Education funding is New Jersey is fundamentally flawed and inequitable. There is nothing "thorough and efficient" about it.
The situation in Loch Arbour and Ocean Township, where Loch Arbour residents are facing the doubling of their property taxes because Corzine's new school funding formula required that their school taxes be based on the value of their property rather than the number of children they send to Ocean Township schools is a symptom of the most serious fiscal problem facing New Jersey tax payers.
Senator Sean Kean has proposed that the new funding method be phased in over time. The Asbury Park Press has endorsed Kean's idea. This may be equitable in the short term, but it is a band aid.
New Jersey's Republican leadership, our gubernatorial candidates and legislative leaders should distinguish themselves as reformers and propose a fundamental overhaul of our educational system and its funding.
So far neither Chris Christie or Steve Lonegan have proposed anything other than better band aids.
The word "education" does not even appear in the NJ Senate Republicans "Common Sense Plan for an Affordable New Jersey" The word "school" appears, but only with a proposal to eliminate obscenely excessive superintendent retirement packages. Easy pickings of the low hanging fruit.
The Republican Assembly caucus does no better. They use the phrase "fiscal integrity" but fail to address the most compelling problem, education funding.
Basically, Republicans are promising to do a better job managing a fundamentally flawed system than the Democrats are doing. It is little wonder that voters can't distinguish between NJ Democrats and NJ Republicans.
Chris Christie has been doing a good job on the stump talking about how Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell has been picking New Jersey's pocket by attracting businesses over the border. Christie, Lonegan, Kean, Jr, and DeCroce should study how Pennsylvania, Maryland and 46 other states are educating their children and come up with an honest plan to Save Jersey from the current insanity.
There is nothing to fear from the NJEA. They are not going to support Republicans anyway.
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There are so many problems with this issue.
First and foremost is the formula we are still using to pay for our schools. If I'm not mistaken, this formula was ruled unconstitutional years ago and has never been changed.
If Loch Arbour is considered part of the Ocean Township school district, then they ought to be paying in the same fashion as the rest of Ocean Township. The fact that doing so will represent an amazing increase in their taxes is unfortunate. But...
They got a sweetheart deal ten years ago that allowed them to avoid paying as everyone else does. Therefore, the only reason their school tax burden represents such an huge increase is due to the fact that an unfair agreement was made in the first place.
For the last ten years Loch Arbour did not have to pay school taxes, they paid tuition. Ocean Township residents were not given that option.
I do not expect Loch Arbour residents to pay ten years of back school taxes to Ocean Township as the arrangement that let them off the hook for doing so was most likely agreed to by a former elected official from Ocean Township.
But I don't think they should further benefit from that break by maintaining a lower school tax and being allowed to "catch up" to everyone else in the near future.
Why doesn't Loch Arbor just become its own incorporated Town and break away from Ocean Twp?
Bottom line here is that Loch Arbor is spending $66,000 bucks per child ,absolutely no justification for this !I don't care what formula your using it's crazy
aren't they actually a "village" under governmental organizations in the state law?..it's a disaster- with taxes going so high, they are more stuck than any of us- who would buy there,( and, look how close their little enclave is to AP,too?).. and they can't afford to stay..NJ is just lost...let's get outa here..
I thought they were, but that they were too small to have their own school system.
Joe Hadden said...
There are so many problems with this issue.Yes there are. Focusing on the state wide issue...the highest in the nation property taxes and all the sales and income tax money being flushed in the Abbott Districts with little to nothing to show for it in terms of educational results.
The issue in complicated only by those making a killing off the current system. NJEA, administrators, lawyers, etc.
If we were to start fresh and design a "thorough and efficient" educational system, would we come up with the one we have? Of course not.
This issue is at the heart of what doesn't work about New Jersey. That our "leaders" on both sides of the isle refuse to address it is a matter of gross negligence and cowardice.
Bravo, Art! This system needs to be torn down and rebuilt entirely. It is a crushing burden on our taxpayers and, in every sense, a failure.
Then there's the Abbott issue. Here in Red Bank, 57% of our middle school students (nearly 59% district wide) are on free or modified free lunch programs due to family income level. Red Bank does not receive Abbott aid, but districts like Neptune, where only 34% of students qualify for this program, get Abbott money. How does moving state funding from districts with a higher percentage of economically disadvantaged students and sending it to districts with a lower percentage of disadvantaged students help eceonimcally disadvantaged kids? How many districts want to stop getting Abbott aid? Isn't it to their advantage not to succeed? (Wait - I thought I was talking about the mortgage bail-outs....oh wait, am I?)
Abbott is just a piece of the problem, a symptom of New Jersey's out-of-control Supreme Court. The entire funding program needs to be thrown out. We know Corzine won't fix this. Art, you couldn't be more correct. We need a governor who won't shy from the NJEA and will makes tearing down this formula a top priority. Keep up the good work!
The statement that Lock Arbour is too small to have a school system is nieve.
Small school districts, including "non-operating" districts are among some of the lowest cost providers. When these districts can operate a small school efficiently and with good results they should be left alone. Corzine is gunning hard for non-operating districts and wants to turn them into "regional" districts. An example is Sea Bright. It's K-8 program is "non-operating" (no school). Their "district" pays Oceaport a below NJ average to send their kids to Oceanport. Somewahere around $9500 per student.
Contrast that to the "Regionsl" high school system Sea Bright was tricked into joining in the 1960's.
Shortly after forming the Shore regional district with an agreement to pay "per student", in 1975 the State over-rode the agreed to funding formula and now Sea Bright pays about $80,000 per student for the grade 9-12 kids.
When the state forces Sea Bright to join a K-8 "Regional" district with the state mandated and changing formulas, the costs will sky-rocket for the K-8 kids.
Don't trust the state of NJ.
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