EYE ON TRENTON
News from the Special Legislative Session
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>Read more on njea.org's Special Session page
MISINFORMATION ALERT!
Senator Cardinale claimed that charter schools cost less per child and have higher test results. Here’s the National Assessment of Education Progress report card that shows charter school students’ performance lags behind their public school counterparts. Read more on the committee’s proceedings.
NJEA Launches Newsletters on the Special Session
NJEA is launching an e-newsletter for staff and a similar one for members about the special legislative session. This first issue provides extensive background about developments since July. Future editions will be very brief updates e-emailed regularly. Each issue will also be available for staff on the home page of the NJEA intranet and for members in the pen-ben section of www.njea.org.
Governor Corzine Calls Special Session of the Legislature
On July 28, 2006 Governor Corzine addressed a joint session of the New Jersey State Legislature. Read his speech
He called upon the Legislature to meet in a “special session” to create a plan to reform and reduce property taxes. The Legislature created four bi-partisan, bi-cameral committees to address issues related to tax reform. These committees met throughout August and will continue to meet weekly throughout the fall. Each committee has been charged with the task of developing a report and recommendations by mid-November. Read more information on Corzine’s expectations from the special session.
The committees are known as:
The Joint Legislative Committee on Public School Funding Reform
The Joint Legislative Committee on Government Consolidation and Shared Services
The Joint Legislative Committee on Public Employee Benefits Reform
The Joint Legislative Committee on Constitutional Reform and Citizens Property Tax Constitutional Convention
Read more about each committee’s charge
So far, only the Joint Legislative Committee on Public Employee Benefits Reform and the Joint Legislative Committee on Constitutional Reform and Citizens Property Tax Constitutional Convention have heard public testimony. NJEA officers and leaders have testified before each of those committees.
NJEA leaders and members need to be aware of these deliberations and contact lawmakers to provide input into these important policy decisions.
After reading NJEA’s positions below, let your legislators know what you think.
Public School Funding ReformDOE refuses to make school funding formula public
The Joint Legislative Committee on Public School Funding Reform will be developing a new school funding formula. Clearly, New Jersey’s current school funding formula is outdated and unfair. NJEA supports the creation of a new school funding formula that will provide the necessary resources to ensure a high quality education for students in all districts, regardless of zip code.
The Department of Education has been working on a new formula, but has been unwilling to share its plan publicly. NJEA believes that the administration’s plans should be shared with the education community and the public now.
As of Oct. 4, the Joint Legislative Committee on Public School Funding Reform has held eight meetings. Five more meetings are scheduled for October.
So far, the committee has heard testimony on school funding litigation and funding formula types, CEIFA and S-1701, cost-cutting measures, No Child Left Behind, approaches to determining the cost of education, and the New Jersey Quality Single Continuum (NJQSAC) law. Read more on this committee.
On Tuesday, September 5, NJEA President Joyce Powell and other NJEA leaders testified before the committee on cost-cutting measures. Read testimony.
On Tuesday, Oct. 10, President Powell and other local leaders will be presenting testimony at the committee’s first public hearing.
Government Consolidation and Shared Services
NJEA: No compromise on school quality
The Joint Legislative Committee on Government Consolidation and Shared Services will be developing recommendations on sharing services and regionalizing functions at all levels of government, including schools. NJEA supports efforts to create efficiencies. However, NJEA also believes that regionalization should be voluntary and considered on a case-by-case basis, not as a statewide mandate or policy.
Most importantly, any plan to consolidate or regionalize services must not diminish educational quality just to cut costs.
As of September 30, 2006, the Joint Legislative Committee on Government Consolidation and Shared Services has held five meetings. View the proceedings.
Public Employee Benefits Reform
The Joint Legislative Committee on Public Employee Benefits Reform has been charged with developing proposals to control the cost of public employee benefits and address pension and benefits abuses. While NJEA supports eliminating abuses to the system, lawmakers need to understand that our members are not the problem!
In the FY 2007 State Budget, lawmakers made the first significant pension contribution in a decade—ending a nine year “pension holiday” during which the state skipped making its required payments. While the State was enjoying its pension holiday, public employees continued to make their required contributions out of each pay check. Now the fund is running low and some lawmakers want to scapegoat public employees as having caused this problem.
As of September 30, 2006, the committee has held six meetings. View the proceedings.
On Tuesday, September 19, more than 200 NJEA members and members of other public employee unions attended the committee’s meeting in Clifton High School. NJEA speakers Joyce Powell, Jacqui Greadington, and Joe Coppola, Jr., received standing ovations from the audience. Read their testimony.
Constitutional Reform and Citizens Property Tax Constitutional Convention
The Joint Legislative Committee on Constitutional Reform and Citizens Property Tax Constitutional Convention has been charged with developing proposals to address property tax reform through amendments to the New Jersey State Constitution. They also must consider the possibility of a constitutional convention.
New Jersey has relied too heavily on property taxes to fund our schools for too long. Schools and school employees are being targeted for the legislature’s failure to fix the broken property tax system. We need reform and we need it now. The legislature has the responsibility and the expertise to get the job done. They should do their job and not abdicate their responsibilities to a citizens’ convention which would not be able to provide reform until 2008 or 2009.
NJEA believes that the Legislature can and should reform property taxes without penalizing public schools. Legislation like the SMART bill would shift the burden from property taxes to income taxes for school funding, which would be a fairer system of taxation.
To read more about the SMART bill go to http://www.reformschooltaxes.com/.
As of September 25, 2006, the committee has held five meetings. NJEA Secretary-Treasurer Wendell Steinhauer provided NJEA’s official testimony to the committee on September 21. On September 28, four NJEA leaders testified at another committee meeting and reiterated NJEA’s position. Read NJEA’s testimony. More on this committee.
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