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Scary? What's scary is that some shlub in West Orange is paying $14,000 in taxes every year on his 40 year old bi-level on a postage-stamp lot. Why is this? Because 31 school districts hog between 60-70% of state education funding and the other 500-and-change districts are bled dry every year by having to fund 95% of their school district costs despite all of the sales/income tax revenue generated by their communities.
There are producers and consumers. The districts I mention consume. Those that produce have their money stolen and redistributed to support the failing school districts that have bankrupted the state.
And let's be honest: Does anyone here believe any of this money would benefit hard-working, tax-paying middle class residents? It would all be funneled to Newark, Jersey City, Paterson, etc
You are free to think whatever you want but again your mentality is scary. Go ahead and read what you wrote. Are you saying that NO hard working,tax paying citizens reside in those cities you mentioned? Wow is all I can say. Let me guess they might as well be YOUR slaves. Scary stuff going on around here. Go ahead and say what you want its your right but just think a little bit.
And let's be honest: Does anyone here believe any of this money would benefit hard-working, tax-paying middle class residents? It would all be funneled to Newark, Jersey City, Paterson, etc
You are free to think whatever you want but again your mentality is scary. Go ahead and read what you wrote. Are you saying that NO hard working,tax paying citizens reside in those cities you mentioned? Wow is all I can say. Let me guess they might as well be YOUR slaves. Scary stuff going on around here. Go ahead and say what you want its your right but just think a little bit.
The dregs far out weigh the hard working tax paying citizens in those towns..the hard working tax payers usually scrimp & save to send their kids to private schools not one that you have to pass through metal detectors to enter...it is what it is as ugly as it is
what percentage of a school district's funding comes from the state?
what percentage comes from the county?
what percentage comes from the town?
growing up in PA, state funds came in, but schools operated based on their local school "property taxes". why is NJ so convoluted in how funding is done?
i lived in a school district where property tax was maybe $1,500-$2,000 for school. it was not a great school. 15 miles away was a great school district. taxes were $6,000 a year on a comparable property. so they paid more, but didn't have to send their kid to a private school to get a decent education.
maybe that's a crappy system too, but at least you could pick a town, know your taxes went to your school district, then make choices based on that.
if the state is kicking in money, why would some schools get 60-70% of state funds?
what percentage of a school district's funding comes from the state?
what percentage comes from the county?
what percentage comes from the town?
growing up in PA, state funds came in, but schools operated based on their local school "property taxes". why is NJ so convoluted in how funding is done?
i lived in a school district where property tax was maybe $1,500-$2,000 for school. it was not a great school. 15 miles away was a great school district. taxes were $6,000 a year on a comparable property. so they paid more, but didn't have to send their kid to a private school to get a decent education.
maybe that's a crappy system too, but at least you could pick a town, know your taxes went to your school district, then make choices based on that.
if the state is kicking in money, why would some schools get 60-70% of state funds?
NJ does a very poor job of funding education from the state level. We rank 46ths in the country. NJ does do a very good job of passing on the cost to the municipal level which therefore causes property taxes to be amongst the highest in the country. A week or so ago I posted the stats that prove me correct. This is not a Reb/Dem issue just a NJ problem with the way it fund public education. This also helps Christies cause because he can turn the taxpayers against the teachers.
Well I guess this shows the character of Christie. He's blaming Obama for NJ's mistake. Yes..Obama. He says they should have called NJ and asked for the valid answer. He said this was something the Obama administration should answer for. It's just astonishing. I would have had much more respect for him if he just came forward and admitted the grave mistake, said sorry to the people of NJ and said he would strive to make sure it doesn't happen next year.
Since we talked about merit pay then I guess there's good news in Christie's response. If merit pay is implemented and a teacher falls just shy of the target and isn't eligible for a raise, it's nice to know Christie will support letting people get a 2nd try. Perhaps she's even let go because the kids did not perform as well. Maybe one of the kids who failed to read the instructions on the standardized test and failed miserably will be asked to retake it so the teacher can get credit for it. That makes sense right since Christie is asking for the same thing of Obama. so yeah..that's tongue in cheek but you know if the error was caused by the NJEA then he'd be asking for everyone and anyone to be fired, step down, or use it to boost his own agenda
Also, as I read the question, I wonder whether it really was a mistake or done on purpose. the question asks to compare state money given to schools compared to prior years. The answer sounds all rosy and says t will increase in 2011. The true answer is that funding was slashed by nearly a billion dollars from the prior years. Seems to me like they were trying to do the political doubletalk to make themselves look better rather than really answer the question asked and live with the answer.
Also, as I read the question, I wonder whether it really was a mistake or done on purpose. the question asks to compare state money given to schools compared to prior years. The answer sounds all rosy and says t will increase in 2011. The true answer is that funding was slashed by nearly a billion dollars from the prior years. Seems to me like they were trying to do the political doubletalk to make themselves look better rather than really answer the question asked and live with the answer.
The billion dollar in slashed funding was do to the one time cash infusion from the fed that was given to the schools. Even Corzine warned the school districts that they shouldn't spend all the money as there were no guarantees there would be more federal money or that the funding level could be matched. The schools are complaining about losing a one time gift that despite being warned might not be there next year, they sunk a lot of it into staff.
The interesting piece is that if you throw out the billion from the feds and actually treat it as a one time payment school funding has actually increased from actual state payments.
The state gives aid in two ways. The primary way is formula based aid that is shared equally among all districts based on some formula (probably the same one that created certain investment derivatives, lol). The other aid is direct aid where the the state actually pays certain bills on behalf of the school district.
What was cut was formula aid which is basically no strings attached cash given to the school districts. They are free to spend the money anyway they want.
What has increased is direct aid where the state pays certain costs like pensions, healthcare, etc. on behalf of the district.
The schools don't like their formula aid being cut as they have total control over the money. The direct aid money is controlled by the state and the school district has no say in how it's spent.
So, billion dollar infusion from the fed aside, school funding has actually increased from the state it has just been in a form of aid the districts don't like.
NJ does a very poor job of funding education from the state level. We rank 46ths in the country. NJ does do a very good job of passing on the cost to the municipal level which therefore causes property taxes to be amongst the highest in the country. A week or so ago I posted the stats that prove me correct. This is not a Reb/Dem issue just a NJ problem with the way it fund public education. This also helps Christies cause because he can turn the taxpayers against the teachers.
...and I pointed out why this is the case and that the stat was meaningless. States that use regionalized and county based school systems have the majority of funding come from the state. States like NJ where the school districts are localized, it's the opposite.
If you want we can eliminate school property taxes and just pay more money in a state tax and fund the schools that way. I do agree that we need to look at consolidation and merger as a way to reduce expenses, which may lead to a shift in funding dollars, but it is really just one bucket or the other.
Why exactly does it matter where the funding for schools comes from? Aren't we going to pay for it either way?
i was asking because it sounds like people imply that schools in newark or camden or trenton get more money. in PA, if you lived in "camden school district" you paid property taxes to camden. the state kicked in money for every school district, but it wasn't like one school district got 50 million and the other got 5 million. i dunno. i'm not an expert in school taxes just trying to learn more and in NJ, it seems so confusing, it's tough to learn.
i guess the question is - are we paying for a state school system or a local school district? i'm ok with paying taxes to help make my district, county, AND state better. i just want my district to get it's fair share from me.
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