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Communities Get Informed About Legislation Affecting Education
Concerned Northern Valley citizens, mayors and superintendents recently attended an informative open forum in the Tenafly Middle School auditorium. Hard budget caps, “super” superintendents, chronic under-funding of state aid to education, and property tax reform were some of the topics discussed.
The audience was brought up to speed about what’s going on in Trenton, listened to a panel discussion to help work through the information and questions concerning current legislation, and were provided with tips on how to take action.
Julie Segal, Tenafly Board of Education President, set the forum’s tone during her opening comments. “We are here tonight to provide information and answer questions about legislative issues at the state level and how these events can significantly change the way we operate our local schools,” Segal said. “The Tenafly BOE and Tenafly Home School Associations are very concerned about the direction in which the legislation is being taken, particularly the hard budget caps which will restrict the districts ability to provide high quality education. We are also worried about the imposition of a “super” superintendent as it relates to community-based decision making.”
Dr. Morton Sherman, Tenafly Public Schools Superintendent, also presented his perspective to the audience. “Tenafly has a special voice which should be shared across the state, and we want to be part of the solution, not the problem,” Sherman said. “We are a high achieving community who has worked hard to serve our children well and to serve the economy of the state well. Many believe that public schools are the best model for democracy where parents and communities—like Tenafly, Alpine, Cresskill, Demarest, Englewood and Norwood—work with their local schools, Boards of Education, principals, teachers and superintendents on behalf of their children.”
Sherman continues, “Local schools work well, and there’s plenty of research to prove that. We do well here, and it’s not by accident. We understand that nobody wants increases in property taxes, but we here in Bergen County want to control who we are and how our children learn. We believe we have done a good job spending money on behalf of our children. We do not want hard caps.”
A detailed legislative overview was also provided by Lynne Strickland, Director of the Garden State Coalition of Schools. According to Strickland, GSCS has a strong presence in Trenton, represents 110-115 districts in the State of New Jersey from Bergen to Camden Counties, and advocates for Garden State schools focusing on finance. “Two bills (A4/S10 Executive County Superintendent bill and A8/S7-S49 Countywide District Pilot bill) have passed the Assembly but have been stymied in the Senate,” said Strickland.
The super county superintendent bill would create a politically appointed position with sweeping powers over local school district financial operations and administration. This position, appointed by the governor, would control local school budgets, purchasing and consolidation plans. As of now written, the bill would leave the current April school board member/school budget election in place.
The county-wide pilot bill would authorize the commissioner of education to develop a plan to establish one pilot county administrative school district. The pilot district would be governed by a board of education appointed by the county freeholder, administrative functions would be concentrated at the county level, and local school boards would be replaced by advisory panels.
According to Senator Loretta Weinberg, District 37 (D), Gloucester County is willing to be the pilot county for the state for a period of 10 years. “If Gloucester comes to the floor for vote, I will not turn them down if this is something they want to do,” Weinberg said.
According to Strickland, the public process is being rushed. “It all started when Trenton got together this summer to establish a special session on property taxes,” Strickland stated. “They put together four committees to recognize the elements needed to work out property taxes: Public School Reform, Consolidation of Shared Services, Public Employee Benefits, and Property Tax Intervention. Fast forward to November 15, 2006, when the four ad hoc committees came out with recommendations; then only two weeks later, bills were going to the floor to be voted on without even going through a committee hearing. The county-wide pilot bill will be put up again on Monday, January 22, so a decision is close at hand.”
Strickland also detailed the current state of New Jersey’s property tax crisis. “Here in Tenafly 94% of the taxes you pay run local government,” Strickland said. “The last time school state aid was funded was during the 2001-2002 school year. The formula has been flat since then, which means the local property tax payers have had to pick-up the slack—a difficult task to do, since enrollment has been growing steadily for the past 15 years.”
“Last year a total of $846 million in state aid didn’t come forth which caused local property taxes to increase,” Strickland added. “When you cumulatively add up the core curriculum aid as well as special education aid, you get a total amount of nearly $2.2 billion in aid that was not provided. Aid that was agreed and promised by legislation yet has not been delivered. If it had been funded, we would be seeing tax increases at the rate of 3-4% rather than the 7% we’ve seen over the last five years.”
Budget problems need to be addressed, according to Lynne Stewart, Tenafly HSA co-president. “Just because the budget isn’t working doesn’t mean that we need to take the one thing that is working—our educational system and quality of schools—and make that a problem, too. We feel very strongly that this legislation is not beneficial to towns such as Tenafly,” stated Stewart. “To be paying all these tax dollars and have officially appointed people determining how education dollars are being spent at local levels is not in our best interest.”
After the legislative overview was presented, the audience was given the opportunity to submit questions in writing to panel members including Senator Gerald Cardinale, District 39 (R); Senator Loretta Weinberg, District 37 (D); Lynne Strickland, Executive Director of Garden State Coalition of Schools; Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle, District 37 (D); Dr. Morton Sherman, Tenafly Superintendent of Schools; and Julie Segal, Tenafly Board of Education President as panel moderator. The questions, along with detailed answers provided by panel, will be posted as soon as possible on the Tenafly Public Schools website (http://www.tenafly.net).
Senator Cardinale pointed out the importance of public awareness and involvement in the legislative process. “In last two years, I have seen a public awakening. The key to democracy is an informed electorate. The public needs to get informed and express their opinions in order to get attention from legislatures.”
Next steps were addressed by Alison Teicher, Tenafly HSA co-president. “We’ve taken a month of literature and consolidated it into these three postcards addressed to Governor Jon Corzine, Senator Richard Codey, and Assemblyman Joseph Roberts,” stated Teicher. “All you need to do is sign, stamp and mail them, so that your voice is heard in Trenton.”
The Open Community Forum, in its entirety, will be telecast daily through February 1 at 12:30 am, 10:00 am and 9:00 pm on Cablevision Channel 77. Downloadable versions of the post cards as well as in-depth information about A4/S10 and A8/S7-S49 are available on the Garden State Coalition of Schools website (http://www.gscschools.org).
POSTCARD:
Dear Governor Corzine:
As a concerned community we cannot accept legislation like A4/S10 and A8/S7-S49. We urge you to veto these bills if they do pass through the Senate and Assembly. Here’s why:
1. We are strongly opposed to hard budget caps and the creation of “super” superintendents. We believe that the quality of our children’s education is incumbent upon a fully empowered elected Board of Education.
2. We view piloting a county school district as a backdoor entry to regionalization, which we strongly oppose.
Further, as a community, we hold and are committed to these strong beliefs that:
1. All districts should receive fair and full funding regardless of which communities they serve.
2. All districts should continue to receive special education aid as categorical aid, distributed per the students’ needs, regardless of where they live.
We ask you not to support legislation that is contrary to public good and is harmful to quality education. We ask you to bear in mind that effective state governance supports the well-being of all communities and seeks to increase public trust as a whole.
Sincerely,
Signature: __________________________
Print Name: Cc: Senator Richard Codey
Print Address: Assemblyman Joseph Roberts
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Governor Jon Corzine
Office of the Governor
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Senator Richard Codey
