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10-22-07 GSCS PRESS CONFERENCE – OPENING COMMENTS:
1. Lynne Strickland, Executive Director, GSCS
Welcome to all again, and thanks for taking the time to come to Trenton today to talk about school funding and the need to have a predictable, stable, sustainable and workable formula for all NJ students – a formula that must emerge in order to protect quality education and local taxpayers alike.
It is universally recognized now that property taxes and school funding are inextricably linked. When the state does not fund, or underfunds its share of, a formula, the property taxpayer takes the brunt and over time, so too will the quality of public education programs offered.
GSCS has been calling for a new formula formally since 2003,; state leadership has not addressed this glaring void where no formula has been implemented for since 2001-2002. Year in and year out since that time, the legislature – in concert with 3 Governors - McGreevey, Codey and Corzine - have wound up patching together a tied-me-over scheme of school funding that one the one hand relied on property tax payers to make up the differences in underfunding while on the other hand, singly blamed schools for rising property taxes. Seven years of the state not having a stable school funding formula in place is just too long policy-wise; education-wise; and property tax-wise. It is time – indeed it is the responsible thing to do - to bring this very needed conversation out into the light and to have viable, credible public debate about real options and possible formula designs that can and will impact every municipality and student in this state. The promise of a substantial debate has been out there, particularly stated by Governor Corzine since the beginning of his administration, and in the legislature the special session on property taxes established a Joint Committee on Public School Funding Reform that issued its specific recommendations last November 15, 2006. To date, nothing has happened regarding those recommendations and legislative leadership does not reference them at all.
GSCS is here to make it clear that citizens across New Jersey are frustrated and upset that school funding policy and the need for a formula have virtually been ignored going into the 7th year now and that is just too long. This sadly points out that Trenton continues to act as if funding its public schools and providing property tax relief via a responsible state share of aid to all districts is simply not a priority. It is one thing to promise to talk about it, put that off in reality repeatedly, and then delay yet another year.
GSCS however is eternally hopeful, and in this vein, we hope that our consensus document will help jump start this much needed issue to the front burner, while at the same time providing sound, workable ideas that our membership believes will help make NJ schools and communities move in a positive direction for quality education and relief of tax-payer burden (our hearts and our homes).
Daniel Fishbein, Ed.D. Good morning! My name is Daniel Fishbein. I am the Superintendent of School in Glen Ridge and the President of the Garden State Coalition of School for this school year. The GSCS represents approximately 150 school districts which includes 400,000 students. We represent district of various district factor groups and joined the AMID, the Association of Middle Income Districts, during the 2006-2007 school year. I welcome the press, my colleagues from Coalition districts as well as parents and the Executive Committee of the GSCS. This past February the Executive Committee, Lynne Strickland, our Executive Director, several parent members, particularly Elizabeth Ginsburg and Linda Nelson, as well as our resource partners School House Strategies started the process of determining benchmarks we feel are necessary in a new funding formula for the State of New Jersey. Since 2003 there has been talk of the impending new funding formula. It has been about a year and a half since the Special Legislation Session and still nothing. During that time districts have been held relatively flat in the area of state aid while enrollment for some have gone up; special education cost continued to rise and medical insurance costs have gone up double digits for most district. In addition, our budgetary growth has been capped through legislation, yet taxes continue to rise. All of these factors point toward the inadequacy of how our schools are funded for all students. It gives me great pleasure to introduce the Garden State Coalition of Schools Executive Director, Ms. Lynne Strickland. Lynne worked tirelessly on behalf of our districts and I want to make sure that she knows how much we appreciate all her hard work and that she is here today. Lynne thanks for being here. Lynne will now brief you on the proposal followed by questions from the press. Thank you all for coming. Comments by Linda Nelson, GSCS Vice President/GSCS Executive Board & Scotch Plains-Fanwood (SPF) Board of Education member; Past President SPF Board of Education; parent. This is my 8th year being a Board of Education member, and for the last 6 of those years Scotch Plains-Fanwood, like all NJ districts, has gone into the budget process without a clue what our state aid would be. Will it go up to meet increasing enrollment and ever more expensive fixed costs? Will it be cut and the money sent elsewhere? Or will it stay flat while our elected leaders promise they’ll adopt a formula “in the coming year” or “in the spring session” or “after the election in the lame duck session.” The State is getting dangerously close to being irresponsible about this lack of a useable, equitable funding formula for all districts. And we as voters and taxpayers are letting them get away with it. A new formula has been promised in the lame duck session after the election. BUT NO ONE IS TALKING ABOUT IT DURING THE LEGISLATIVE CAMPAIGNS! Not candidates for Senate or Assembly. Not the Legislative leadership. Not the Governor. Not the voters. It’s as though everyone already accepts the fact that there will be no new formula for the next school year. And that there will be flat or might-as-well be flat state aid for the 7th year in a row. What will this mean for school districts? It means reducing positions. It means not adding the staff you need because of growing enrollment and watching class sizes increase. It means not being able to add the kinds of programs that the state deems important, such as full-day kindergarten or quality pre-school programs, because who can pay the staff or provide the space for these? It means seeing the needs of at-risk students identified by state testing results and not being able to respond with programs that will help them. In this current school year’s budget Scotch Plains-Fanwood cut 5 positions needed for growing enrollment at our High School. We could not add a needed ROTC position and had to get a waiver from the Air Force to run the program with inadequate staffing. We cut a world language teaching position and increased class sizes in that area. In order to maintain a High School vocal music position, we cut music supplies and equipment and cut back on travel by student musicians. And we cut an elementary language arts supervisor at a time when an increasingly young and non-tenured staff need evaluations, observations and mentoring. And that was just this year. There are 6 years worth of cuts like these – in every district, low-, middle-, and upper-income. It’s a never-ending cycle: No useable, stable state funding formula — flat state aid —rising fixed costs — programs and positions cut — taxpayer anxiety flares up. It’s time to break this cycle. And the first step is to get the discussion about a new funding formula out into the sunshine. Let’s get this debate going—NOW. At a recent education conference I heard an incumbent state senator say that since voters aren’t asking questions about school funding, he’s not forced to talk about it during the campaign. For him it’s a simple marketing decision. For NJ’s citizens, schools and children, it’s a tragic loss.
