N.J. Gov. Christie Freezes Spending

With State's Budget In 'Shambles,' New Governor Slices Into School Surpluses, NJ Transit Subsidies; Dems Furious

http://wcbstv.com/local/governor.christ ... 87727.html

12-Feb-2010

Calling New Jersey's budget a "shambles," Gov. Chris Christie announced Thursday he is immediately freezing all state spending.

Saying New Jersey is on the verge of bankruptcy, Christie declared a fiscal emergency, announcing drastic cuts. Among them, aid to school districts that have excess surpluses.

"Today we are going to act swiftly to fix problems too long ignored. Today I begin to do what I promised the people of New Jersey I would do," Christie said.

The move had Democrats in an uproar, angry the governor used his executive powers instead of working with the Legislature.

"What that's going to mean is that those school districts without that money are going to be raising property taxes in the upcoming year to make up for that shortfall," said Assemblyman John Wisniewski, D-19th District.

The governor also cut state subsidies to New Jersey Transit, saying it needs to become fiscally efficient.

He's right, they need to cut the budget and stop protecting sacred cows.

That includes the schools. Maybe when enough people get really tired of the high property taxes, to make up for the State "short fall", then the day may come when education "costs" are looked at..... salaries and benefits in special education programs why so many are in special education in the first place and a host of similar issues...

Tom

He is on the mark. It brings up an intresting note. A few years ago I was reading a report on our educational system which to me fall's right in line with what is to be expected. We are ranked in the 20th place range in terms of math and sciences for students in this nation with an average expendature of about 25 grand a year per kid. Singapore was rated number one in this study with an average expendature of 1100 per kid per year. With that in mind it almost seems that for every extra thousand we spend on these little cherubs we lose a place in the scale so to speak.

I say we cut school spending, I say we axe as much from our educational funds as we can. Why you might ask...... Well it is simple, kids today (myself included growing up) are spoiled, lazy and pushed through the system while school is life and survival overseas. Screw the child spoil the rod. We pamper kids, give them all excuses for why they can not be number one in class and instill a level of complacency. It is pathetic. Than..... everyone wonders where little John boy went wrong in life when he is 26 pushing CD's at Best Buy for a living. Well....... The simple answer is you didnt expect enough from him. Afterall.... He is your little Johnathan right? Forget that, wipe the school taxes out as far as I am concerned and make it mandetory to those who actually have children attending public schools. If not than they are obviously attending private school so they are paying for an education anyway.

My parents for example spent around 250,000+ on my high school education sending me to private schools overseas and in various parts of the US. I didnt touch the state of NY more than maybe 3 times from 14 to 18 years old. Yet they pay school taxes on top of what they were paying for me to be in private schools. Makes no sense to me.

Considering both my parents are teachers I am interested in this. You guys both bring up good points. Just a heads up though, I wouldnt go around blaming the teachers for the amount of kids in special education. It has nothing to do with "bad" teachers at all. If anything, cutting the spending on education is going to make things worse. Also cutting salaries is rediculous considering teachers dont get paid very well in the first place. Yes they do get off for 2 months in the summer but it is not a paid vacation. My parents have to end up working 2 jobs in the summer. Just another thing to add (not trying to be mean) but whenever I hear politicians and people talk about cutting salaries for teachers and things like that I have to laugh considering without an education they probably wouldnt be where they are today.

Look I don't wish to bash the teachers necessarily, [and by all accounts I believe NJ schools, generally, enjoy a good reputation academically, whereas a relatively few schools do so in NYC - for reasons I won't get into here] we've all probably had good and bad ones, and you can always say the good ones are considerably underpaid and the bad ones have found a job-for-life.

On a fundamental level, education must be about children and not unions.

Out of control Entitlements are a major threat to the future of this country, and not to be a hypocrite because I have benefited along the way, but its something that needs to be tackled. The govt is not going to be able to print wealth forever...and expect #1 healthcare, military, education, infrastructure etc forever.

Hiss has a good point right now, about the whole attitude towards education...to give (some) of the teachers a break for a moment, namely those that are not embracing non-educational agendas, The education industry establishment's entire non-educational skew is wrong. We need to teach English, Science and Math. It needs to be learned and it needs to be taught. As for history Harriet Tubbman, George Washington and Christopher Columbus (to take the examples of when I attended, I am sure the names have been substituted with others by now) do not need to be re-visited 300 times, in the most superficial ways, grades 2 - 11 or similar.

Some years ago, if you pass certain select generally ethnic neighborhoods in Manhattan, you could hear a pin drop at night. That's because the kids are sleeping or studying; [not a good indicator these days, because they might be on their computers/blackberries/ipods etc., but at the time, it was an interesting observation.]

Kids that are not going to "make it" in terms of formal eduction don't need to be warehoused for a dozen years and then encouraged to go to State colleges after the fact. They should be tracked to be successful elsewhere (only with their consent/parents consent I must add....) and should not be stigmatized for it. The alternative is a massive waste of money and millions of uneducated people with worthless high school and college degrees. Makes no sense. (and the irony is some of those join the Education establishment)....

Only in my opinion of course.... :)

While I do not always side with the Republicans, I do believe the Neo Cons and a few odd friends from across the political spectrum had this right with the vouchers idea, and a few other domestic ideas they had, but much of that momentum dissipated as their foreign policy notions took center stage instead.

Tom

Hey Tom I never got the feeling that you were bashing teachers lol, sorry if I made it seem like that, didn't mean to. Im not a political genius by any means lol, just wanted to throw in my opinion.