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North Jersey.com
Christie calls for teachers' union to forgo member dues
Tuesday, April 13, 2010 - NORTHJERSEY.COM
Governor Christie this morning called on the state teachers' union to forgo dues from its members and join in his fight to cut state spending...On Monday, Christie called on voters to reject school budgets in districts where teachers have not agreed to his proposal for salary freezes. That includes nearly all of Bergen and Passaic counties.The proposal created an uproar among local school administrators and trustees. The Garden State Coalition of Schools Tuesday issued a statement calling it a “slap in the face...”
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS • APRIL 13, 2010
TRENTON — New Jersey Education chief Bret Schundler says voters should not reject local school budgets just because teachers haven't agreed to a wage freeze.
Schundler's comments at a Senate Budget Committee hearing Tuesday contradict Gov. Chris ChristieN.J. education chief says voters should not reject school budgets that lack wage freezes..."
'NJ education chief says voters should not rejects budgets that lack wage freezes' Statehouse Bureau (Record, Star Ledger) April 13, 2010, 2:10PM
TRENTON -- Voters ready to follow Gov. Chris Christie's advice to reject any school budgets that do not include a wage freeze for teachers might want to hold off until they hear what his education commissioner has to say.
At a Senate budget hearing today, Department of Education Commissioner Bret Schundler said he would not recommend voters reject those budgets when they go to the polls on April 20..."
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North Jersey.com
Christie calls for teachers' union to forgo member dues
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Last updated: Tuesday April 13, 2010, 11:28 AM
BY PATRICIA ALEX
NorthJersey.com
STAFF WRITER
Governor Christie this morning called on the state teachers' union to forgo dues from its members and join in his fight to cut state spending.
“I love the public schools but the fact of the matter is there is excess and greed there,” said Christie, during an appearance on CNBC’s Squawk Box. He said enrollment in the schools has gone up by 3 percent statewide while hiring has increased 16%.
NJEA Spokesman Steve Baker called Christie’s suggestion “just the latest ploy to distract attention from the real issues."
Members of the NJEA pay an average of $731 in dues annually to the group which has long been a powerful force in Trenton. It opposes Christie’s suggestion that teachers take a one-year pay freeze and contribute 1.5 percent of their salary for health benefits.
Christie said the benefits contribution would average about $750 annually for teachers.
"This is a union problem. This is a union boss problem,” Christie said during an appearance shortly after 9 a.m on Fox News. “If they're so concerned about the $750 a year the teachers would have to pay, you know, their dues that they make every teacher pay are $730 a year -- just about the same amount. It raises $130 million a year for the teachers' union. How about they just try and get by on the $130 million they got last year, waive the dues for this year, and then their teachers would be held harmless?"
The media barrage follows a meeting yesterday between Christie and NJEA president Barbara Keshishian. It was their first face-to-face since his election and Christie said Keshishian “left in a huff.”
Baker, from the NJEA said: “This governor wants to do anything he can to distract people from what his budget is doing to schools in New Jersey. It’s not working.”
The governor’s proposed budget slashes state aid to schools by $820 million and has forced districts to compose budgets that include deep cuts in staff and programming while still increasing local property taxes. On Monday, Christie called on voters to reject school budgets in districts where teachers have not agreed to his proposal for salary freezes. That includes nearly all of Bergen and Passaic counties.
The proposal created an uproar among local school administrators and trustees. The Garden State Coalition of Schools Tuesday issued a statement calling it a “slap in the face.”
Christie this morning noted that school spending has increased by $1.2 billion in the past few years. “I’m going to get my state’s spending under control,” he vowed.
NJ governor, ed chief differ on advice to voters
TRENTON — New Jersey Education chief Bret Schundler says voters should not reject local school budgets just because teachers haven't agreed to a wage freeze.
Schundler's comments at a Senate Budget Committee hearing Tuesday contradict Gov. Chris Christie, who urged voters to defeat budgets on April 20 in districts where teachers have not agreed to forgo raises for the coming year.
Christie told CNBC's "Squawk Box'' Tuesday that no teacher layoffs would be needed if educators across the state accepted a one-year wage freeze.
So far teachers in 17 districts out of 590 have agreed to a one-year wage freeze. Administrators and support staff in scores of districts have agreed to freeze their salaries, and three teachers union locals have made lesser concessions.
N.J. education chief says voters should not reject school budgets that lack wage freezes
By Lisa Fleisher/Statehouse Bureau (Record, Star Ledger)
April 13, 2010, 2:10PM
TRENTON -- Voters ready to follow Gov. Chris Christie's advice to reject any school budgets that do not include a wage freeze for teachers might want to hold off until they hear what his education commissioner has to say.
At a Senate budget hearing today, Department of Education Commissioner Bret Schundler said he would not recommend voters reject those budgets when they go to the polls on April 20. Schools are dealing with a nearly $820 million cut in funding while facing increasing salary and benefits costs.
Schundler said he did not have Christie's words in front of him.
The governor Monday said: "I would encourage people in districts where their teachers did not take a freeze to reject the budget. I just don't see how citizens should want to support a budget where their teachers have not wanted to be part of the shared sacrifice."
Schundler said he thought the governor meant he understood how voters were going to feel. He said no when asked directly whether he thought voters should reject budgets without wage freezes.
"I think what the governor was trying to say was he understands how voters are going to feel if they're looking at the possibility of a property tax increase of 5 percent and they're being asked to, if you will, sacrifice to avoid layoffs," Schundler said. "It's not that they should feel that way, but I think a lot of them are going to feel that way. I think that's what the governor was trying to get at."
Democratic state senators hammered Schundler on the Republican governor's proposed $820 million cut to school districts, including what they saw as a communication problem leading up to the announcement of the cuts.
• LOOK UP BUDGET CUTS BY SCHOOL DISTRICT
Based on guidance from the Christie administration in February, many schools prepared for a 15 percent cut in their own state aid. When the aid figures came out, more than 50 districts lost 100 percent of so-called formula aid. Schundler said he was clear the administration meant that 15 percent of total education aid could be cut. He blamed not having a good line of communication with individual districts for the confusion.
Schundler said the attorney general's office gave "ongoing guidance" during the crafting of the $29.3 billion budget to make sure the administration was distributing school aid in a "way that was most constitutionally sound."
"We believe the judges will look at what was credible from the perspective of having revenues available for schools," he said. "And then they'll say, 'OK, did you, with what was credible, distribute that aid as equitably as possible?' We think that [they'll] say 'Yes, you distributed that aid as equitably as possible.'"
Schundler also returned to a theme of proposing changes that would prompt more senior teachers to retire.
He said the administration would encourage some type of cost-sharing for employees to pay more of their health care costs, a proposal that would come into effect Aug. 1.
"The school district would ultimately have the possibility to higher a younger employee, or a new employee, whatever their age," he said.
Sen. Teresa Ruiz (D-Essex) highlighted a number of schools, including North Brunswick and Newark, that were cutting costs, freezing salaries, laying off teachers and talking about charging students to play sports, while also increasing taxes 4 percent.
"These actions will not be enough and New Jerseyans will be left footing the bill," she said.
tatehouse Bureau reporters Jeanette Rundquist and Claire Heininger contributed to this report.
