 "Photo: Melissa Hoffman")
Last fall, I urged my fellow New Jersey Drewids, together with their parents, to support Democrat Jon Corzine for re-election as Governor of New Jersey. At the time, I warned that should Republican Chris Christie be elected, he would attempt to severely reduce, if not eliminate, the programs and policies that have helped thousands of New Jersey residents in times of need and distress. One of Christie’s top targets as a candidate was education, ranging from pre-kindergarten to graduate school. While it is true that New Jersey’s government is, for all essential purposes, bankrupt, I felt that Corzine’s policies would ensure that the pain felt by residents of our state would be less severe and less sustained. Unfortunately, the voters did not take my advice, and Christie now has the power to oversee massive budget cuts, which means less money for important programs across our state. Among those cuts are—wait for it—$62 million in funding for New Jersey’s colleges and universities. These cuts are part of a plan to eliminate a $2.2 billion budget gap, which, by state law, must be filled, either by raising taxes or by cutting spending. Among other areas Christie dramatically de-funded is New Jersey’s public school system. Under Christie’s proposed budget, over 500 of the state’s school districts will be denied any financial assistance in dealing with their own budgets. Also being affected are New Jersey Transit—losing $32.7 million—and New Jersey’s hospitals, which are losing $12.6 million. The problem with all of these cuts is that the effects will be felt elsewhere—specifically on people like us, our families and our friends. When visiting my hometown of Berkeley Heights on Wednesday, Christie claimed that "Everyone is going to have to come to the plate and share the sacrifice." By taking away financial aid for towns and school districts across New Jersey, Christie is essentially robbing Peter to pay Paul, as the old saying goes. While the state—Paul—is using its recovered funds to plug its budget gap, towns like mine will find themselves forced either to raise taxes or slash popular services in order to plug their budget gap, which Christie’s budget will create. The Board of Education in Berkeley Heights is finding itself stripped of $700,000 in state aid. It will be forced to resort to both tax hikes and budget cuts to compensate. The situation will be similar for students at schools like Drew. As a private institution, it will be spared the additional pain of public universities like Rutgers. However, Drew still receives grants and other special funding from New Jersey’s government. Those grants have already been reduced with the current economic crisis, and many may disappear entirely with the new budget. If you use NJ Transit to visit New York City, you can expect the cost of your round-trip ticket to increase. If you don’t have health insurance and you need to go to the hospital, the $12.7 million in cuts for hospitals means that your medical bill will increase. There are many different in-state scholarship opportunities that will be threatened by Christie’s budget as well. The net result is that you will have to pay more for less than before. To be sure, New Jersey is essentially bankrupt, and raising taxes by themselves is neither viable nor just. But Governor Christie’s budget goes way too far in the opposite direction. Wedded to the conservative ideology of "making government small enough to drown in a bathtub," as Club for Growth founder Grover Norquist once said, Christie has decided to take the proverbial axe to the tree of New Jersey’s well-being. Fiscal pain must occur—but it has to be done fairly and for the right reasons. Christie’s budget fails on both counts. Stephen Yellin is a senior History Major.
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The State of New Jersey doesn't have a financial problem that can't, in some way, be traced back to the failings of our education system. That's why Bret Schundler's speedy confirmation should be a matter of supreme importance for the State Senate.
Our state used to have one of the world's most powerful and dynamic economies. The entrepreneurs and laborers who built that economy were educated in great New Jersey public schools. The taxpayers' financial commitment to education hasn't diminished since then; in fact, it's risen precipitously. As of 2009, approximately 1/3 of the state budget -- and about 1/2 of the local property tax burden -- are dedicated to K-12 education funding. That's billions of dollars and, I might add, more than enough money to ensure a quality education for every Garden State student. Or at least is should be enough, but something sinister happened on the way to a lasting, first-rate education system, Save Jerseyans.
The union happened.
The NJEA's Official Logo
The New Jersey Education Association (NJEA) helped destroy New Jersey's schools (and the state budget) in two distinct ways. First, they used union dues to purchase political clout and force unreasonably generous compensation packages down the taxpayers' throats. At retirement, a New Jersey teacher will have paid only $62,000 towards his or her pension and nothing for complete family medical, dental or vision coverage. Nevertheless, that same teacher can expect to receive $1.615 million in pension and health benefits for the rest of his or her natural life.
How were we seriously expected to afford that? It'd be funny if we weren't broke as a result!
Secondly, Trenton's NJEA-sponsored legislators (and the judges they appoint) designed an unsustainable school funding scheme. The union endorsed liberals in election after election, and eventually the liberal state Supreme Court took control of the income tax-generated Property Tax Relief Fund. Most of the money was dumped into "special needs" urban districts by judicial fiat and legislative ratification. Suburban municipalities were subsequently left with no choice but to raise property taxes to meet their budgetary obligations and soaring education costs... driven by waste, mismanagement and overly-generous compensation packages!
Bret Schundler (R-Jersey City)
Now we finally have a governor (Chris Christie) and an acting education commissioner (Bret Schundler) who are willing to put the interests of taxpayers, teachers, and pupils ahead of the union. A major push towards expanding access to charter schools and vouchers will be a part of the plan. Introducing competition into the public school monopoly will force failing districts to shape up or give way to cheaper, more-accountable private alternatives capable of revitalizing our decaying urban centers.
Chris and Bret also want to enact a series of common sense reforms to improve the education system and take some of the strain off of our over-burdened property taxpayers. For example, Chris is working to overhaul the benefits system by requiring state employees to make a minimum health care contribution of 1.5% annually (remember: the current contribution requirement is 0%). And in case you were curious, private sector employees fork over 5-6%.
Not a bad deal for teachers, eh?
The logic and urgency underpinning Chris Christie's mission hasn't stopped NJEA-backed Democrats from behaving badly. The Senate Judiciary Committee drug its feet and took two maddeningly-petty sessions to send Schundler's nomination to the floor... "without recommendation" (read "we do not support this nominee but are electing to choose our battles carefully"). For hours, they grilled Bret on everything ranging from his religious views to whether Christie's alleged "war" with the NJEA would undermine Schundler's effectiveness in Trenton. It was an absolute disgrace and a sad commentary on our political system.
And since when is genuflecting to a public employees union a prerequisite qualification for a gubernatorial appointee's confirmation, Save Jerseyans?
It's abundantly clear that the education reforms proposed by Chris Christie and Bret Schundler are the only way to save our state. It's equally clear that Trenton Democrats are determined to block each and every proposal for purely partisan reasons. The battle lines are forming.
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