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NJ Spotlight--Sweeney, Prieto to Christie: School Funding First, then We’ll Do the Budget
Legislative leaders want governor to agree to school-aid formula independent of budget, so Christie can’t line-item veto changes he doesn’t like in the spending plan
The constitutional deadline for a new state budget is now less than two weeks away, but Democratic legislative leaders say they won’t introduce a spending bill until they sit down with Gov. Chris Christie at the negotiating table to discuss their new plan to revise the state’s school-funding formula.
Both Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester) and Assembly Speaker Vince Prieto (D-Hudson) made their unified position on the fiscal year 2018 spending plan clear during separate interviews yesterday, saying they aren’t willing to send the Republican governor a budget bill and then helplessly watch him make changes to it using the line-item veto.
John Reitmeyer | June 20, 2017
NJ Spotlight--Opinion: Sweeney-Prieto School Aid Plan Could Defuse Campaign Issue
Compromise could be seen as settling the matter for at least a year, but right now it’s still up to Christie to say ‘yea’ or ‘nay’
If Gov. Chris Christie accepts the compromise plan developed by the Legislature’s Democratic leadership to revise the formula for state aid to local school districts and increase it by $125 million, it will not only remove it from the agenda for the remainder of this year but — more importantly — will seriously diminish its impact as a dominant issue in the gubernatorial campaign.
Carl Golden | June 20, 2017
Star Ledger--Sweeney again says state government could shut down without a deal on school funding
TRENTON -- State Senate President Stephen Sweeney on Monday said he plans to meet with Gov. Chris Christie this week on the state budget -- a negotiating session that could deliver a small dose of school reform or a messy government shutdown.
If Christie won't play ball on a school funding deal Democratic leaders reached last week, Sweeney said, the Senate won't pass a budget. If the state does not have a budget when the next fiscal year begins July 1, the governor could order a state shutdown.
"Eventually we figure it out or we have a problem," Sweeney (D-Gloucester) said, adding there's room for negotiations. He and state Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto (D-Hudson) plan to meet with Christie early in the week.
