| Property Taxes, School Funding issues | ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
N.J. relaxes rules on new school aid
State's revised conditions will allow most of 217 districts to apply funds toward tax relief
Thursday, March 15, 2007
BY JOHN MOONEY
Star-Ledger Staff
In a reversal, the state has lifted restrictions on new school aid to scores of districts and says that in most cases the money can be used in the districts' next budgets, including for property tax relief.
"If they are meeting the needs of their low-income children, they can use it for tax relief," Department of Education official Katherine Attwood said of the extra aid earmarked for 217 districts. "There were some districts already meeting those needs and wanting more flexibility, and we agreed with that."
The change cheered many local educators. Jerry Tarnoff, West Orange's superintendent, said, "It is nice to see the original intent of the aid has come about."
In his state budget proposal last month, Gov. Jon Corzine said $66 million in extra aid would go to 217 districts with large low-income populations, the first sizable increase to these communities in at least five years.
But local officials later learned the aid came with the daunting conditions that it could not be applied to property tax relief or current programs.
Several district officials protested, as did Senate President Richard Codey. This week, the state alerted districts that the conditions had been revised.
To be able to use the money for tax relief or existing programs, a district's low-income students must meet test-score levels set under the federal No Child Left Behind act or show significant improvement.
Another condition is the district's tax rate be at least 20 percent over the state's average.
State officials said at least 168 of the 217 districts have met those conditions.
Local educators expressed relief yesterday.
"We were getting $16 million in aid, but $944,000 we couldn't use in our budget," said Rahway Superintendent Frank Buglione. "That was a big concern."
Now, he said, the additional money can go to both restoring some of the $1.4 million in cuts planned for the Rahway budget and reducing a proposed $162 average tax increase.
One of the biggest protests of the original rules came from West Orange. An additional $854,000 is coming to the district under Corzine's budget, but officials said they were hamstrung by the fact it could be used only on new programs like full-day kindergarten, and the district already had that in place.
The West Orange school district had some powerful allies in its hometown legislators, including Codey (D-Essex) and Mayor John McKeon, a Democratic assemblyman.
"We were all saying this isn't right, this isn't what we are supposed to be doing with this money," Codey said yesterday. "This money was supposed to go toward tax relief."
Now, under the state's change, district officials said they will be able to apply the money to an existing literacy program in one of its elementary schools, freeing up funds for other programs and reducing the burden on taxpayers.
Elsewhere, others were waiting to see what develops as local budgets are finalized. A spokesman for the New Jersey School Boards Association said the new guidelines relieve some concerns, but other restrictions on schools are still forcing some tough choices.
"The state aid message from the governor's office has been very rosy, but it is still a very tight year and there remains a lot of pressure on programs," spokesman Frank Belluscio said.
State Senate is facing exodus
At least one-quarter of the New Jersey senators plan to retire, the largest such turnover since the 1970s Watergate era.
By Cynthia Burton
Inquirer Staff Writer
At least a quarter of the New Jersey state Senate is quitting, taking into retirement more than 250 years of legislative experience.
The last time the Legislature went through such an upheaval was the 1974 Watergate-era election, when angry voters turned out 13 Republicans from the Senate and 27 more from the Assembly.
This year's exodus, however, is voluntary. Eight Republicans and two Democrats have announced their retirements from the 40-member state Senate. At least one more Democrat and another Republican senator soon could join them.
In addition, Assemblyman Joseph Cryan (D., Union) said he expected the Senate turnover to ripple into the lower house, because some members will run for the open Senate seats. Frequently, Assembly members win because they already have party backing, an incumbent's ability to raise money and name recognition.
"It's a natural progression when you have Senate seats [opening], you will have turnover in the lower house too," he said. "There will be more turnover in our house [the Assembly] than people realize."
The reasons for the Senate retirements are as unique as each member.
Camden County Democratic State Sen. Wayne Bryant, 59, has a federal criminal investigation swirling around him. Burlington County Republican State Sen. Martha Bark, 78, has been under unrelenting Democratic attacks for holding several jobs at once.
Like a couple of the other retirees, Bark faced a tough general election fight. In recent years, the Republican Party has been outspent by Democrats and beaten on traditional GOP turf as the state has become more and more blue.
At least three retiring senators would have faced tough electoral challenges from members of their own parties in the June primary.
The rest have served their time, and retirement is a natural next step. Nine of the 10 are 60 or older, with Monmouth County Republican Joseph Palaia, who is 80, being the oldest.
No matter the reasons, though, the loss of as many as a dozen veteran senators - even before an election can push those numbers higher - is a stunning event in Trenton. It changes the body that gets things done, in part, based on relationships and, in part, due to knowledge and legislative skill.
The 10 definite retirees have a combined 259 years of experience. Add to that the two other expected retirements and the combined experience walking out of the Statehouse amounts to almost three centuries of public service.
Rutgers University political scientist Alan Rosenthal, an expert on state legislatures, said the turnover won't be a terrible problem for the state because enough experienced legislators are sticking around.
Still, he said, "it changes the nature of the place because some very expert, senior people are leaving."
He singled out retiring Hudson County Democrat Joseph Doria, 61, and Atlantic County Republican William Gormley, 60, who left office last month, as "really good legislators. One way or another, they get things done and influence their colleagues. One does it through building consensus and the other one does it with raving - but they get things done."
Retiring Sussex County Republican State Sen. Robert Littell, 71, is the longest-serving legislator in state history. He has served for 40 years. Littell said when so many senior lawmakers "go out the door, so does their institutional knowledge."
In recent weeks, he was on the fence about retiring. He made an unusual announcement that he wouldn't but then last week said he would. He had faced a GOP primary threat from Assemblyman Guy Gregg.
An experienced deal maker and expert on state finances, Littell presided over the budget committee when Republicans held the Senate and pushed preservation of the Statehouse. He gave Democratic Gov. Brendan Byrne the deciding vote on his income tax and was an early supporter of park-and-ride train stations.
A master of the legislative game, Atlantic County's Gormley said the retirements give Gov. Corzine a brief opportunity to take advantage of a super lame duck Legislature. The retiring members are unworried about facing voters again and thinking about their legacies perhaps making them open to playing ball with the governor.
"Forget about January," when a new legislature would be seated, he said. "A lot of good things can happen now."
Republican state chairman Tom Wilson blamed the high turnover on a cultural change in the Statehouse.
"A lot of these guys who are leaving are from a generation of legislators who remember freely battling on the floor of the Legislature, but when it was over they'd go out and get a steak and a martini," he said.
Things have changed since a few of them came into office. Elections cost more - the record was a $4 million-plus Assembly race in Atlantic County, which could be exceeded in this cycle. Two governors' offices have been served federal subpoenas for records in the last three years. And, despite reform efforts by both parties, polls show the Legislature hasn't rehabilitated its image with voters.
Retiring State Sen. Len Connors, 77, an Ocean County Republican, said that if there was a single thing he could do before leaving office, he'd push once again for voters to have the right to pass binding referendums ordering government actions.
"Let them have the right to petition their government and put a [binding] question on the ballot," he said. "What could be any worse than what we have now?"
Moving On
While a few more New Jersey state senators are said to be retiring, the 10 who have announced they will not seek another term are:
William Gormley
R., Atlantic County
Wayne Bryant
D., Camden County
Martha Bark
R., Burlington County
Len Connors
R., Ocean County
Joseph Palaia
R., Monmouth County
Walter Kavanaugh
R., Somerset County
Robert Littell
R., Sussex County
Robert Martin
R., Morris County
Joseph Doria,
D., Hudson County
Henry McNamara
R., Bergen County
- Cynthia Burton
Contact staff writer Cynthia Burton at 856-779-3858 or cburton@phillynews.com.
