Quality Public Education for All New Jersey Students

 

 
     3-30-13 Education in the News - Dept of Education-State Budget, Autism Rates in NJ
     3-20-12 Education Issues in the News
     GSCS State Budget FY 2012-2013 Testimony
     3-11-12 Education Issues in the News
     2-29-12 NJTV on NJ School Funding...and, Reporters' Roundtable back on the aire
     2-26-12 State budget, School Elections, and Federal Grant funds for local reform initiatives
     2-24-12 Headlines from around NJ - from Google (hit on nj education-nj budget)
     2-23-12 Education in the News - Education reform noted in state budget message; Facebook grant to Newark teachers
     2-23-12 State Aid Figures Released late today: GSCS Statement
     STATE AID DISTRICT LIST - PROPOSED for FY 2012-2013
     Education Funding Report on School Funding Reform Act (SFRA) issued 2-23-12
     Text of Gov. Christie's State Budget Message, given Feb. 21, 2012
     2-22-12 School Aid in State Budget Message - Is There a Devil in the Details
     2-21-12 State Budget Message for Fiscal Year 2012-2013
     FY'12 State School Aid District-by-District Listing, per Appropriations Act, released 110711
     GSCS Take on Governor's Budget Message for FY'12
     GSCS 3-7-11Testimony on State Budget as Proposed by the Governor for FY'12 before the Senate Budget Committee
     Gov's Budget Message for Fiscal Year 2011-2012 Today, 2pm
     GSCS FYI
     2-7-11Grassroots at Work in the Suburbs
     1-13-11 Supreme Court Appoints Special Master for remand Hearing
     1-20-11 GSCS Testimony before Senator Buono's Education Aid Impact hearing in Edison
     NOTE: FOR CURRENT INFO ON STATE BUDGET FY'11, GO TO LINK ON LEFT SIDEBAR '2010-2011 STATE BUDGET'
     GSCS FYI - GSCS will be testifying onTuesday in Bergen County on the State Budget
     3-17-10 Budget News - Gov. Chris Christie proposes sacrifices
     3-15-10mid-day: 'Gov. Christie plans to cut NJ school aid by $800M'
     3-14-10 'Christie will propose constitutional amendment to cap tax hikes in N.J. budget'
     3-15-10 'N.J. taxpayers owe pension fund $45.8 billion' The Record
     3-3-10 'Public Education in N.J.: Acting NJ Comm of Educ Bret Schundler says 'Opportunity'
     2-24-10 'Tight funds raise class sizes that districts long sought to cut'
     2-22-10 Christie and unions poised to do batttle over budget cuts'
     2-22-10 Trenton Active Today
     2-19-10 'Acting NJ education commissioner hoping other savings can ward off cuts'
     2-16-10 'Christie Adopts Corzine Cuts, Then Some'
     2-14-10 'FAQ's on NJ's state of fiscal emergency declaration by Gov. Christie'
     2-12-10 Assembly Budget hearing posted for this Wednesday, Feb. 17
     2-12-10 News Coverage: Governor Christie's message on actions to address current fiscal year state budget deficits
     FY2010 Budget Solutions - PRESS PACKET
     School Aid Withheld Spreadsheet
     State Aid 2010 Reserve Calculation and Appeal Procedures
     State Aid Memo (2-11-10) 2 pgs
     2-11-10 Gov Christie address to Joint Session of the Legislature on state budget and current year aid reduction remains scheduled for today
     2-10-10 'Schools are likely targets for NJ budget cuts'
     2-9-10 News article posted this morning notes potential for large loss of current year school aid
     2-8-10 'School leaders around N.J. wait and worry over state aid figures'
     1-28-10 School Surplus plan to supplant State Aid in this year gaining probability
     1-21-10'N.J.'s Christie won't rule out layoffs, furloughs to close unexpected $1.2B deficit'
     2005 Archive
     1-18-10 Advance news on 'Christie as new Governor'
     GSCS to speak at Tri-District 'Open' meeting in Monmouth on January 27
     12-15-09 GSCS is working with the Christie Transition Team
     11-29-09 Ramifications - News of NJ's fiscal realities
     Codey bill allows Budget Message to be delayed until March 16, 2010
     6-26-09 Executive Director to GSCS Trustees; Wrap Up Report - State Budget and Assembly bills this week
     6-26-09 NJ State Budget Passed late Thursday night
     6-19-09 a.m. GSCS 'Quick' FYI - State Budget Vote delayed to Thursday, June 25
     6-18-09 Deocrats say they have the votes to pass the State Budget today
     6-16-09 News from Trenton on State Budget in Senate and Assembly Budget Committees yesterday
     APPROPRIATIONS ACT FY2009-1020 as introduced
     A4100-S2010 Appropriations Act 'Scoresheet' and Language Changes released
     5-14-09 GSCS Heads Up - State Aid payments to be delayed into next Fiscal Year
     5-19-09 Treasurer David Rousseau announces additional round of cuts to Gov's proposed State Budget FY2009-2010
     4-5-09 The Record, Sunday April 5, Front Page Opinion
     Latest Title 1 'preliminary' funding under the ARRA 3-09
     Latest website filing by the USDOE on Title 1 funding
     3-13-09 Information to Districts re: Federal Stimulus- Additional Title 1 and IDEA funding information still not ready for distribution
     3-11-09 CORZINE BUDGET ADDRESS: STATE FUNDING FOR SCHOOLS A LITTLE MORE NOT LESS - FEDERAL TITLE 1 & IDEA INCREASES YET TO BE COUNTED - STATE SCHOOL AID FIGURES ON DEPT OF ED WEBSITE 1:30 TODAY - RELATED ARTICLES, MORE...
     3-10-09 GOVERNOR TO DELIVER STATE BUDGET MESSAGE TODAY - SCHOOL AID FIGURES TO BE RELEASED BY THURSDAY LATEST
     2-24-09 State Budget & Stimulus News of Note
     2-23-09 S-15 (Buono) Pension Deferral bill up for a vote in the Sentate today
     2-19-09 Federal stimulus - information re: Education funding in 'State Fiscal Stabilization' part of the package
     2-18-09 Corzine announces more cuts, more deficit
     NJ District listing, Title One & IDEA under federal stimulus law
     2-3-09 Corzine to unveil new cuts when he offers 2010 budget
     1-23-09 Schools get an eduction in thrift
     1-17-09 GSCS EMAILNET & SCHOOL FUNDING OVERVIEW
     1-16-09 Today's news notes state budget waiting on Obama stimulus package
     1-15-09 HEADS UP - Budget Message date to be delayed now to March 12
     1-14-09 Meeting with Mayors, Corzine warns of cuts
     1-9-09 State Senator requests education committee hearing on potential school funding cuts
     12-28-08 NY Times 'Pension Fight Signals What Lies Ahead'
     11-25-08 Perspective piece criticizes recent Supreme Court Abbott decision
     6-24-08 State Budget passed yesterday, as did the School Construction, Pension Reform, and Affordable Housing bills
     6-23-08 A2873-S1457 School Construction bills up for vote today, along with State Budget FY09
     6-20-08 State Budget stalls, school construction is one obstacle
     A2800 - Proposed State Budget bill released 6-17-08
     6-17-08 Legislature and Governor agree on State Budget FY09
     GOVERNOR'S PROPOSED BUDGET Fiscal Year 2009...INFO
     Office of Leg Services Analysis of Gov's Education budget FY09
     GSCS & NJ Spec. Educ.Funding Coalition on STATE FUNDING FOR EXTRAORDINARY COST FY09 issues & beyond
     6-9-08 GSCS Quick Facts: TRENTON FOCUS THIS WEEK
     3-19-08 GSCS Testimony on State Budget for Fiscal Year 2008-2009
     2-26-08 Governor Corzine's Budget Message for Fiscal Year 2008-2009
     6-29-07 Lots of news affecting NJ, its schools and communities this week - STATE BUDGET signed - LIST OF LINE ITEM VETOES - US SUPREME CT RULING impacts school desgregation - SPECIAL EDUCATION GROUPS file suit against state
     6-14-07 Revisions to State Budget filed today
     4-4-07 N Y Times, front page 'NJ Pension Fund Endangered by Diverted Billions'
     3-15-07 State eases at risk aid restrictions & 25% members of NJ Senate retiring (so far)
     3-13-07 GSCS Testimony on State Budget FY'08
     GRASSROOTS SPEAK UP re State Aid for FY07-08 & Recent Legislation that can negatively impact school communities
     Hearings Schedule for State Budget FY07-08
     3-1-07 Emerging Devil showing up in the details
     2-27-07 GSCS welcomes that state aid increases for regular operating districts helps lower & some middle income districts - will persevere to see that the state extends its share of support to education more fully to all districts
     2-23-07 News Articles re Gov's Budget Proposal
     2-22-07 GSCS EMAILNET re Gov's Budget Message
     2-22-07 Gov's Budget Message Link & Related News Articles
     2-22-07 GSCS Press Release: Governor Corzine's Budget Message today
     2-22-07 Governor Corzine's Budget Message today
     2-16 to 2-19 New Articles of Note
     2-14-07 GSCS letter to Gov Corzine & Commr of Education Davy - Request for State Aid FY0708
     NJ Assembly Session FY06 Budget Debate Majority Leader Joe Roberts standing
     7-12-06 Column on State Budget legislator items
     7-11-06 Appropriations Act bill
     7-9&10-06 State Budget news articles -wrap up & news analyses
     7-9-06 Sunday New York Times
     7-8-06 FY07 Budget approved - 19.5 in spec ed grants stays in
     7-7-06 Afternoon Friday - budget document awaiting
     7-7-06 EMAILNET - AGREEMENT ON STATE BUDGET REACHED, impt 'details' still being finalized
     7-7-06 AGREEMENT ON STAE BUDGET REACHED, impt 'details' still being finalized
     7-3-06 Roberts, Codey & Corzine still not on same page
     6-30-06 State Budget news - as the dissonance must be resolved
     6-29-06 GSCS 'QUICKNET FYI' Update on State Budget for FY 2007
     6-29-06 Mirroring the elements, State Budget looking like a 'natural disaster'
     6-25-06 State Budget issues:legislative branches conflict - news articles
     6-14-06 Assembly Minority Budget Leader Joe Malone's Op Ed
     Editorial on benefit of using UEZ surplus for spec educ aid for this year
     6-12-06 EMAILNET - Extraordinary Special Education student aid; FY07 Budget 'crunch' is on; news clips
     Weekend News Clips re Property Tax & School Funding issues
     GSCS 15th Annual Breakfast Meeting Program Info Update
     5-16-06 EMAILNET Action in Trenton
     5-10-06 EMAILNET
     5-10-06 A Lot is going on - Major News fromTrenton
     5-9-06 Supreme Ct freezes aid & Asm Budget Comm grills DOE Commissioner
     News articles
     TRENTON RALLY PROPOSED (late morning) Thurs JUNE 8
     3-28-06 GSCS testimony before Assembly Budget Comm today
     Legislative Calendar during State Budget FY07 process
     4-17-06 EMAILNET
     4-16-06 Star Ledger editorial & article re Gov v. Abbott from 4-15-06
     40-16-06 Gannett & Asbury Park Press on School Budget election issues
     4-16-06 Sunday NY Times Metro Section, front page
     Governor Corzine takes steps towards major policy initiatives.
     3-28 & 4-3-06 GSCS FY07 testimony before Senate & Assembly Budget Comm
     Grassroots at work - Ridgewood Board member testimony of FY07
     4-8-06 Corzine Administration files brief with Supreme Court re Abbott funding
     4-7-06 The Record
     3-31-06 AP 'Budget idea puts onus on income taxes, businesses'
     3-29-06 EMAILNET State Budget FY07 Hearings Update
     3-24-06 EMAILNET FYI Update on Gov Corzine's Budget FY07
     3-24-06 Schools learn who wins, loses in Corzine budget
     3-23-06 Corzine says some Abbotts can raise taxes
     3-22-06 News Article sampling on Governor's Proposed FY07 Budget
     3-22-06 EMAILNET Governor Corzine's Budget Message
     Governor's 3-21-06 Budget message & hard copy links
     3-15-06 News articles on FY07
     3-10-06 Star Ledger 'Time is ripe for poorer districts to contribute.
     EMAILNET 3-9-06 to South Jersey districts
     3-7-06 More articles on the Gov's Budget Summit and School Board members fo to Trenton
     3-7-06 Articles on Gov's Budget Summit and School Board members off to Trenton
     3-4-06 Star Ledger Interest groups to address budget
     3- 4-06 Trenton Times Likey state aid cuts frustrating districts
     3-3-06 EMAILNET Budget Discussions begin in earnest
     7-14-05 EMAILNET Record article & today's editorial re politics & inequity in school aid and S1701: Update
     Check it out - The Press of Atlantic City 7-6-05 Education Funds lie in Budget Fine Print
     3-1-06 EMAILNET State Budget FY07, Health Benefits
     2-24-06 Trenton Times - Higher schools taxes needed
     School Budget Guidelines released 2-21-07
     2-11-06 Trenton Timesn'NJ State Budget has little wiggle room'
     2-1-06 EMAILNET GSCS Advocacy FY07 Budget; On the Homepage Today
     FUNDING HISTORY - May 27 1998 - Education Week article re Abbott V - funding above parity
     2003 GSCS letter to legislators
     Star Ledger 6-29-05 Bid to Save Tax Rebates Imperils NJ Budget
     Rebate Debate on Budget for FY06
     Public Information available at New Jersey website
     S2558 Bill to provide $19.9M in Abbott aid to additional districts
     GSCS Advocacy for State Budget FY06
     GSCS Testimony: State Budget Fiscal Year 2006
4-16-06 Sunday NY Times Metro Section, front page
(The New York Times explores impact of S1701 on school budgets. A clear credibility gap is ever-widening between legislative 'take' and local reality. Parent & community family groups, such as the newly formed COFFEE [see "Links" on the sidebar] are rising up from the grassroots in response to Trenton's disconnect.) April 16, 2006 In New Jersey, Spending Cap Pinches Schools By DAVID W. CHEN

"As residents of New Jersey prepare to vote on their school budgets on Tuesday, educators and parents say that they are struggling with a major crisis forcing districts to cut programs, shed staff and charge fees for things that were once free. The chief culprit, they say, is not a public opposed to public education, or an onerous federal mandate, but a recent state law ..."

April 16, 2006

In New Jersey, Spending Cap Pinches Schools

By DAVID W. CHEN

As residents of New Jersey prepare to vote on their school budgets on Tuesday, educators and parents say that they are struggling with a major crisis forcing districts to cut programs, shed staff and charge fees for things that were once free.

The chief culprit, they say, is not a public opposed to public education, or an onerous federal mandate, but a recent state law that limits the annual growth in spending by school districts to 2.5 percent or the increase in inflation, whichever is more.

The law also requires that budget surpluses exceeding 2 percent be returned to taxpayers.

In Glen Ridge, officials say the law has meant that parents of children in pre-kindergarten programs in public schools must now pay tuition of $1,000 a year, while parents of high school students are required to pay a $200 fee before their children can play sports or join after-school clubs.

In Marlboro, it has meant that parents had to swaddle their children in extra clothing during the winter because the schools lowered the heat to save tens of thousands of dollars, school officials and parents say.

And in the Hopewell Valley district, four bus routes were eliminated and seven teachers, six teacher aides and two vice principals sliced from the payroll, all so the district could stay within the spending cap.

The law, known as S-1701, was passed in 2004 with broad bipartisan support and signed by the governor at the time, James E. McGreevey.

Supporters say the law has imposed vigorous fiscal discipline, while easing property taxes.

They also say that by embracing such an approach, however unpopular, lawmakers have sent a powerful message at a time when the state is grappling with a $4 billion budget shortfall, and surging pension, insurance and debt-service costs.

"I think people are crying wolf," said State Senator Wayne R. Bryant, a Democrat from Camden County who is chairman of the Senate budget committee and a sponsor of the original bill.

"They want total freedom to do their budgets without the transparency," he continued. "But they just can't hoard money that is taxpayers' money."

But critics, including many parent organizations, say the law has shackled districts by preventing them from having enough money or administrative freedom to absorb unexpected costs, such as emergency repairs or exorbitant fuel and insurance bills. It has also stripped districts of some of their decision-making authority.

The fiscal problems have been compounded, school officials say, because state aid to all schools has remained flat for the last five years.

"You can call any district, and everybody is going to have something affected by this," said Alan C. Reiffe, business administrator for the Wyckoff School District, which, in part because of the restrictions imposed by 1701, was forced to borrow $200,000 to pay for bathrooms in new school trailers. "It's just impossible. Your hands are tied when you're trying to do the operations of a district."

The outcry has prompted some legislators to introduce bills to loosen or even repeal the law.

State Senator Leonard Lance, a Republican from Hunterdon County who is the minority leader, said he favored expanding the maximum surplus to perhaps 4 percent.

The issue has also attracted the attention of Gov. Jon S. Corzine. At a town hall meeting on the budget last month at Montclair State University, he said he would not seek to repeal the law. But he said it had "striking problems" and suggested that amendments might be needed to allow for increases in costs of energy and pensions.

"The answer is not that I wouldn't like to," Mr. Corzine said of scrapping the law, "but I believe that it would be very difficult to say that we're going to make all these other difficult choices and then not ask for discipline where there are large amounts of state aid."

New Jersey schools receive, on average, about 40 percent of their annual funds from the state, and 60 percent from local property taxes, while the national average is about 50-50. But those figures do not give the whole picture, because state aid generally amounts to less than 10 percent of the budgets in the wealthiest districts, while the poorest ones, called Abbott districts after a long-running lawsuit, rely almost exclusively on state aid.

In 2004, legislators tried to curtail the growth in education spending and came up with S-1701, as part of a broader package that increased taxes on incomes of more than $500,000 and called for a constitutional convention on property taxes.

"It's the only salvation the taxpayers have in the current out-of-control spending," said Jerry Cantrell, president of the Silver Brigade, a statewide grassroots group that seeks to reduce property taxes. "The schools always hide behind the 'it's for the kids' mantra and it's hard for the average citizen to mount a salable argument against it."

But Moody's Investors Service released a report in August 2004 warning that New Jersey's 2 percent surplus cap would be "among the lowest school district reserves in the country" and that such a limit could "bring negative credit pressure."

In May 2005, the New Jersey School Boards Association, which supports a repeal, surveyed its members, and found that many reported that S-1701 had had a negative impact.

The bond rating for Paramus slipped, according to the group. Galloway Township cut its clubs and activities by 50 percent. Parents in Hopewell Valley and Wyckoff were asked to pay for part of their children's field trips. And, in an indication of the loss of local authority, Rumson asked Trenton for permission to use its surplus to hire a new fifth-grade teacher but was denied.

State Senator Ellen Karcher, a Democrat from Monmouth County, said she felt the ramifications in two ways: as a legislator who introduced a bill to increase the maximum surplus to 3 percent, and as a parent of twin daughters in the Marlboro school system. A few months ago, she said, she found a note in one of her daughter's backpacks explaining that the school district would turn off or lower the heat to save money.

This year, several districts, including Cherry Hill, Northvale and Franklin Borough, had no choice but to raise taxes by amounts higher than anticipated, according to the New Jersey School Boards Association. The districts have less money to work with, after returning surpluses the previous year, but higher costs because of energy, insurance and other bills, the group said.

"What's frustrating about it to me is that supposedly it's to provide good government, but it seems like more of a political fix to artificially reduce tax rates by reducing surplus," said Andrea L. Kahn, a bond attorney and partner at McManimon & Scotland in Newark, who has worked on numerous municipal bond issues. "But by reducing surplus and taxes in a given year, and causing taxes to bounce back the following year, you're really hurting the ability of a local government to plan for tax stabilization."

Around the country, state and local governments often mandate spending caps for local school districts, but there have been more attempts of late to loosen existing caps, rather than create new ones, said Jason Wisecup, an education finance researcher for the National Conference of State Legislatures.

California, of course, drastically reduced property taxes and slashed services under Proposition 13, to the detriment of the education system. Colorado mandated spending limits in 1992, then abandoned those caps in a referendum last year, because Gov. Bill Owens, a Republican, successfully argued that the spending limits meant that the state could not "keep pace with the demands of the budget." And this year, Texas, with no income tax and strict limits on property taxes, faces a court-threatened shutdown of its public schools for ignoring constitutional limits on local property taxes.

But it seems unlikely that S-1701 will be repealed any time soon. None of the top Democrats in the legislature — including Mr. Bryant, former Gov. Richard J. Codey and Assembly Speaker Joseph J. Roberts Jr. — have indicated much interest in doing so.

And in an interview after a recent budget hearing in Trenton, Assemblyman Louis D. Greenwald of Camden County, chairman of the Assembly budget committee, also sounded skeptical. He noted that a recent investigation by the State Commission of Investigation found that many school boards had provided top administrators with cars, computers, cellphones, improper pension increases and donations to tax-deferred annuities.

So S-1701, in his mind, is the right tool for school boards.

"I'm not saying that it's not a larger challenge for them," Mr. Greenwald said, "but it's a challenge that many of them need