NJ - Education Crisis

[pixiedust23]

Governor Chris Christie just cut state funding to many schools. In many instances he cut 100% of state funding to districts. I'm just wondering what parents in the state of NJ think about this. It is YOUR children's education that is going to be affected. Do you agree or disagree with his decision?

 

[jfranklyn]

I disagree with his choices. I just don't understand the "formula". My district lost 98.9% of it's funding, or something like that. Other districts lost closer to 50%, some 5%? It's a disgrace. Our district has been holding budget meetings with parents for a few weeks not to try and help people understand what was coming, and STILL the BOE is shocked today at the result of Christie's cuts.

I really don't know what will happen in our district. It's gonna get ugly.

I understand the need for cuts - our state is in crisis. But what's going to end up being the end of Christie is that the only people not being touched are those that make $400K or more per year. In a situation like this, EVERYONE has to feel the pain......

 

[Tosie]

I just heard today we lost 20.5% - but we are a tiny district so it's a lot of money for us. And I work in the school - I will be shocked if I have a job next year.

 

[Eeyore'sthebest]

We attend Catholic school so I'm sure our tuition will increase. As an accredited school I believe there is some sort of money that we receive. I know I fill out forms that tells them what district I'm from.

 

[LisaNJ25]

I just heard today we lost 20.5% - but we are a tiny district so it's a lot of money for us. And I work in the school - I will be shocked if I have a job next year.

Is their a list out on who is losing what?

nevermind I found it. We ate at 8% which is the lowest in my county.

 

[minniebeth]

I used to teach in NJ. My mom did too, she is retired now. But currently my sister-in-law and niece teach in NJ too. They work in a very small district and my niece will most likely lose her job. So in that way, I say it's bad.
BUT on the other hand, I have seen personally and through many others in the system that there is a RIDICULOUS amount of waste in many of the school systems in NJ. That should be controlled somehow, but cutting across the board across the whole state is not the solution. I don't know what it is, but there is such an imbalance of need and waste.

 

[mom2boys77]

Could you tell me where to find it?

Is their a list out on who is losing what?

nevermind I found it. We ate at 8% which is the lowest in my county.

 

[dairyou]

It's bad here in California too. At my school out of the 48 teachers we lost 20

They are cutting office people to 2 per office and eliminating the librarians and high school counselors.

 

[LisaNJ25]

Could you tell me where to find it?

This one is for Morris county. Not sure about the other ones:

http://www.dailyrecord.com/article/20100318/UPDATES01/303180007

 

[Eeyore'sthebest]

Try this link. There is a drop down box about half way down the page. You can plug in your county and town.
My town's public school is down 16.8%.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/03/nj_gov_chris_christie_budget_c.html

 

[Kathi OD]

One of the major problems facing NJ's public education system is the 100s of K-8 school districts that each have their own set of administrators, and then turn around and pay tuition to send their high school students to another school district. It's a total waste of money.

Our district and about 7 others, each having their own set of administrators, send our high school students to a regional high school district. They should get rid of the local districts and combine them with the regional high school district creating just one district. Right off the bat, in just superintendent salarires and benefits, there'd be a savings of over $1million to the taxpayers in those townships. Add in business administrators, and other duplicated positions, and the savings grow. Even if the bigger district had to add an administrator or 2, there would still be significant savings.

I really don't understand why the rest of the country seems to understand the fiscal prudence in this practice and NJ doesn't.

 

[nuttylawprofessor]

Is everyone looking at the right statistic? There is a stat for % of aid cut, but the line you really should look at is the % of overall budget cut. I'm finding almost all of those at 4-5%.

 

[pixiedust23]

Is everyone looking at the right statistic? There is a stat for % of aid cut, but the line you really should look at is the % of overall budget cut. I'm finding almost all of those at 4-5%.

The district I work in is 100%, as are many Bergen County schools. Schools with lower % cuts are generally Abbott/City Districts. As for condensing smaller districts into 1 large regional district, it is a great idea, but the way to go about that is not to completely cut state funding. Christie could have restructured districts instead. It truly is the students, who will suffer now, but I guess Christie doesn't care because his own children are in private schools.

 

[LisaNJ25]

Is everyone looking at the right statistic? There is a stat for % of aid cut, but the line you really should look at is the % of overall budget cut. I'm finding almost all of those at 4-5%.

that should cover the whole district I believe. Some towns are losing 100% of the money.

 

[Oreo Cookie]

The district I work in is 100%, as are many Bergen County schools. Schools with lower % cuts are generally Abbott/City Districts. As for condensing smaller districts into 1 large regional district, it is a great idea, but the way to go about that is not to completely cut state funding. Christie could have restructured districts instead. It truly is the students, who will suffer now, but I guess Christie doesn't care because his own children are in private schools.

I live in Bergen County and our state aid was cut 100%. This cut is 4.6% of our overall budget. It's going to be tough and the BOE will need to cut some programs. They cannot expect to raise our property taxes to make up the difference. I don't know what can be cut back, but I hope they find areas that don't affect the kids too much. We have a lot of administrative costs, I'm hoping they can get the 4.6% from there.

 

[Kathi OD]

The district I work in is 100%, as are many Bergen County schools. Schools with lower % cuts are generally Abbott/City Districts. As for condensing smaller districts into 1 large regional district, it is a great idea, but the way to go about that is not to completely cut state funding. Christie could have restructured districts instead. It truly is the students, who will suffer now, but I guess Christie doesn't care because his own children are in private schools.

They've talking about consolidation for years, but towns want to hang onto their little centers of power. I'd like to think that this will force school boards into making that decision, but I think it will take quite some time before that happens. Superintendents are not going to suggest consolidation when they know it means their job is the one that will be eliminated.

I agree that the governor and legislature should get together and mandate the smaller districts to merge.

 

[nuttylawprofessor]

The district I work in is 100%, as are many Bergen County schools. Schools with lower % cuts are generally Abbott/City Districts. As for condensing smaller districts into 1 large regional district, it is a great idea, but the way to go about that is not to completely cut state funding. Christie could have restructured districts instead. It truly is the students, who will suffer now, but I guess Christie doesn't care because his own children are in private schools.

Let me see if I can clarify. Yes, there are several Bergen districts losing 100% of their state aid. But that isn't the important number to look at. It's shocking. It sells papers, but it doesn't reflect the number you should look at. The number you should look at is the overall percentage loss to the district's whole budget. For example, Allendale is losing 100% of its state aid, but that is only 2.8% of the district's budget. Alpine is losing 100% of its state aid, but that is only 3.6% of the district budget. The largest percentage of overall budget loss I found was 5.4%, but my search was certainly not exhaustive.

 

[frndshpcptn]

My sister teaches in Passaic - looks like they lost $10 million in these cuts?? Wow.

 

[mjkacmom]

We got cut 30%, 4% of our budget. So glad the BOE thought it was a good idea to give our teachers 4% raises in this economy....

 

[pixiedust23]

Let me see if I can clarify. Yes, there are several Bergen districts losing 100% of their state aid. But that isn't the important number to look at. It's shocking. It sells papers, but it doesn't reflect the number you should look at. The number you should look at is the overall percentage loss to the district's whole budget. For example, Allendale is losing 100% of its state aid, but that is only 2.8% of the district's budget. Alpine is losing 100% of its state aid, but that is only 3.6% of the district budget. The largest percentage of overall budget loss I found was 5.4%, but my search was certainly not exhaustive.

5.4% sounds small, until you actually start looking at the numbers and what they mean. For instance, Ramsey lost 100%, it's only 4.6% of their budget, but it's $2.2 mil. When you start considering how many jobs a $2.2 mil budget deficit will cause, it is significant. Unfortunately, where as some large corporations were given bailouts to help heal large losses from the recession, states were given preventative money. NJ just used ours poorly.