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The Star-Ledger - New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie says he plans to offer more state aid to school districts whose teachers agree to a wage freeze for the 2011 fiscal year New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said he will offer more state aid to school districts whose teachers agree to a wage freeze for the 2011 fiscal year..."
TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie predicted he would lose some of his luster with voters after he laid out his plans for severe budget cuts. According to a poll out today, he was right.
Statehouse Bureau - The governor’s approval rating has dropped 9 points, to 43 percent, since his prediction earlier this month, said a Fairleigh Dickinson University PublicMind survey of 802 registered New Jersey voters..."
Gov. Chris Christie offers more state aid to N.J. schools that freeze teacher pay
By The Associated Press
March 30, 2010, 6:16AM
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie says he plans to offer more state aid to school districts whose teachers agree to a wage freeze for the 2011 fiscal year New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said he will offer more state aid to school districts whose teachers agree to a wage freeze for the 2011 fiscal year.
After months of criticizing the teachers' union for refusing to sacrifice benefits as the state grapples with the biggest per-person deficit in the country, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is offering school districts an incentive to force the teachers' hand. In an interview with The Associated Press, Christie said nearly one in 10 New Jerseyans are out of work, but teachers are getting up to 4 percent annual raises — far higher than the rate of inflation.
"I don't think it's wrong to say in these difficult times that they step up and make some sacrifice," Christie said. "We're not talking about forgoing raises forever. We're talking about forgoing raises for one year."
School districts who get the additional aid could set it aside to offset steep cuts in school aid next year. Under Christie's proposed 2011 budget, school districts would lose state aid that equals up to 5 percent of their budgets. For many districts, that will mean layoffs and program reductions.
Already teachers in several districts, including in West Essex, Boonton, Montclair and Metuchen, have voluntarily offered to freeze wages.
Christie started off trying to balance his first budget since being elected in November with a $1 billion hole, the result of stimulus money that has run out.
Under the proposed budget, every district would get less from the state for the coming school year than it does now.
But if teachers agree to wage freezes, districts could see more than a 7 percent increase in aid. For example, a district that saves $1 million in salaries as a result of wage freezes would receive an extra $75,000 in state aid.
"Maybe that helps to fund another teacher position or two, or a sports program that they might otherwise had to cut," Christie said.
Shared sacrifice has been a theme for the governor since he took office two months ago and began proposing cuts. His proposed state budget has cuts in nearly every department of government to close a nearly $11 billion projected deficit for the fiscal year that begins July 1.
From a political perspective, the incentive gives Christie the opportunity to point to teachers who refuse to wage freezes as the reason a school district is getting less state money than it could.
Christie's feud with the New Jersey Education Association is old. It goes back to the gubernatorial campaign, when the union actively campaigned against him.
The NJEA has since started airing television commercials as part of a new campaign against the school cuts in which they accuse Christie of putting millionaires before the state's children.
Democratic legislative leaders have called on the Republican governor to reinstate a surcharge on people making more than $400,000 or allow cities to start charging local sales tax.
Christie has adamantly said he'll veto both, in keeping with his no-new-taxes campaign pledge.
"Gov. Christie is a very shrewd politician, and he's using crafty political tactics to impose his agenda on the state," NJEA President Barbara Keshishian said recently in a statement. "But when he turned his attack machine on teachers and school employees, he really stooped to a desperate new low, because our members are not the problem."
N.J. Gov. Chris Christie's approval rating drops 9 points after budget proposal
By Matt Friedman/Statehouse Bureau
March 30, 2010, 5:01AM
TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie predicted he would lose some of his luster with voters after he laid out his plans for severe budget cuts. According to a poll out today, he was right.
The governor’s approval rating has dropped 9 points, to 43 percent, since his prediction earlier this month, said a Fairleigh Dickinson University PublicMind survey of 802 registered New Jersey voters.
The poll, conducted between March 23-28, found 32 percent of voters disapprove of the job Christie is doing. In a March 3 Fairleigh Dickinson poll, the governor’s approval rating was 52 percent, with 21 percent disapproving of his performance. His personal popularity has taken even more of a hit, with 38 percent of voters viewing him favorably and 39 percent unfavorably – down from a 47 percent favorable to 25 unfavorable rating before his budget speech.
"It’s a bad time to be governor of any state," said poll director Peter Woolley, who added the drop in Christie’s popularity is "absolutely" because of his proposed cuts. “You’re damned if you cut the budget and damned if you raise taxes.”
Christie earlier this month said he told his staff to remember the 52 percent rating because "we are going to look back on that as the glory days."
Despite Christie’s dip in the poll, 62 percent of voters said the state should "hold the line" on spending, even if it means cutting programs.
Voters split on the governor’s call to suspend property tax rebates, with 44 percent in favor and 48 percent opposed. Sixty-two percent approved of his proposal to cap property tax hikes at 2.5 percent and the same percentage favors increasing the income tax on households earning over $400,000.
Voters split evenly, 35 percent to 35 percent, on their perceptions of the New Jersey Education Association, from which Christie has sought givebacks. The union in turn has said the governor’s cuts jeopardize children.
"We can’t and won’t govern by poll numbers," Christie spokesman Michael Drewniak said. "It’s the governor’s intention to continue doing what he’s doing because the state needs strong leadership now more than ever."
The state’s two new legislative leaders, who Christie will work with to craft the budget, are mostly unknown to New Jerseyans, the poll found. Only 29 percent of the voters had heard of Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester), who is the second most powerful official in the state, and less than 10 percent had heard of Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver (D-Essex), the third top elected official.
The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percent.
