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'State aid reductions force N.J. school boards to cut staffs, including teachers' By The Associated Press
Asbury Park Press - 'Gov. Christie to school employees: Skip raises'
'Christie: Teachers should give back scheduled raises'
STATE HOUSE BUREAU
State aid reductions force N.J. school boards to cut staffs, including teachers
By The Associated Press
March 23, 2010, 5:28AM
School boards across New Jersey were preparing to slash their staffs in reaction to the state's plans to slash aid to schools.
In Cherry Hill, the district has a preliminary budget that would reduce its 1,700-employee work force by about 100, including around 60 teachers. In Lawrence Township, near Trenton, 50 of the district's 600 jobs could be eliminated.
Some layoffs are expected in nearly all of the state's 590 operating school districts — though some schools are looking at alternatives, from imposing hefty property tax increases to trying to persuade unions to renegotiate their contracts.
The job reductions, which would be effective July 1, come after Gov. Chris Christie announced last week in his budget address that combined federal and state aid to the public schools for the 2010-11 school year would be about $8 billion — down about $1 billion from the current year.
Most districts learned last week that their contribution from the state would be smaller than they expected. That set off a flurry of emergency school board meetings during the past five days as districts rushed to meet Monday's deadline to send the state preliminary budgets.
Christie and his education commissioner, Bret Schundler, said other proposed state policy changes could help school boards keep costs down in the future. Among them: requiring school employees to contribute to their health insurance costs, capping increases in local school taxes at 2.5 percent per year and changing bargaining rules to help districts in their negotiations with employee unions.
Even if those measures are approved quickly by
lawmakers, none came before Monday's deadline.
Once approved by the state, the property tax levies for most districts' budgets would go to public votes on April 20.
Christie and key legislators rejected the New Jersey School Boards Association's suggestion that the votes be skipped this year so schools could have more time to work out their budgets.
Further confining the districts, Schundler has told schools that they shouldn't raise property taxes by more than 4 percent this year — even though most could propose bigger tax hikes than that under state law.
Lynne Strickland, executive director of the Garden State Coalition of Schools, said she expects the state to give greater scrutiny to any budget with a proposed tax hike over 4 percent.
And even if those larger increases are approved by the state, school boards know they're more likely to be rejected by voters.
"They're all vulnerable to defeat," she said.
Some schools are undaunted.
In the School District of the Chathams, for instance, Superintendent Jim O'Neill said he's proposing a property tax increase of close to 7 percent — and he believes voters will support it.
He said he's refusing to have deep layoffs this year after going through them last year. "I cannot do that again without decimating what I believe is one of the finest school districts in the state," he said.
New Jersey Education Association spokeswoman Christie Kanaby said a handful of local school unions have agreed to renegotiate their contracts — and far more have been approached about doing so as a way to reduce the number of job cuts. She said opening settled contracts could be a danger because there's no guarantee that school boards would use any savings to keep jobs.
Dennis Murray, president of the Montclair Education Association, said his union struck a deal last week with
the school board that will save enough money to keep some of the more than 100 jobs that could have been eliminate otherwise.
"It's not that you're giving in. I like to look at it as giving to the community," Murray said. "We're helping these people keep their schools open."
Christie: Teachers should give back scheduled raises
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Last updated: Tuesday March 23, 2010, 4:01 PM
BY CLAIRE HEININGER AND LISA FLEISHER
State House Bureau
STATE HOUSE BUREAU
TRENTON — Governor Christie Tuesday called for teachers and school employees statewide to accept a yearlong wage freeze to prevent layoffs, cuts to student programs and higher property tax bills as a result of his steep budget cuts.
School districts have been scrambling to balance their budgets since Christie last week proposed an $820 million reduction in aid. Districts lost up to 5 percent of their total budgets — which in wealthier towns amounted to 40, 50 or even 100 percent of their state aid.
That led school boards and administrators to discuss employee layoffs, cuts in the curriculum or athletic activities, or property tax increases above the usual 4 percent annual limit.
Christie Tuesday said those consequences could be minimized if local teachers' unions return to the bargaining table, and agree to forego scheduled salary increases and make larger contributions to their health benefits.
"The logical thing to do, that other unions have done, has been to reopen contracts, take lesser salary increases, contribute more to health benefits to maintain members and maintain jobs," Christie told The Star-Ledger editorial board last week. "In this economic environment, I think teachers should step up to the plate and say 'I'm not taking an increase.' Because I'll tell you, I don't know who in the private sector is getting increases."
The New Jersey Education Association, the state's largest teachers union with nearly 200,000 members, has said there has been some discussion of reopening contracts in districts around the state but stressed it can't be done unilaterally. The union has accused Christie of "bullying" tactics that unfairly target teachers while he refuses to renew an income tax increase on the wealthy.
At a budget hearing in Bergen County this morning, NJEA President Barbara Keshishian described the effects budget cuts would have to districts across the state.
"Severe cuts in state aid mean severe cuts in services, resources and staff," Keshishian said. "I ask that before you adopt a budget like this that you walk into a kindergarten class and tell those children that there will be no more art projects because their schools can't afford construction paper. Look into the eyes of an inner city child and tell that student that there are no more after-school programs, sports or activities."
But she refused to answer a reporter's question about the governor's suggestion that teachers should re-open their contracts and give back scheduled raises to avoid layoffs and other cuts.
School budgets go to a public vote on April 20. Christie and the Legislature must agree on a state budget by July 1.
TRENTON — Governor Christie Tuesday called for teachers and school employees statewide to accept a yearlong wage freeze to prevent layoffs, cuts to student programs and higher property tax bills as a result of his steep budget cuts.
School districts have been scrambling to balance their budgets since Christie last week proposed an $820 million reduction in aid. Districts lost up to 5 percent of their total budgets — which in wealthier towns amounted to 40, 50 or even 100 percent of their state aid.
That led school boards and administrators to discuss employee layoffs, cuts in the curriculum or athletic activities, or property tax increases above the usual 4 percent annual limit.
Christie Tuesday said those consequences could be minimized if local teachers' unions return to the bargaining table, and agree to forego scheduled salary increases and make larger contributions to their health benefits.
"The logical thing to do, that other unions have done, has been to reopen contracts, take lesser salary increases, contribute more to health benefits to maintain members and maintain jobs," Christie told The Star-Ledger editorial board last week. "In this economic environment, I think teachers should step up to the plate and say 'I'm not taking an increase.' Because I'll tell you, I don't know who in the private sector is getting increases."
The New Jersey Education Association, the state's largest teachers union with nearly 200,000 members, has said there has been some discussion of reopening contracts in districts around the state but stressed it can't be done unilaterally. The union has accused Christie of "bullying" tactics that unfairly target teachers while he refuses to renew an income tax increase on the wealthy.
At a budget hearing in Bergen County this morning, NJEA President Barbara Keshishian described the effects budget cuts would have to districts across the state.
"Severe cuts in state aid mean severe cuts in services, resources and staff," Keshishian said. "I ask that before you adopt a budget like this that you walk into a kindergarten class and tell those children that there will be no more art projects because their schools can't afford construction paper. Look into the eyes of an inner city child and tell that student that there are no more after-school programs, sports or activities."
But she refused to answer a reporter's question about the governor's suggestion that teachers should re-open their contracts and give back scheduled raises to avoid layoffs and other cuts.
School budgets go to a public vote on April 20. Christie and the Legislature must agree on a state budget by July 1.
Asbury Park Press - Gov. Christie to school employees: Skip raises
SOMERVILLE — Gov. Chris Christie on Tuesday called on teachers statewide to shoulder a one-year salary freeze and pay 1.5 percent of their salary toward health benefits to prevent layoffs and program cuts because of reduced funding.
“If we want to put children first, if that’s really what the goal is, then we should put the children first, and that means all of us have to sacrifice," Christie said.
Christie, speaking in the library of Van Derveer Elementary School in Somerville, said those steps by educators would save districts $800 million overall.
Christie said the state allocated $230 million more this year for K-12 education but had more than $1 billion less in federal funding with which to work, resulting in a net funding loss to schools of $820 million as part of governor’s proposed budget.
The Somerville school district, for example, saw a cut in its formula aid from the state of more than $1.8 million, or just under 5 percent of its total budget.
Christie said the request would be made in a letter today to the presidents of the New Jersey Education Association and the New Jersey School Boards Association.
State Education Commissioner Bret Schundler, who joined Christie at the school, said the state envisions a one-year freeze of contractual increases, not increases tied to longevity.
Pension and benefits reforms for public workers that include a requirement that employees pay 1.5 percent of their annual salary toward health care premiums was passed by the Legislature and signed into law by Christie Monday. However, the requirement that employees pay for health benefits would only apply immediately to employees at their end of their contracts or those without contracts.
“Don’t believe the false choice that will be set up by some, that the reduction in aid means there must be property tax increases, there must be huge layoffs, there must be reductions in services,” Christie said. “There is another alternative.”
