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Trenton is moving ahead today on its State Budget committee meetings, and also has posted Senate President Sweeney's bill proposing the 2.9% legislated cap in the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee today. Speculation is that if this bill passes through the legislature the Governor will veto it and continue to move his 2.5% cap/consitutional amendment proposal. It is also being suggested that the Opportunity Scholarship act will be heard in committee tomorrow. As of now, tt still looks like the State Budget FY 2010-2011 will be voted on this Monday. Stay tuned... The Record ‘Christie budget clears Senate committee’
Star Ledger ‘N.J. legislators scramble to ensure budget deal support’
njspotlight.com ‘Gov. Christie Gets the Budget He Wanted’
njspotlight.com ‘Coming to a District Near You: That Other Choice Program’ [Interdistrict Public School Choice Program]
The Record Op-ed ‘Josefsberg: And now you walk on — away from this moment — into new settings and next chapters.’
The Record ‘Christie budget clears Senate committee’
Tuesday, June 22, 2010 BY LISA FLEISHER STATE HOUSE BUREAUTRENTON — The state Senate budget committee voted Wednesday to send Governor Christie’s proposed $29.4 billion budget on to a full Senate vote, clearing one hurdle necessary for final passage before the July 1 deadline.
The 272-page bill, double-sided, spells out the Republican governor’s first spending plan, including $848 million cut from property tax rebates, $820 million cut from schools and billions more in cuts across state programs, departments and grants.
Only two of the committee’s Democrats voted for the bill, the minimum number necessary to move it along. That followed a pattern seen all day, when Democrats provided two votes for most other bills necessary to implement the budget.
“It's not a Democrat bill, it's not a Republican bill," said Sen. Jeff Van Drew, D-Cape May. "In that spirit of bipartisanship, I vote yes."
Sen. Brian Stack, D-Hudson, provided the second Democratic vote on the budget bill (S-3000), as he did Wednesday on several other bills. Stack is also the popular mayor of Union City, which relies heavily on state aid TRENTON — The state Senate budget committee voted Wednesday to send Governor Christie’s proposed $29.4 billion budget on to a full Senate vote, clearing one hurdle necessary for final passage before the July 1 deadline.
The 272-page bill, double-sided, spells out the Republican governor’s first spending plan, including $848 million cut from property tax rebates, $820 million cut from schools and billions more in cuts across state programs, departments and grants.
Only two of the committee’s Democrats voted for the bill, the minimum number necessary to move it along. That followed a pattern seen all day, when Democrats provided two votes for most other bills necessary to implement the budget.
“It's not a Democrat bill, it's not a Republican bill," said Sen. Jeff Van Drew, D-Cape May. "In that spirit of bipartisanship, I vote yes."
Sen. Brian Stack, D-Hudson, provided the second Democratic vote on the budget bill (S-3000), as he did Wednesday on several other bills. Stack is also the popular mayor of Union City, which relies heavily on state aid.
Star Ledger ‘N.J. legislators scramble to ensure budget deal support’
Published: Thursday, June 24, 2010, 5:30 AM Updated: Thursday, June 24, 2010, 5:35 AM
TRENTON — A state budget deal didn’t stop the dealmaking here Wednesday.
Two days after Republican Gov. Chris Christie and Democrats who run the Legislature announced an agreement, the state Senate’s budget committee Wednesday night approved the bill for the $29.4 billion spending plan, moving it along to the full house.
But the vote, taken just before 8 p.m., followed a fitful day for the panel as lawmakers considered the budget and a series of related bills. Senators scuttled in an out as leaders tried to make sure both parties could provide enough votes to hold it all together.
Meanwhile, Assembly Republicans had to contend with the defection of two members.
"I guess deals are not set in stone," said Sen. Paul Sarlo (D-Bergen), chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, referring to a change agreed to Wednesday that made veterans exempt from an increase in civil service fees.
In back rooms and in stairwells, senators brought up concerns with a number of the bills necessary to implement Christie’s first budget. Several senators became visibly frustrated, using expletives in side conversations, demanding answers and votes.
Legislative committees are scheduled to work through the week to approve the budget and set up final floor votes on Monday. The budget would take effect July 1 and slices a revenue shortfall by cutting spending on schools, cities and hundreds of programs and departments across the state.
The terms of the deal were that all Republicans would vote for the budget, while Democrats provided the minimum votes needed to avoid a government shutdown. But there were snags Wednesday as lawmakers considered related bills that would, among other things, raise taxes on hospitals, hike some fees on businesses and sweep several watchdog agencies into one.
Two of the Assembly’s conservative members threatened to withhold their votes without drastic changes to the budget.
Assemblyman Michael Patrick Carroll (R-Morris) and Assemblywoman Alison Littell McHose (R-Sussex) both pressed for changes in how school funding and aid cuts are distributed.
Carroll said he won’t vote for the budget without across-the-board, 7 percent to 8 percent cuts of school aid, rather than the current cut of up to 5 percent of each district’s budget, which completely eliminates funding from some districts.
"I suppose if the governor or any of his staff thought there was something that would address my concern, they would have called me already," Carroll said. "My guess is they consider me a lost cause."
McHose was not as adamant, saying she would introduce an amendment to cut $613 million from public pre-school to pay for cuts in suburban districts.
"If it passes, I would be thrilled to vote for the budget. If it fails, I will be looking at what I’m faced with in terms of the document," she said. "I want to keep my options open."
Assembly Majority Leader Joseph Cryan (D-Union) would not say whether Democrats would add votes if Republicans pull out. "We’ll be providing eight votes, and we expect the governor can deliver the members of his party," Cryan said.
Christie said in a radio interview last night he believed the budget would pass both houses of the Legislature Monday with full GOP support.
"I believe that all Republicans will be voting for this budget," he said. "This is going to get done."
njspotlight.com ‘Gov. Christie Gets the Budget He Wanted’
The Democratic-controlled legislature made $180.7 million in changes to Christie’s budget, but decided not to force a budget shutdown over major issues
By Mark Magyar, June 24 in Budget |Post a Comment
For all the talk of millionaire's taxes and government shutdowns, the state budget accord between Gov. Chris Christie and Democratic leaders this week came down to a few million added here, a few million subtracted there.
The $28.374 billion budget is now slated for final vote early next week, and jockeying among legislators continued into the late hours yesterday. But a new legislative staff report released since the accord found the changes included in the latest deal came down to more little details in the mammoth document than any broad philosophical truces.
No Surplus to Cushion the Blow
For one, the new accord ended up $97.1 million higher than the budget Christie proposed in May, despite the further decline in state revenues projected by the non-partisan Office of Legislative Services in May. The new budget also anticipates a $101.2 million decline in revenues, but essentially pushes the cost of the $97 million in new spending and the problem of how to deal with the revenue drop into next year by lowering Christie’s projected $500.8 million surplus to $300.2 million. That figure amounts to just over a 1 percent surplus, well below the 2 percent or more than the bond rating agencies prefer. The small surplus means that if state revenues come in even marginally lower at any point next year, the Christie administration will have to make further midyear cuts in spending because there is no real surplus to cushion the blow.
Overall, the Democratic-controlled legislature made $180.7 million in changes to Christie’s budget, but decided not to force a budget shutdown over the major issues. Christie succeeded in passing a balanced budget while rolling back the millionaire’s tax, cutting state aid to school districts by $828 million and slicing $848 million in property tax rebates. Democrats will campaign hard on all three of these issues in the midterm legislative elections in 2011. They will take credit in this fall’s Bergen County executive and freeholder races for forcing Christie to back down on his plan to eliminate the popular ban on Sunday sales in Bergen. Christie anticipated Sunday shopping in Bergen would have generated $63 million in additional sales tax revenue, but agreed to use additional revenue expected from tax compliance and corporate audit programs to fill the gap.
Small But Significant Restorations
Some of the most important budget restorations achieved by the Democrats did not involve large sums. It cost just $6.4 million to keep the Garrett W. Hagedorn Gero-Psychiatric Center open—a rare victory for the state’s public employee unions that Christie has attacked so vociferously. A $4 million appropriation to the New Jersey Cultural Trust will keep the Old Barracks Museum fighting the Revolution in Trenton, the Battleship New Jersey afloat in Camden, and the Newark Museum from having to make severe budget cuts. A $3.5 million appropriation will keep the State Commission of Investigation, an independent investigatory body created by the Legislature to probe corruption and waste, independent of the executive branch, a.k.a. the Christie administration. And a $1 million appropriation for New Jersey STARS will preserve the program that provides scholarships first to community colleges and then to four-year state colleges for high-ranking New Jersey high school seniors who agree to stay in-state for college.
View a series of charts detailing the major differences between Christie’s original budget proposal and S-3000, the compromise budget bill that is expected to be approved as the budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1.
Mark Magyar is an adjunct professor in the Rutgers University School of Labor and Management Relations. A former Statehouse reporter, government official and public policy institute director, he served as policy director for the independent Daggett for Governor campaign
njspotlight.com ‘Coming to a District Near You: That Other Choice Program’
Inter-district School Choice Act has quietly redrawn school borders and may soon be an option for any district in NJ
By John Mooney, June 24 in Education
A little more than a decade ago, another school choice program was drawing its own share of cries that it would either save or kill public schools as we knew them.
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It, too, originated with a Republican governor and an outspoken education commissioner wanting to shake up the education establishment, and the teachers unions were among the early critics wary of it.
But unlike the proposal for private school vouchers now sparking heat in the Statehouse, New Jersey’s Inter-district School Choice program draws barely a comment at legislative hearings anymore -- all while it has quietly grown and redrawn traditional school borders in dozens of districts.
And also unlike its voucher cousin, the Inter-district program now appears certain for adoption into permanent law within the week, potentially making it an option for any district in New Jersey.
“It’s nice to see this finally come to fruition,” said Rochelle Hendricks, an assistant education commissioner. “We’ve been poised for this for a long time.”
No Easy Sell at the Time
Of course, the key distinction is that the Inter-district Choice program applies only to public schools, allowing students to get their education in selected nearby districts free of charge.
The Opportunity Scholarship Act that’s now the subject of back-room negotiations and front-room press conferences would provide scholarship vouchers for students in low-performing schools to attend any school of their choice, public or private.
But the Inter-district program was no easy sell in the late 1990s, either, when then-Gov. Christie Whitman and her education commissioner, Leo Klagholz, first advanced the idea of breaking down public school boundaries.
They wanted to go further and include private school vouchers as well, but after much debate, the Inter-district School Choice Act of 1999 was what emerged.
The way the program now works, a limit of one district per county and no more than 16 overall are eligible to open their doors to outside students, filling its seats and drawing the commensurate state aid that last year exceeded $8.9 million statewide.
Caps on Expansion
But with the limits, the program never much grew beyond its first few years. It was slated as a five-year pilot and only survived beyond 2005 through various appropriations bills.
Last year, 919 children were enrolled in the 16 districts, coming from scores of surrounding communities. The biggest draw has been Englewood schools, which drew 275 outside students and have used the program to help diversify a school system under a state desegregation order. Folsom’s one elementary school last year drew 163 outside students, more than a third of its total enrollment.
On the other end, fewer than 10 outside students have been drawn to any of the choice schools in Stafford, Hoboken, Belvidere, Salem City and Washington Township in Burlington County.
“In most instances, the program has worked and worked well,” Hendricks said. “In others, there have been some challenges that have clearly slowed it down.”
A host of factors contribute to those lower numbers, educators and experts have said, ranging from the quality of the schools to trickier issues of race and class. But some can be found in the old law itself, including caps that allow sending districts to limit the number of students who can leave.
New Bill Removes Limits, Has Teacher Support
Those limits have been removed from the bill now nearing a final vote in the Senate, after its unanimous recommendation from the Senate’s budget committee yesterday. The new bill would also remove the one-per-county limit, potentially opening it to any district with available seats.
That has been the quandary for many districts, especially in northern New Jersey, where vacancies are few.
But Assemblywoman Mila Jasey (D-Essex), prime sponsor of the new measure, said she hopes urban districts with declining enrollments would see the opportunity -- and the potential funding -- to expand magnet programs.
“It’s a program that only appeals to a small group of districts,” she said yesterday. “It’s totally voluntary and has to work for the circumstances of its students. But I encourage any programs that open up choices within public schools. I think the competition is a good thing.”
She said it is a far more preferable form of school choice than the voucher bill, which she said she opposes.
"More importantly, public school choice programs can improve educational outcomes for students without seeing taxpayer money funneled out of New Jersey's strong public school system,” she said.
Even the New Jersey’s Education Association’s lead lobbyist, Ginger Gold Schnitzer, said the teachers union is in full support this time around.
“It’s not like vouchers, which is public money for private schools,” she said. “Inter-district choice doesn’t do that, and has actually shown to help schools in places like Folsom. Our experience with it has been mostly positive.”
Op-ed, The Record ‘Josefsberg: And now you walk on — away from this moment — into new settings and next chapters.’
Thursday, June 24, 2010
BY BERNARD JOSEFSBERG
The Record
Bernard Josefsberg is superintendent of Leonia schools. This commentary was delivered at Leonia High School’s graduation ceremony Tuesday.(Leonia is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Garden Sate Coalition of Schools.)
YOU MAY have read about the recent discovery in Armenia of the world’s oldest known leather shoe. As reported in the New York Times, it was “Perfectly preserved under layers of sheep dung … [T]he shoe, made of cowhide and tanned with oil from a plant or vegetable is about 5,500 years old, older than Stonehenge and the Egyptian pyramids, scientists say.”
Let’s briefly consider the significance of this pedestrian discovery. Stonehenge and the pyramids are enduring monuments to events that happened ages ago when pagans and pharaohs spent their time doing odd things like moving and piling up big rocks. It’s hard to feel a soulful kinship with pagans and pharaohs.
Not so with the original owner of the world’s oldest known leather shoe – size 7. Ages ago, someone put a foot into it with the thought of walking around. It’s a good bet that the shoe’s original owner then put the other foot into the other shoe — long ago dropped into the discard bin of history.
After tying the laces, the original owner then stood up and walked away.
Moving on
All of this, we can relate to — the part about putting your foot into it, as well as the part about moving on after you’ve put your foot into it.
For members of the Class of 2010, this is a celebration — an opportunity for you to kick up your heels, as it were. You have concluded an important introduction to your personal narratives. Like Pip in the novel “Great Expectations” by Charles Dickens, you are leaving your little village of childhood in favor of the big city. Pip’s thoughts upon doing so may well mimic your own. He says,
“I walked away at a good pace, thinking it was easier to go than I had supposed it would be … I whistled and made nothing of going ... the village was very peaceful and quiet, and the light mists were solemnly rising, as if to show me the world … I had been so innocent and little there, and all beyond was so unknown and great … I deliberated with an aching heart whether I would … walk back, and have another evening at home … [but] it was now too late and too far to go back, and I went on. And the mists had all solemnly risen now, and the world lay spread before me.”
Next chapters
And now you walk on — away from this moment — into new settings and next chapters.
Some of you plan on filling big shoes. I wish you well with your ambitions. All of you will walk the pathways of everyday life. As the Armenian discovery demonstrates, it’s not only the big shoes that leave an imprint.
W
herever you walk and whatever shoes you wear, you will leave an imprint.
I wish you a good walk — unspoiled by any thin soles, straight laces or loose heels you may experience along the way.
YOU MAY have read about the recent discovery in Armenia of the world’s oldest known leather shoe. As reported in the New York Times, it was “Perfectly preserved under layers of sheep dung … [T]he shoe, made of cowhide and tanned with oil from a plant or vegetable is about 5,500 years old, older than Stonehenge and the Egyptian pyramids, scientists say.”
Let’s briefly consider the significance of this pedestrian discovery. Stonehenge and the pyramids are enduring monuments to events that happened ages ago when pagans and pharaohs spent their time doing odd things like moving and piling up big rocks. It’s hard to feel a soulful kinship with pagans and pharaohs.
Not so with the original owner of the world’s oldest known leather shoe – size 7. Ages ago, someone put a foot into it with the thought of walking around. It’s a good bet that the shoe’s original owner then put the other foot into the other shoe — long ago dropped into the discard bin of history.
After tying the laces, the original owner then stood up and walked away.
Moving on
All of this, we can relate to — the part about putting your foot into it, as well as the part about moving on after you’ve put your foot into it.
For members of the Class of 2010, this is a celebration — an opportunity for you to kick up your heels, as it were. You have concluded an important introduction to your personal narratives. Like Pip in the novel “Great Expectations” by Charles Dickens, you are leaving your little village of childhood in favor of the big city. Pip’s thoughts upon doing so may well mimic your own. He says,
“I walked away at a good pace, thinking it was easier to go than I had supposed it would be … I whistled and made nothing of going ... the village was very peaceful and quiet, and the light mists were solemnly rising, as if to show me the world … I had been so innocent and little there, and all beyond was so unknown and great … I deliberated with an aching heart whether I would … walk back, and have another evening at home … [but] it was now too late and too far to go back, and I went on. And the mists had all solemnly risen now, and the world lay spread before me.”
Next chapters
And now you walk on — away from this moment — into new settings and next chapters.
Some of you plan on filling big shoes. I wish you well with your ambitions. All of you will walk the pathways of everyday life. As the Armenian discovery demonstrates, it’s not only the big shoes that leave an imprint.
Wherever you walk and whatever shoes you wear, you will leave an imprint.
I wish you a good walk — unspoiled by any thin soles, straight laces or loose heels you may experience along the way.
