and they are rising at over three times the rate of inflation. Unreasonable salary demands in the face of this fiscal reality is irresponsible and costing teaching jobs and student programs.
In the face of these difficulties, we are seeing action take place across the state. Districts and education associations are coming together. Just this past week, the Red Bank Education Association ratified a contract that froze salaries for three years. The Superintendent of the Schools, Laura Morana, acknowledge the collaborative relationship between the district and the association before going on to say, "They recognize these are challenging times and wanted to do what’s in the best interest of the kids."
Superintendent Morana’s words represent the shared sacrifice of many others across New Jersey. It is the reason why I am proposing to provide additional state aid to school districts that negotiate a salary freeze to the amount equivalent to both the Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes that would have otherwise been paid on the foregone salary increase. The Social Security payroll tax is 6.2 percent of earnings up to $106,800 and the Medicare tax is 1.45 percent of earnings with no cap. This means that we are able to offer school districts additional state aid amounting to 7.65 percent of the savings achieved from a one-year salary freeze, or $76,500 on every $1 million saved. Statewide, if savings of $500 million were to be achieved through the one-year salary freeze, the additional school aid payments would total $38,250,000.
When you go to the voting booth on Tuesday, remember that the only way we will get through the challenges of today is by facing them now. Our state, our families and our children can no longer afford government at any level that wishes problems away or stands in the way of necessary change.
There is still time to reopen negotiations and have the teachers union finally agree to reasonable, shared sacrifice — a one year freeze on salaries and a small contribution to health insurance costs. Let us keep our children in the front of our minds.
Send a clear message with your vote. If your teachers union has taken the freeze and your school board had budgeted responsibly, support them with your vote. If they have not, tell them you will not accept higher property taxes to pay for unreasonable raises when all of New Jersey is already sacrificing. Vote against budgets that don’t include shared sacrifice.
Chris Christie is the governor of New Jersey.
