Is New Jersey Really that Horrible? (horses, moved, about)

[HeadedWest]

Originally Posted by Ninjahedge

Only 30+ years of experience in the districts my mother has taught in.

An anecdote is not data. You have school districts like DC and Kansas City where massive amounts of money are spent to no effect. Rural districts all over the country get good outcomes with far less money spent.

A school system can simultaneously be underfunded and expensive, if the money collected is not spent well.

In most districts the big money is not spent on education; it is spent on buildings, administrators, and political patronage.

In our town this year, everybody who works for the town had to - at best - get a zero or minimally previously contracted raise. Except for the school superintendent and a few other high level administrators, who got handsome raises on top of very generous salaries.

Sheer chutzpah.

[Ninjahedge]

Originally Posted by HeadedWest

An anecdote is not data. You have school districts like DC and Kansas City where massive amounts of money are spent to no effect. Rural districts all over the country get good outcomes with far less money spent.

Are you agreeing or disagreeing with me then.

I said that funding has no direct correlation, and that is what you just said....

A school system can simultaneously be underfunded and expensive, if the money collected is not spent well.

Um...yeah. Again, most of my rants are about lumping admin and scholastic costs together. When Supers and others are on the same bottom line, you do not get a real idea of where the money is going.

In most districts the big money is not spent on education; it is spent on buildings, administrators, and political patronage.

I hope you are agreeing.... It sounds a lot like what I have been saying....... You just started out like you were disagreeing....

In our town this year, everybody who works for the town had to - at best - get a zero or minimally previously contracted raise. Except for the school superintendent and a few other high level administrators, who got handsome raises on top of very generous salaries.

When they did the raises in my mothers district, they said something like 4%, which sounds great until you realize that was a 4% net increase in the alloted salary amount, NOT the per person. So all the raises were taken from that increase (includingthe steps).

Net result? Her raise was 0.625% that year. Great for a proven advanced science teacher (I do not want to give TOO MANY details here!!! )

Sheer chutzpah.

What's wrong with moxie??!?

[Forest_Hills_Daddy]

Originally Posted by mrgrinch

I live in NC, originally from WI and there are a lot of NJ transplants here (as well as all over the country) Everybody I mean EVERYBODY from there says that its like a communist state with in the US. That taxes are ridiculous, that it is anti-business and hopelessly polluted. One lady told me it has worse roads than Somolia.

Is it true?

It is what it is - high taxes, big spending, lots of obstacles to starting and growing a business. But it's no different from the other states surrounding NYC, namely CT and NY. If you want to work in NYC, you have to take your pick.

And beware - NC is fast catching up with NJ in that regard. NC's deficit-to-GDP ratio is only about 0.1% lower than NJ's. Pretty soon, you and your NJ friends won't know the difference between the two states.

[pbergen]

Originally Posted by Forest_Hills_Daddy

It is what it is - high taxes, big spending, lots of obstacles to starting and growing a business. But it's no different from the other states surrounding NYC, namely CT and NY. If you want to work in NYC, you have to take your pick.

And beware - NC is fast catching up with NJ in that regard. NC's deficit-to-GDP ratio is only about 0.1% lower than NJ's. Pretty soon, you and your NJ friends won't know the difference between the two states.

just a note -

the OP is/was a troll (look at his posting history, or at least see my earlier post (#113) in this thread about that very topic). he hasn't even bothered to check in since that initial post.

this thread has gone way off-topic and really should've died a long time ago. just become some dumb troll decided to come onto the nj forum and wreak havoc doesn't mean that this "issue" deserves this much discussion.

[Ninjahedge]

What issue?

I think that it has actually gotten off the flame bait and into another topic worth talking about.

You could probably chop off the first few pages of this thread and be fine w/o them!

[pbergen]

Originally Posted by Ninjahedge

What issue?

I think that it has actually gotten off the flame bait and into another topic worth talking about.

You could probably chop off the first few pages of this thread and be fine w/o them!

so create a new thread about taxes and corruption, and let this thread die.

[Ninjahedge]

Actually, we are more on schools right now... I think. But I get your point!

[pbergen]

Originally Posted by Ninjahedge

Actually, we are more on schools right now... I think. But I get your point!

see what i mean about being off-topic? i can't keep up anymore!

seriously, i would really like to see this thread die, and any ongoing discussion carried over to a new thread with a different, relevant title, just on principle. it annoys me to no end that the OP's thread is still going on, even if there are some interesting things being discussed here.

i'd even be happy to create that thread if you'd like. anything to bury this thread.

[elflord1973]

Originally Posted by pbergen

see what i mean about being off-topic? i can't keep up anymore!

seriously, i would really like to see this thread die, and any ongoing discussion carried over to a new thread with a different, relevant title, just on principle. it annoys me to no end that the OP's thread is still going on, even if there are some interesting things being discussed here.

i'd even be happy to create that thread if you'd like. anything to bury this thread.

sounds ok to me. I'll follow up in a new thread.

[NoCluesHere99]

I have been back and forth between NJ and The Florida Keys for Years. Every time I got pissed off at one place I would go to the other...But here is the deal. The people here are very rude and greedy. They hate people from the South. NJ people think they are smarter than someone from Florida. They drive like maniacs down narrow roads--tailgate. There are some really beautiful homes here--but you still have to deal with these awful people. We hate them as tourists in The Keys because of how they like to brag in their nasal voices, "I drive a Mercedes in Bergen County". But of course we are all just lazy bartenders, waitresses, and laborers in The Keys, because why would anyone want to actually live in The Keys? NJ SUX--Take that to the Bank