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NJ Assembly passes amendment to help "fix" S1701 and now it is the Senate and Governor's turn to act.
The following written by GSCS Parent Network Regional Representative Kim Newsome was published in Monmouth County newspaper “Two River Times” as op-ed piece, July 2005.
Assembly passes Amendment to help “Fix” S1701, Now it is the Senate and Governor’s Turn to Act
As many parents of public school students in New Jersey are now aware, we are facing a crisis in the near future. S1701 is a bill that was passed last year, which restricts our school so severely that many of our programs have been put in jeopardy. Any non state-mandated programs such as art, music, after school sports, librarians, full day kindergarten are vulnerable to cuts in order to finance the core curriculum if changes are not made to this bill.
The only way to reduce the damage of this bill is to amend it. The chances of repeal are slim to none. On that note, there is some news that on first blush, appears to be very positive.
There is an amendment bill (A3680), which was passed unanimously by the Assembly on July 1, during the State Budget debate. In order for this to be signed into law, it needs to be approved by the Senate, in the identical words it was passed by the Assembly. Please remember that the Assembly is up for re-election in November, giving them the impetus to act responsibly, however, the Senate is not up for a vote for two more years. In order to get the Senate to vote on this, it is going to require pressure from you and from me, and from the Assembly. It is very important that we put pressure on the Senate to vote on this BEFORE the Assembly and gubernatorial election, which will occur in November.
A3680 does the following:
1. It restores the allowable surplus back to 3%. This is a 1% increase over the 2% which is currently allowed for Fiscal Year 2006. 2. It sets a new cap waiver for utility costs, which are increasing at a much faster rate than S1701’s yearly increase limit of 2.5% or the CPI, whichever is greater. 3. It makes permanent the currently existing (but temporary) cap waivers for insurances (including health benefits, a major cost driver in school budgets now) and security costs. (This is very important, for example, my school’s budget has been capped to increase only 3.01% this year, however health insurance costs last year rose 17%.) 4. Instead of the immediate removal of cap waiver that had been allowed for the costs of hazardous/courtesy busing, it allows for a 4 year “phase down” of that waiver. The phase down helps to stabilize school budgets that had previously been permitted by law to exempt 100% of those costs. Hazardous route bus transportation is community-approved busing provided for students who live within 2 miles of school, or 2.5 miles for high school students. 5. A3680 allows flexibility for the Education Commissioner to grant waiver approval for districts to exceed S1701 administrative growth limitation if needed. 6. It also allows certain line item transfers that are currently restricted under S1701.
This bill actually makes some sense because it would help lessen the burden our districts are facing to make ends meet. It begins to address some of the negative impacts of S1701. But just passing in one house – the Assembly – does not make A3680 law yet. To do that, both houses must pass the exact same version of the bill, and then the Governor must sign it. The ball is in the Senate’s court, and our senators need to pass the amendment legislation too. If not, nothing will happen to help our schools deal with S1701’s negatives.
We need to do the following:
1. Put pressure on our State Senators statewide to vote on this before the Assembly vote in November. Call the Senator from your district and ask if they will try and get a vote scheduled to pass S2329 before November. Again, both bills’ wording needs to be identical for it to pass. 2. Then contact your Assemblyperson and get them to push the Senate to have a session to pass the bill. 3. Then, we need to pressure Governor Codey to write it into law before a new Governor is elected in November.
If the Senate is pressured to have a session with the knowledge that their votes will be published and distributed, we might see some results similar to what we have seen in the Assembly. Our elected representatives in Trenton need to know we hold them accountable. We need to know they are working hard to protect our interests and the interests of our children.
Please contact the State Senator from your district and ask them if they would vote to pass S2329 in this current legislative session. Then, ask your Assembly representatives to pressure the Senate as well. Let them know that public school education is very important to you and your family, and you want a voting session scheduled before November to pass this amendment so that the Governor can sign it into law.
Your children are counting on you!
