So the boys (and a few girls) will be back in town, Trenton, that is, for a Special Legislative session to address property tax reform.
Does anyone believe anything will really be reformed? If so, will the reforms be better than what we've got. This blogger fears that more damage than good may be done, if anything is done.
Govenor Corzine is advocating consolidation of municipalities and school boards. This is a notion that has been advocated by Democrats and Republicans for years, from former Assembly Speaker Alan Karcher, author of New Jersey's Multiple Municipal Madness, to more recently Senator Joe Kryillos. I like the idea. 566 towns and 615 school boards sure seems like madness. If we were starting New Jersey today, would be organize it this way? Probably not.
The problem with the Governor's proposal is that he wants to borrow $7 billion against the anticipated revenues from the new sales tax increase in order to give the municipalities incentives to consolidate. I never worked for Goldman Sachs, but I can imagine the banker and lawyers celebrating at Harry's over how big their bonuses will be if Jon boy gets that one through.
Didn't Corzine just shut down the government in order to get this sales tax increase that we needed to balance the budget without gimmicks? This sure sounds like a gimmick to me.
Do we have to pay our municipal politicians $7 billion to give up their fiefdoms? Maybe that won't be enough if they each get the deal that Sharp James got.
Consolidation will really be its own reward, to the taxpayers. That $7 billion will have to be paid back with future tax increases.
The Asbury Park Press reports that along with consolidation that the Governor wants a school funding formula that based on children's needs, not districts needs. Again, an admirable goal, but the devil is in the details. Will the Governor have the courage and clout to stand up to the NJEA the way he did to Speaker Joe Roberts? If so, here's a formula that make sense: Give the parents or guardians every child a voucher for $10,000 payable at the school of their choice, and let the schools compete for the best students and teachers. Instead of selling or leasing the NJ Turnpike, sell the schools and then license the schools so that only those that meet appropriate standards and qualifications are eligible for vouchers. Within 10 years the "cost" of educating children will decline to $8000 per pupil and the schools will be making of profit of $2,000 per pupil. Goldmam Sachs and the like can make their commissions and fees on taking the schools public rather than floating bonds. This would work great for the kids, but it will never happen in a culture that rewards and protects mediocrity.
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Consolidation of municipalities can produce savings, but it doesn't mean it will produce savings. It's all about setting priorities and also having the right people in the driver's seat. Consolidation creates an economy of scale, but using that argument alone, one would be led to believe that Newark would be a paragon of efficiency and responsibility!
The Legislature needs to look at the entire public educational system in the state. First, from a standpoint of administration. During the Whitman Administration, the Commissioner of Education was Leo Klagholz. Klagholz instituted a policy whereby a school district, in order to qualify for state aid, could not exceed a set percentage of their budget for administrative expenses. Obviously, the purpose of this was to prioritize the classroom over the boardroom. Complaints about this policy from the usual suspects (NJEA, etc.) resulted in the administration caving in, and Klagholz was forced to rescind that policy.
Regionalization is key, rather than the hodge-podge of regional and local districts we have now. Also, the overlap of districts can be a problem. Look at Freehold, which has a regional district for the high schools, but each municipality also has its own K-8 district. Can't that duplication somehow be streamlined?
We often hear of the lucrative contracts and "golden parachutes" given to some of these school administrators. Can something be done about that? How about this. Look at the town manager form of government. Several Monmouth County towns use that form. The manager serves at the pleasure of the township committee. There is no three, four or five year contract. The process for removal is set by state law, so it's uniform statewide. No contracts to buy out, no golden parachutes. If that process could be brought to apply to school administrators, it would result in accountability and savings. It would have to be done by state legislation and not by individual boards so as to be uniform statewide.
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