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
5-20-08 A10 and A15 both passed by the Assembly yesterday
As reported last week,GSCS has concerns with both of these bills. A10 does not simply cut administrative spending by 10%, it sets a 3 year requirement that districts costs in this category be reduced to 10% under the states' own regional benchmark and then "flatlines" that number in subsequent years with no cost of living increases. A10 bill passed rather easily with at 66 for -13 against............... A15 has pro and a couple of cons - moving school board member elections to November will eventually result in politicizing boards of education across the state, a con; the pro being that budgets would not have to be voted on if they are at or under the state's designated 4% cap; 2nd questions, however, will require a November vote. The November timing of that vote is problematic since school budgets and programs must operate on a fiscal year. The vote on A15 was 45 for - 31 against, reflecting controversy on it within the Assembly..... Click on More to read related articles, including Senate Democrat's press release regarding Senator Shirley Turners companion bill to A15. This companion bill could be posted very soon for a hearing in the Senate Education Committee, which Senator Turner (senturner@njleg.org) chairs.

Assembly backs moving school votes to November

Bills also cap district administrative costs

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

BY DUNSTAN McNICHOL

Star-Ledger Staff

In a bid to boost the public's involvement in public schools, the Assembly yesterday passed a bill that would shift the sparsely attended April school board elections to November, when voters are accustomed to going to the polls.

Lawmakers also cleared a bill that would impose a 10 percent cut in administrative expenses in some school districts.

Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts (D-Camden), sponsor of both measures, said they are needed to restore public confidence in public school funding.

"The largest portion of any homeowner's property tax bill goes to support public education," said Roberts. "If we are to be successful in lowering New Jersey's property taxes, we need to confront ineffi ciencies that push tax levies higher."

Senate President Richard Codey (D-Essex), however, was noncommittal about the measures' prospects in his house.

"These are important issues," Codey said through a spokeswoman, Jennifer Sciortino. "We'll be giving these bills a thorough review."

The bill to move the April elections to November -- long discussed but never enacted -- drew concern from advocates and educators who last week told an Assembly committee it would politicize the nonpartisan races.

Roberts said the bill was dubbed A-15 in recognition of the 15-percent voter turnout that was the high water mark in April school elections.

"In order for elections to be meaningful they have to have participation and they have to have consequences," said Roberts, who called the current April election system "a charade."

Yesterday, critics keyed in on a portion of the bill that also scraps school budget elections entirely for communities where the proposed school budget fall within a state- mandated 4 percent cap on spend ing increases.

"The price of taking away the democratic right of people to vote on their school budgets is too high," said Assemblyman Richard Merkt (R-Morris). "It's fundamentally undemocratic."

Critics said the bill requiring many districts to cut administrative spending by 10 percent over the next three years would hurt small districts, which may have only one superintendent or one principal.

"You can't lay off part of a person," said Assemblyman John Roo ney (R-Bergen).

The bill to rein in administrative costs would repeal current regulations that let school boards increase administrative spending by at least 2.5 percent a year. Under the new rules, spending on administration would be capped at 90 percent of the current average for administrative costs in comparable schools.

The school election bill (A-15) won Assembly passage by a 45-31 vote, while the bill that would im pose a cut in administrative ex penses in some districts (A-10) was approved 63-13.

Dunstan McNichol may be reached at (609) 989-0341 or dmcni chol@starledger.com.

 

 

News From The Senate Democrats

TURNER STATEMENT ON ASSEMBLY PASSAGE OF

SCHOOL ELECTION CONSOLIDATION BILL


     TRENTON -- Senator Shirley K. Turner, D-Mercer and a longtime promoter and sponsor of legislation which would move school district elections to coincide with the November general election, made the following statement following the Assembly's passage of A15:

     "For years I've questioned the logic behind holding school elections in the middle of April. These elections have been historically marked by dismally low turnout and have placed an additional financial burden on our local communities.

     "We are finally moving towards a more sensible elections calendar where we consolidate April school elections with the November general election. By moving the elections we will make them more democratic and make local school boards more accountable to the voters. We will also save money in a time where we are asking our schools to do more with less, allowing districts to apply those funds to critical programs."

     Assembly bill 15 is the companion bill to her measure,
S1861, which moves school elections from April to the November general election and eliminates ballot approval of school budgets for those budgets that stay under the spending growth cap.


     The bill now awaits a hearing in the Senate Education Committee.

 


May 20, 2008

Assembly narrowly passes plan for November school board votes

By GREGORY J. VOLPE
GANNETT STATE BUREAU

Hoping to turn the days of meager turnout for school board elections into a history lesson, the full Assembly approved a measure to move those votes from April to the November general elections.

Pushed by Assembly Speaker Joseph J. Roberts Jr., D-Camden, proponents hope the move boosts interest in school elections, which have averaged less than 15 percent turnout in recent years.

"The system is broken and needs to be fixed," Roberts said. "In order for elections to be real and democratic and legitimate, they need to have voter participation."

The bill, which had bipartisan support and opposition, passed 45-31 with three abstentions.

Educational groups such as the New Jersey Education Association and New Jersey School Boards Association opposed the plan, saying it would inject partisan politics. Lawmakers focused more on the fact that moving the elections would also mean that people would no longer vote on their local school budgets, unless a district exceeds spending and taxing caps.

Assemblyman Richard Merkt, R-Morris, said the proposal would garner more support if it maintained the school budget vote. He also blamed low turnout on the fact that little is cut from rejected budgets and that the people's will is often overturned.

"Everybody knows that their results may be overturned by a bureaucrat," Merkt said. "... Of course you're not going to vote, why waste your time if somebody in Trenton can throw out everything you've done?"

Earlier, Roberts had agreed with that premise: "To a great extent, it is a charade. It's not a meaningful process." But he said his proposal would give voters more power because districts seeking to exceed caps would need voter approval. Rejected budgets couldn't be reinstated by local or state officials, as is sometimes done now.

"In a way that is long overdue, the voters are fully empowered," Roberts said.

The measure now needs approval in the Senate, where Education Committee chairwoman Sen. Shirley Turner, D-Mercer, sponsors an identical measure.

"We are finally moving towards a more sensible elections calendar where we consolidate April school elections with the November general election," Turner said in a statement touting the Assembly's vote.

Meanwhile, more elections could occur in November under a bill scheduled for a committee vote Thursday to allow nonpartisan towns to move their May elections to the November general election — another attempt to save money and increase turnout by holding fewer elections.

"It's discretionary. If a municipality chooses to move to November, they have the right to do so, and it could be done simply by adoption of an ordinance," said Assemblyman Patrick Diegnan Jr., D-Middlesex, a sponsor of the measure. "The way the procedure is now, you would have to change your form of government from nonpartisan to partisan."

The Assembly approved another school measure aimed at saving taxpayer money, which would require districts that spend inefficiently on administrative costs to slash those per-pupil administrative cost by 10 percent in three years.