Quality Public Education for All New Jersey Students

 

Property Taxes, School Funding issues
     Pre 2012 Announcement Archives
     2012-13 Announcement Archives
     2013-14 Announcement Archives
     2014-15 Announcement Archives
     Old Announcements prior April 2009
     ARCHIVE inc 2007 Announcements
     2009 Archives
     2008 Archives
     2007 Archives
     2006 Archives
     2010-11 Announcements
     2005 through Jan 30 2006 Announcements
4-13-08 School Budget & Board elections - Sunday articles
GANNETT STATE BUREAU - 'Aid boost holds down rise in school taxes...Voters to be asked to OK levies increasing by 2.8% statewide' THE RECORD - Editorial: Don't forget to vote

STAR LEDGER - 'Governor's reforms tighten school budgets Some districts see tax relief, others layoffs'

 


April 13, 2008

Aid boost holds down rise in school taxes

Voters to be asked to OK levies increasing by 2.8% statewide

By GREGORY J. VOLPE
GANNETT STATE BUREAU

By significantly boosting state aid to schools for two years, officials have continued to slow, but still can't stop, the increasing cost of public education borne by local property taxpayers.

A Gannett New Jersey review of proposed 2008-09 school tax levies, most of which will be before voters Tuesday, shows levies would increase 2.8 percent combined if approved, due to a $500 million increase that brings direct aid to schools to $7.8 billion. This marks the first time in years growth hasn't exceeded 4 percent, which is the level of a cap implemented before the current school year.

"This validates the cap as a real important step in the right direction," said Assembly Speaker Joseph J. Roberts Jr., D-Camden.

Levies are the the total pot of money government collects from property taxpayers. While they don't directly translate into individual tax bills, which also depend on the change in property values, levies generally correlate with tax increases and decreases.

The state's 615 school districts have a combined $12.18 billion in levies proposed for the next school year, in addition to the $7.78 billion in aid they get from the state. The 2.8 percent increase in levies is down from 4.3 percent in the current year and 6.2 percent the year before.

On Tuesday, voters in 549 school districts will decide whether to approve levies that total $11.26 billion. Levies that are rejected could be trimmed. The levies in the remaining districts aren't put before voters.

Gov. Corzine took the smaller-than-usual levy increase as a sign his fiscal policies are working, his spokesman said.

"Certainly he expects the trend to continue, and he expects property taxpayers to see even more downward pressure on property taxes," Corzine spokesman Jim Gardner said. "The state is at a turning point, and clearly the governor's fiscal policies are starting to produce the kind of responsible spending and tax relief New Jerseyans are demanding."

Gardner said the school funding formula guarantees no district will have decreased aid through at least the 2010-11 school year and noted Corzine has advocated for increased education funding even in tough economic times.

Steve Lonegan, executive director of Americans for Prosperity, scoffed that Democratic leaders would be pleased with a 2.8 percent hike in tax levies when they're proposing cuts to municipalities and have raised several state taxes in recent years.

"So what? Big deal," Lonegan said. "So we raise every other tax on the planet and tax people out of the state so their levy can be a little bit lower. They should be cutting these tax levies, not increasing them."

Tops in the nation

New Jersey leads the nation in per-pupil spending, with a projected average of $17,719 to be spent per pupil next year, and ranks fifth in state aid with $7,984 per pupil.

For the current school year, lawmakers implemented the levy cap and boosted aid to schools by $300 million. For the coming year, they're proposing the $500 million aid increase and have adopted Corzine's new school funding formula meant to undo years of underfunding and inequitable funding. Under the formula, the state increased aid to all districts, many of which haven't seen increases in years, between 2 percent and 20 percent.

The formula also scraps the so-called Abbott designation meant to balance education spending between the poorest and richest districts, but that plan has yet to be deemed constitutional by the state Supreme Court.

"It's fascinating what can happen when after seven years the state partially lives up to its commitment to help fund the cost of local education," said Senate Minority Leader Thomas Kean Jr., R-Union, who opposed the new formula.

Frank Belluscio, spokesman for the New Jersey School Boards Association, said the lower levy growth proves what the group has said for years: Flat school aid has been a large driver of the state's highest-in-the-nation property taxes.

"Every dollar of state aid is a dollar that does not have to come out of the local property taxpayers' pocket," Belluscio said. "It helps districts expand programs where needed, and it also helps take the burden off property taxpayers."

The new formula more than proves that point, as districts that got bigger percentage boosts in state aid have proposed raising their local levies less than those receiving more modest increases from the state.

Impact of more aid

Direct state aid and local levies combined are proposed to be 4.5 percent greater in the coming year than the current year. Including the amount the state pays toward teachers' pensions, education funding is slated to increase by 5.6 percent next year.

Districts whose direct state aid is being increased by more than 10 percent have proposed raising the levy on local property taxpayers by less than 2 percent. Those whose aid increased less than 10 percent are seeking to raise their levies by 3.9 percent.

Even in the levy cap's second year, 110 districts are seeking to raise levies more than 4 percent — which can be done without permission for enrollment or state health benefit increases, or through a waiver from the Department of Education for items such as energy costs, a loss of surplus or special education.

About 146 districts had their levies come in at the 4 percent cap, while 51 districts remained essentially flat and 57 lowered their levy amounts.

This year's ballots also set a record for the fewest number of second questions being put before voters. With a new law that requires 60 percent support to pass an additional question, rather than a simple majority, only 33 finance questions in 28 districts that seek $12.2 million will appear on Tuesday's ballots. Last year, there were 87 questions in 65 districts seeking $33.1 million. Since 1997 the number of add-on questions has ranged from 72 to 176.

The new law also forbids local governing bodies from overturning a rejected additional question, but they still can enact a school budget without making cuts even if voters defeat a district's base levy.

Last year's approval rate for additional questions of 46 percent would have plummeted to 25 percent under the supermajority rule, according to the School Boards Association, which has said the law is unfair because it gives greater weight to "no" votes. But Roberts, a proponent, said it makes school officials more accountable.

"School board officials know there's going to be an even higher level of scrutiny than ever before," Roberts said.

Unaffected by the supermajority rule are questions seeking approval to sell bonds to finance school construction. This year, 15 districts have placed $136 million worth of borrowing before voters.

Nonfinance questions include Frenchtown and Plumsted asking whether to change the size of their school boards and Hardyston asking whether to recall a board member.

 

Editorial: Don't forget to vote

Sunday, April 13, 2008
Last updated: Sunday April 13, 2008, EDT 10:20 AM

NEW JERSEY voters are more energized than they have been in decades. The presidential primary in February drew 1.5 million voters to the polls statewide. That figure represented roughly 35 percent of registered voters — the highest percentage in more than 50 years.

Even after the primary, registration forms kept pouring in.

Now let's hope that enthusiasm rubs off. This Tuesday is the day that local school board members in New Jersey are elected and school budgets are passed or defeated.

Voter turnout on this day is traditionally — even shamefully — low. But maybe the excitement generated by the presidential primary will lead to an increase in voter turnout for school elections this year.

They may be more mundane than a historic presidential race. But school elections decide how our children are educated and how much that education costs.

This year, the pressure has been heavy on local districts to cut spending or at least stay within the state's mandated 4 percent budget cap.

Some of the issues facing districts that are trying to hold down spending include maintaining high standards and small class sizes, updating computer technology, addressing school security and deciding how best to meet the needs of special education students.

An ongoing debate in many districts centers on whether to continue sending some special education students out of the district at a high cost, expanding local programs to meet those students' needs or working with nearby districts to add new services.

Before you vote, take the time to find out who the candidates are and what they stand for, what's in the budget and whether there are any requests for approval of additional spending for construction or some other capital project. Be an informed voter.

On Tuesday, polls open at various times, depending on the district. They close at 9 p.m.

For the last two weeks, The Record has published a series of guides to school board elections in North Jersey districts.

That information is also available on The Record's Web site, northjersey.com, by clicking on education.

NEW JERSEY voters are more energized than they have been in decades. The presidential primary in February drew 1.5 million voters to the polls statewide. That figure represented roughly 35 percent of registered voters — the highest percentage in more than 50 years.

Even after the primary, registration forms kept pouring in.

Now let's hope that enthusiasm rubs off. This Tuesday is the day that local school board members in New Jersey are elected and school budgets are passed or defeated.

Voter turnout on this day is traditionally — even shamefully — low. But maybe the excitement generated by the presidential primary will lead to an increase in voter turnout for school elections this year.

They may be more mundane than a historic presidential race. But school elections decide how our children are educated and how much that education costs.

This year, the pressure has been heavy on local districts to cut spending or at least stay within the state's mandated 4 percent budget cap.

Some of the issues facing districts that are trying to hold down spending include maintaining high standards and small class sizes, updating computer technology, addressing school security and deciding how best to meet the needs of special education students.

An ongoing debate in many districts centers on whether to continue sending some special education students out of the district at a high cost, expanding local programs to meet those students' needs or working with nearby districts to add new services.

Before you vote, take the time to find out who the candidates are and what they stand for, what's in the budget and whether there are any requests for approval of additional spending for construction or some other capital project. Be an informed voter.

On Tuesday, polls open at various times, depending on the district. They close at 9 p.m.

For the last two weeks, The Record has published a series of guides to school board elections in North Jersey districts.

That information is also available on The Record's Web site, northjersey.com, by clicking on education

 

 

Governor's reforms tighten school budgets

Some districts see tax relief, others layoffs

Wednesday, April 09, 2008

BY JOHN MOONEY

Star-Ledger Staff

As school budgets go before voters April 15, the state's effort to reform school funding is clearly having an impact --from tax relief in some places to threats of teacher layoffs in others.

Gov. Jon Corzine and the Legislature recently boosted school aid overall by more than $600 million, limited spending and imposed a 4 percent cap on tax increases.

The goal, say state officials, is to more evenly distribute nearly $8 billion in aid based on amounts it deems "adequate" for every district, with extra weight given to low-income and immigrant stu dents.

Corzine said tax relief was key to his initiative.

"I would think you would at least see a slower rate of (tax) increases," Corzine said this weekend after a cordial meeting in South Brunswick with school board leaders. "I doubt you would see significant (tax) cuts, but it should reduce the pressures."

That appears to be happening in many towns, with scores of budgets falling below the 4 percent limit, school leaders say. In Somerset County, the average increase will only be about 2 percent, according to a Star-Ledger analysis. In Middlesex, the overall levy is rising just under 3 percent.

South Brunswick, for example, would see its smallest school tax increase in almost a decade, thanks to a $4 million bump in state aid. Hillsborough's school taxes would go up less than $100 for the typical taxpayer, and there are a few districts that actually may see their school taxes drop.

But the limits have come with a price. In Mount Olive and West Orange, towns that were supposed to be winners under the new school funding law, there is talk about deep cuts. West Orange may have to lay off two dozen teachers be cause of restrictions on how they can spend the additional money, officials said.

"It was supposed to be a good year for us, but with everything else, we're still limited from doing what we think our kids should be entitled to," Superintendent Jerry Tarnoff said.

At Corzine's meeting in South Brunswick with about 100 school board members from across the state, the mood was largely upbeat, with officials giving the governor a standing ovation.

A Burlington County official said he just voted for his first school budget in a decade with an actual tax cut. South Brunswick's superintendent, Gary McCartney, praised Corzine for his "courage" to provide more aid for education at a time when the state's financial cri sis was forcing cuts elsewhere.

"This is coming at a good time for everyone here, I would think," said South Brunswick board member Barry Nathanson.

Still, the good cheer is hardly universal. Some at the South Brunswick meeting openly questioned the administration's definition of "adequate" funding, saying it undercuts what many successful districts have done.

An independent analysis by the state's Office of Legislative Services found 60 percent of all districts exceed the state's models for "ade quacy," with about 80 percent of wealthy districts doing so.

Urban districts -- which under a Supreme Court mandate were the beneficiaries of hundreds of millions in additional state aid -- argue they have been among the hardest hit by the new funding plan.

Orange schools are among those proposing a 4 percent tax increase on residents and also the elimination of nearly two dozen positions, more than half of them teachers.

"It's a harbinger of things to come for Abbott districts," said Na than Parker, the Orange superintendent. "It's an unwinding of some significant programs that have brought some significant progress."

More than 60 districts statewide did seek waivers from the state to raise taxes above the new 4 percent cap. The state wound up approving about half the requests, but officials also took the unprecedented step of recommending changes and putting districts on notice that in years ahead they will order them.

Flemington, for example, was told to cut back on equipment purchases by $46,000.

"This was a district overspend ing in operations and maintenance, and we reduced it by that," said Joan Saylor, who oversees the state Department of Education's budget reviews. She said districts seeking waivers would find their entire budget "open for inspection."

A new state requirement mandating a 60 percent plurality on separate ballot questions for extras -- everything from security guards to classroom teachers -- also seems to have had an impact. Just 28 districts have gone to voters with them, down from more than 70 in each of the last few years.

Kevin Ciak, president of the state's school boards association, noted that no other public question in New Jersey requires such a "super-majority" vote.

"The requirement could stand in the way of communities' ability to raise their own funds for needed school programs," he said.

John Mooney may be reached at jmooney@starledger.com or (973) 392-1548.