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Dave
| | Posted on Thursday, May 9, 2002 - 9:00 am: |     |
From Nohero: "Assume that you have been elected, and Governor McGreevey calls you on your inauguration day to ask you, as a newly-elected Maplewood official, what initiatives should be pursued to deal with the over-reliance on property taxes to fund education. What do you tell him? " |
Artchristensen
| | Posted on Saturday, May 11, 2002 - 2:42 pm: | |
James.... You've got the wrong number! Call the Mayor. |
Iangrodman
| | Posted on Wednesday, May 29, 2002 - 7:44 am: | |
Assume that you have been elected, and Governor McGreevy calls you on your inauguration day to ask you, as a newly elected Maplewood official, what initiatives should be pursued to deal with the over-reliance on property taxes to fund education. What do you tell him?
Maplewood is a perfect example of why our current system of funding schools through a property tax must be re-evaluated. Other forms of revenue which can be looked at as potential sources of school funding include a revised income tax, sales tax, gasoline tax, cigarette tax, and the New Jersey Lottery. (While the New Jersey Lottery was initiated with the intention of providing additional funds for education, almost all of the funds generated by the lottery have been appropriated by sources other than local educational systems).
Michigan is the only state that has used a system where income taxes are used as the primary source of funding for local school districts. While the system is generally lauded as a success, it is certainly not fool-proof, and significant study must be conducted to determine if such a system could work in New Jersey.
We must also lobby Trenton and Washington to ensure that state and federally initiated educational mandates are funded by the state and federal governments. When the CEIFA statute addressing school funding in New Jersey was enacted in 1996, Maplewood/South Orange spending per pupil was at a low point, which has lead to the substantial increases we have seen in recent years, Those increases were necessary just to keep up with the basics. This year, state education officials, local school board officials from around the state, and legislators will be meeting in CEIFA working groups to address inadequacies and irregularities in the funding formula. The Maplewood Township Committee, working with the Board of Education and the South Orange Trustees, must lobby hard to ensure that our town receives what is due our children. |
Fredprofeta
| | Posted on Wednesday, May 29, 2002 - 2:57 pm: | |
Assume that you have been elected, and Governor McGreevy calls you on your inauguration day to ask you, as a newly elected Maplewood official, what initiatives should be pursued to deal with the over-reliance on property taxes to fund education. What do you tell him?
I agree with Ian Grodman's response to this question. We certainly need to consider sources of income for education other than property taxes. New Jersey is among the country's leaders in its over-reliance on property taxes. Cigarette taxes, lottery and gambling taxes, check-offs on income tax returns for contributions to education - all of these are examples of alternative sources that need to be considered. The state may well soon convene a Constitutional Convention to consider changing our method of school funding, possibly involving a switch to an income tax basis. We should be learning as much as possible about this procedure and what impact various methods of taxation would have on Maplewood. For example, we need to know whether such a convention would put the whole Constitution "up for grabs", potentially weakening some important rights and duties. In addition, we need to assure that state funding of education does not come with inappropriate state control attached.
The CEIFA statute, which provides the present formula for allocation of state aid to education, is unfair to our School District. Districts with low socio-economic ranking (the so-called "Abbot" districts) receive much more funding than we do. But we have children in our schools with many of the special needs that are characteristic of the Abbot districts, and we need to ally ourselves with districts similar to us and vigorously make the case that funding should be distributed along a continuum of need - not simply one formula for Abbot districts and one formula for the rest.
Our schools have capital needs that legally can be aided by private funding. CHS alumni are a potentially significant source of such funding. Many alumni have very fond memories of their high school years. As President of the CHS Alumni Association, I would like to work closely with the Board of Education to coordinate this approach. I have already approached Dr. Horoschak and CHS administrators regarding the possibility. |
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