>Assembly approves big changes in schools, orders cost-cutting
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Last updated: Tuesday May 20, 2008, EDT 9:29
AMBY ELISE YOUNGTRENTON BUREAU
New Jersey schools would see major changes — including a mandatory 10 percent cut in administrative costs for scores of districts — under legislation approved in the Assembly on Monday.
But whether any of the legislation will become law is uncertain. None of the three bills has been scheduled for a vote in the Senate.
The Assembly also voted to move the date of school-board elections to November from April. In the same bill, lawmakers eliminated the voters’ right to approve multimillion-dollar budgets.
“The fragmentation of our voting calendar has resulted in voting fatigue,” said Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts, D-Camden, seeking to explain New Jersey’s typical school-elections turnout of 15 percent.
He rejected critics’ arguments that a move to November — when voters are at the polls for general elections — would inject party politics into non-partisan school races. And he said that voters’ input on the annual spending plans was “part of a charade,” because municipal governments have the power to override their decision.
“In some cases, every single cent that [voters] cut can be reinstated,” Roberts said.
He pointed out that voters still would have to approve spending above a limit, and that decision could not be appealed.
Assemblyman Richard A. Merkt, R-Randolph, said he agreed with the change to November, but he argued unsuccessfully against taking away voters’ power.
“It’s fundamentally undemocratic,” Merkt said.
Senate President Richard J. Codey on Monday did not indicate when the measures might arrive in the Senate.
“These are important issues, particularly the matter of participation in school-board elections,” Codey said. “We’ll be giving these bills a thorough review when they come over to our house for consideration.”
The bills were designed to address New Jersey’s runaway property taxes, the highest in the country.
About 55 percent of homeowners’ local tax payments are channeled to school districts. In North Jersey, where the 2006 median tax bill was $7,169, that means $3,943 went to education.
Some lawmakers said some of the measures could harm smaller districts.
Assemblyman John E. Rooney, R-Northvale, said many in Bergen County could not afford a 10 percent reduction in administrative costs, because state law mandates a superintendent for each district and a principal for each building. Northvale alone would have to do without $80,000, he said.
“When you have a small school district of 500 [students] or less, the ratio of administrators to pupils is extremely high. It doesn’t make sense to do this ratio nonsense,” he said.”
The 10 percent reduction would be based on a complicated formula involving regional comparisons, per-pupil administrative expenses and a cost-of-living increase. By the 2011-12 school year, affected districts could spend no more than 90 percent of their 2008-09 administrative figure.
The third bill would eliminate the state Board of Education from hearing appeals in cases decided by the state education commissioner. Those appeals would go directly to the Appellate Division of state Superior Court.
Other areas of state government also are trying to reduce school costs.
Within weeks, the state Department of Education is set to approve a 205-page rulebook on how districts must design their budgets. The rules would empower executive county superintendents to override local budget expenditures they deem excessive; increase public review of proposed budgets; set policies on nepotism and pay-to-play; and encourage consolidation and shared services.
E-mail: younge@northjersey.com