Quality Public Education for All New Jersey Students

 

 
     Pre 2012 Announcement Archives
     2012-13 Announcement Archives
     2013-14 Announcement Archives
     2014-15 Announcement Archives
     Old Announcements prior April 2009
     ARCHIVE inc 2007 Announcements
     2009 Archives
     2008 Archives
     2007 Archives
     2006 Archives
     2010-11 Announcements
     2005 through Jan 30 2006 Announcements
3-23-10 Daily Record Op-Ed, by Jim O'Neill
Many Morris County residents, board members and school officials are bewildered by the Draconian cuts that have been placed on school aid for 2010/11. What exactly have school districts done; we have done what the law required us to do; constructed budgets, had them approved by the state's agent (county superintendent of schools) and had them approved by the voters.

We did not determine any of the following; that 90 percent or more of the cost of running local schools come solely from property taxes; that unlike other states there are no state funds dedicated for education, but rather those revenues all go into the same general pot to be spent as the Legislature determines; did not pass 78 laws that require schools to provide services to special education children above and beyond the federal requirements and we did not enact legislation that requires us to pay prevailing wages on every school project even though this increases the cost by at least 30 percent..."

Christie's "slash and burn" strategy March 23, 2010 By JIM O'NEILL Many Morris County residents, board members and school officials are bewildered by the Draconian cuts that have been placed on school aid for 2010/11. What exactly have school districts done; we have done what the law required us to do; constructed budgets, had them approved by the state's agent (county superintendent of schools) and had them approved by the voters. We did not determine any of the following; that 90 percent or more of the cost of running local schools come solely from property taxes; that unlike other states there are no state funds dedicated for education, but rather those revenues all go into the same general pot to be spent as the Legislature determines; did not pass 78 laws that require schools to provide services to special education children above and beyond the federal requirements and we did not enact legislation that requires us to pay prevailing wages on every school project even though this increases the cost by at least 30 percent. We did not create a system that puts boards of education at a distinct disadvantage during collective bargaining. We did not create the public pension system that is now underfunded and the scapegoat for New Jersey's fiscal woes. We simply complied with the laws that govern schools as they existed. No one questions the fact that Gov. Chris Christie inherited a fiscal debacle. No one doubts he had difficult choices but it is fair for us to question the slash and burn strategy which is purported to be the only road to solvency. The governor correctly pointed out that a lot of money has left the state in recent years, but we would contend that excellent schools stand as one of the few attractions that bring families here. California had arguably the finest public school system in the nation but with the passage of Proposition 13 soon became one of the worst. Consequently, one could conclude that dramatically reducing aid to schools in one year might not solve all of our problems. What we did do is offer the students in New Jersey one of, if not the best, system of public education in the United States. If public officials want to decry the poor performance of U.S. students when compared with those in other nations they should be careful to look more closely at the data. Scrutiny of international test scores actually demonstrates that New Jersey students from communities with less than 25 percent poverty are competitive with students from around the world. Communities with high concentrations of poverty have unique challenges and issues. New Jersey, like most states, has not been successful in addressing those issues. It is also true there are 10 outstanding public schools in New Jersey for every one high performing charter school. Inclinations to believe otherwise are not supported by data. Along with the great majority of Morris County residents I voted for Christie. I was impressed by the efforts of his transition team to solicit information about regulations, mandates and an eagerness to give us tools that would allow us to moderate spending and level the playing field during collective bargaining. I was also looking forward to more moderate legislation and never anticipated that in one year school districts would be expected to make up for decades of ill conceived legislation. It is hard to imagine how an administration would advocate for districts that get a mere 5 to 15 percent of their budget from the state to increase their local share up to 100 percent? Trenton should no longer complain about getting 45 cents back from Washington for every dollar we send there. Morris County residents are getting pennies. How should we plan to use tools that don't exist? How can we budget for employee contributions to health benefits if that law has not yet passed or additional retirements if those incentives are not yet law? Delay the school budget vote in order for us to get a chance to grapple with the extent of these cuts and until we actually know there is legislation that offers us relief or potential savings. Finally, I say to the Republican legislators who have bemoaned how poorly suburbia has been treated by Democratic majorities in Trenton, step up to the plate and make good on past promises. Ideally, we would hope for a restoration of some aid in order to lessen the impact of the excessive cuts that were relayed to districts this past week. Spreading these cuts over two years would even offer some relief. At the very least, we should be able to secure a delay in the school budget vote or we will have to conclude that past expressions of sympathy and understanding were disingenuous. Jim O'Neill is superintendent of the School District of the Chathams and president of the Morris County Association of School Administrators.