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Star Ledger – front page
Voters reject nearly half of school budgets
Officials put much blame on state for lowest approval rate since'94
Thursday, April 20, 2006
BY JOHN MOONEY
Star-Ledger Staff
The freeze in state aid to schools. Scandals in school construction and administration. Double-digit property tax increases.
Far from local school budgets, even Gov. Jon Corzine's proposed sales tax hike took some of the blame yesterday.
Whatever the reason, school election voters on Tuesday sent a stinging message of taxpayer discontent, if not hostility, in rejecting almost half of the Garden State's local school budgets, the lowest rate in a decade.
The 53.4 percent approval rate was among only five in the last 30 years that fell below the 60 percent mark, but that was hardly much consolation for voters like Robert Kluska.
"There's no real solution for the taxpayers," said Kluska, 72, a retired accountant who voted against Roxbury's $63.2 million budget on Tuesday. "Just sit back and pay."
In terms of turnout, Kluska was in the minority, as just 15.7 percent of registered voters cast ballots statewide, a slight increase from the year before. And even the rejections are no guarantees of much, if any, tax relief, as city, town and borough councils now decide on any actual cuts.
Some prominent legislators this week proposed revamping the vot ing system to make the school elections more enticing, including a move from the April polling date to help boost turnouts.
In the meantime, the sentiment appeared clear from
In Middlesex, only a third of budgets passed.
In addition to the base budget votes, only 28 of 78 separate ballot questions for additional programs were approved, with lower class sizes and courtesy busing likely to take the toughest hits, officials said.
School officials placed much of the blame on the state, be it Cor zine, the Legislature or both. State funding has been virtually frozen for the last five years, leading di rectly to the higher property taxes and depressed budget approvals, they said.
Officials added that the state's overall fiscal crisis, with its threats of tax increases and service cuts, has put voters further on edge. And they have only one annual outlet to vent.
"Gov. Corzine's budget has made everyone mad and increased the fears, and we're the ones they vote on," said Edwina Lee, executive director of the state school boards association. "We've become the whipping boy for the whole situation."
Others said the Legislature, in affirming the aid freezes and also imposing strict caps on school spending, has exacerbated the problems.
"The legislative leadership has been dissing schools year in and year out," said Lynne Strickland, a lobbyist for mostly suburban districts. "They are making choices, and it's hurting kids."
Corzine did not speak directly to the election results yesterday, but did renew his pledge to reform the property tax system and take on rising school costs.
"We're going to need a new school funding formula because I think we have a broken system today where we're more focused on districts than we are on kids," Cor zine said in a radio interview on New Jersey 101.5 FM.
Schools haven't been helped by a series of recent criticisms, either, including a scathing investigative report last month on exorbitant administrator pay and perks.
The ongoing scandal over excessive costs in the state's $8.6 billion school construction program also has cast a bad light on schools, although that appears more rooted in Trenton bureaucracy than the districts.
Nevertheless, Corzine spokesman Anthony Coley yesterday showed little sympathy for school districts when asked directly about Tuesday's outcome.
"Gov. Corzine has been in office three months now, and it seems like every rock he turns over, excessive spending and fiscal mismanagement is staring him in the face," he said. "The people of
Reflecting the political tension in
"This is a sign of the tax backlash out there," said Tom Wilson, chairman of the Republican State Committee. "These are not against education or against teachers, but voters were using this election to send a message to
Some Democratic lawmakers said the votes validate their efforts to stem school spending, including the controversial budget cap law that is starting to take hold on schools.
"The law is working, the voters are demanding the same degree of restraint, and the governor has been steadily imposing standards of efficiency and accountability for public spending at all levels," said state Assemblyman Joseph Cryan (D-Union), chairman of the Democratic State Committee.
Several other leading Democrats yesterday also renewed efforts to move the April election date, saying it hinders voter turnout. School organizations have op posed such a shift, saying a move to the June primary date or November general election would in fuse partisan politics into the school elections.
But state Sen. Shirley Turner (D-Mercer) said a change was needed "so as to never repeat the dismal turnouts we just witnessed statewide."
As chairman of the Senate Education Committee, Turner said she would soon convene hearings on various proposals and pointed out potential fiscal savings as well. "Millions of dollars could be saved annually by eliminating an election cycle that was barely noticed for too many years," she said.
Staff writer Maura McDermott and wire services contributed to this story. John Mooney covers education. He may be reached at jmooney@star ledger.com or (973) 392-1548.
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Press of |
Worst election in years for N.J. school budgets
By DIANE D'AMICO Education Writer, (609) 272-7241
(Published: April 20, 2006)
For four years voters tolerated flat state aid for schools and rising property taxes. But this year, more voters expressed their displeasure at the polls.
Almost half of the 549 school budgets voted on statewide Tuesday were defeated. Just 53.4 percent passed, compared with 70.7 percent last year. It was the lowest passing rate since 1994, according to the New Jersey School Boards Association.
In addition, only 28 of 78 separate funding questions passed.
Voter turnout was tepid, with 15.7 percent of voters casting ballots, a slight increase from 13.2 percent last year. Almost 390,000 voters said no to their local school budgets, with almost 372,000 voting yes, according to state Department of Education preliminary totals. Not all absentee ballots had been tallied.
The results were not a surprise to education advocates, who have been watching the cumulative effects of flat state aid, soaring utility and insurance costs, and the impact of a new state law, S-1701, that limited how much districts could increase their budgets and save in surplus.
“I think it is a warning to state officials to do something about property tax reform and school funding,” said Frank Belluscio, spokesman for the New Jersey School Boards Association. “This is the only budget people can vote on, so it bears the brunt of all voter dissatisfaction.”
“This was predictable,” said Lynne Strickland, executive director of the Garden State Coalition of Schools, which represents hundreds of suburban school districts. “Five years of flat state aid is too long, and you can't separate the property tax issue from school funding.”
With their surpluses now depleted to 2 percent of their operating budgets, and no additional state aid, the only choices for districts were to cut staff and programs, or increase taxes. Most did both.
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“It takes a huge effort,” said Groff, who made presentations to parents and senior citizens. “The staff and the parents in the Family and School Association all work hard to support the budget.”
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Budgets in
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Republicans wasted no time in blaming the budget defeats on Democratic policies and Gov. Jon S. Corzine's proposed budget.
Corzine spokesman Anthony Coley said the governor has already taken steps to better monitor school spending by asking for a freeze on additional aid to urban districts, audits of several Abbott districts, and by signing into law on Monday a bill that would assign a state monitor to any district in financial trouble.
“We are just as frustrated,” he said.
Strickland said all state legislators have ducked their responsibility to reform education funding, and instead try to pass the blame to schools by claiming excess spending.
“The attitude of the policymakers about schools always seems to get negative in March,” she said. “It's past time in
Acting Education Commissioner Lucille Davy said the state has entered a period of funding reform and officials are working hard to come up with creative solutions.
At the local level, the defeated budgets will be turned over to the municipal governing bodies, which may recommend additional cuts. Davy urged officials to work collaboratively to preserve educational quality.
To e-mail Diane D'Amico at The Press:
Star Ledger – Middlesex
School budget defeats tied to state woes
Officials say voters may be reacting to the overall financial climate
Thursday, April 20, 2006
BY CHANDRA M. HAYSLETT
Star-Ledger Staff
"My feeling is that the budget climate in the state -- the $4.5 billion deficit and increase in sales taxes -- created a negative and unfavorable climate for our school budgets," said
Voters in
Several superintendents in
"It's just unfortunate that the only way that voters can express these frustrations is when voting on the school budget," said East Brunswick Superintendent Jo Ann Magistro.
The average proposed school tax bill in the county had an increase of $265 a year, or 6.7 percent. Last year, the average increase was $170.
School boards in six districts asked voters to approve tax levies with at least a 10 percent increase, with the highest in Helmetta, which had proposed a 21 percent tax increase, equating to $588 for the owner of a home assessed at the borough average of $70,000. The budget was defeated in Hel metta 190 to 23.
Jamesburg is the only district in the county where taxes will de crease. Voters will save $49 a year after approving the budget 171 to 63.
Voters in Spotswood are the only ones who have voted down their budget for each of the last five years. Residents in Carteret, Dunellen, Helmetta and Milltown have rejected their spending plans for the last three years.
"This is something that's been occurring since 2002, when state aid has held flat. It's exacerbated property taxes," said Lynne Strickland, director of the Garden State Coalition of Public Schools, a group of more than 100 suburban districts. "Local property taxpayers are feeling stressed regardless of the wealth of their community."
When costs associated with health benefits and utilities increase, it's an automatic increase to property taxes, Strickland said. To address the problem, legislators need to increase state aid and put limits on utility and insurance costs.
"They are the regulators," she said.
"We made lists of what the budget preserves and protects and shared those lists with parents," McCartney said.
In
"We made the decision to reduce and cut several programs and the public saw that," he said.
Dunellen's school officials had several campaigns to encourage people to vote, but while voter turnout increased, people still rejected the spending plan.
"We started early and made an initiative. We sent e-mails and had signs throughout the town," said Superintendent Joyce Baynes. "We know how to get them out, but the question is how to get them to vote yes."
Baynes is leaving the district in June and suggested that her suc cessor, Pio Pennisi, now the high school principal, invite focus groups to find out why people voted down the budget.
Superintendents across the county said they have already started preparing the paperwork for their municipal governing bodies, which will have to make cuts in the school budgets. The tax levy has to be certified by May 19.
"I'm optimistic that the school districts and councils will meet together and try to look at reasonable adjustments that won't affect programs and services," said Pie gari, the county superintendent. "Reasonable minds will make reasonable decisions."
Chandra M. Hayslett covers
