Mayors and school leaders are quietly, warily positive

It was a nice start, but Gov. Jon Corzine's budget proposal yesterday for schools and municipalities to get the first statewide aid increase in years was hardly sending mayors and superintendents jumping for joy.

Corzine announced in his budget address yesterday he would provide 3 percent aid hikes to all school districts and an additional 2 percent to every municipality, calling it the most significant property tax relief in the state's history.

Certainly, few in town halls and school board offices were complaining. One said 3 percent would be more than all the state aid increases to his school district in the last five years combined.

"Yes, I see some hope," said Hackettstown Superintendent Robert Gratz. "At least it's not doom and gloom."

But, like others, Gratz said the proof will be in the specific aid figures to be released next week, and how they fit into the budgets that also face a raft of new state-imposed limits, including likely caps on future tax increases.

"I'm not banking on it until we see the details," he said. "We are not betting that it is just some straight line across the state. We have to see how it pans out."

Others were equally circumspect, angling their comments between the proposed aid package being half-full and half-empty.

"For me, it is $13,000 or $14,000 (more)," Lambertville Mayor David M. DelVecchio said. "The fact is we were not expecting this. ... Here's new money, and that's welcome."

Added Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy: "Two percent is better than nothing. Jersey City, all cities need more. But everyone has to get realistic, and tough decisions have to be made."

Corzine touted the aid package coupled with direct property tax credits as the central piece of a budget that includes no tax increases and few cuts. The governor has proposed increasing state aid to schools by $580 million, and municipal aid by $32.6 million.

"Over 80 percent -- or more than $1.8 billion -- of all new spending in this budget reflects our mutual efforts to provide more property tax relief and more aid to schools and local governments," Corzine told legislators.

Among the few new spending initiatives, he is providing $20 million to encourage local schools and governments to share public services or consolidate, following up on a property tax relief proposal that came out of last summer's special legislative session.

In addition, he would spend an additional $66.8 million to provide aid to districts with high concentrations of poverty but not among those served by the Abbott vs. Burke school-equity rulings. The aid would come to $300 to $500 per student, depending on the district.

An additional $26.2 million also would go to help districts provide full-day kindergarten. Only about half of the 504 school districts with kindergartens have full-day programs.

"That will have a huge impact in making sure children have a good start in school," said Joyce Powell, president of the New Jersey Education Association.

Leading the state's dominant teachers union, Powell largely applauded the budget, especially given the state's still-lean fiscal condition. Powell had been integral in Corzine's separate move over the last month to win union and state employee concessions on several pension reforms, bringing additional savings to the budget.

"We have people who will make a sacrifice under this, no doubt," she said of the pension changes. "But we're all taxpayers, too, and need to step up to the plate as well."