Baristaville Towns & Schools Clobbered By State Aid Cuts
March 19, 2010
Governor Christie yesterday revealed exactly how much each municipality will lose as a result of his $275 million slashing of state aid. NJ.com has all the results. In Essex County, Livingston topped the list of biggest losers, Glen Ridge tied with Roseland for second highest at 23.5%, Montclair ranked fifth highest at 22%. Bloomfield lost 17.4% in municipal aid. Glen Ridge School District lost 100% of its funding, Bloomfield Schools are down $4 million. Montclair Schools were notified Wednesday that funding has been reduced by 60.1%, or $5.4 million.
Bloomfield Mayor Ray McCarthy’s reaction was one of outrage. He told Baristanet: "Governor Christie has just broken the back of the middle class. It’s insanity! How can he cut our town budget 17.4% and leave a billion dollars on the table for the wealthy? This is a bully in a schoolyard fight. The Mayors of the state have to fight back. I’m outraged he’s hired 11,300 new employees, while Bloomfield is short six fireman, 10 cops. This is just going to hurt the taxpayers."
During an interview with the editor of the Star Ledger, Christie preached tough love:
He said an $820 million reduction in aid to school districts will force them to choose between "givebacks or layoffs" for teachers and other employees. He took on their union with relish, saying the "800-pound gorilla" New Jersey Education Association will also face a choice: "Do they want to lose members or do they want to reopen contracts?"
"This is it. We’re in the middle of a crisis, I’ve got everyone’s attention, this is the moment to fix it," the governor said. "My view is, I’m a Republican who’s been elected in New Jersey. If I play along the margins and don’t try to fix these problems, then I didn’t deserve to be elected in the first place … I’m going to fix it or I’m going down trying.
Glen Ridge was one of 59 school districts statewide to see its state aid vanish completely for school year 2010/2011. That means the district budget is down $1.2 million. A statement from the borough released yesterday states "Every attempt will be made to find cost savings in a manner that will result in the least harm to our core programs; but there is no doubt that the plan will include painful budget reductions and even more painful lay-offs…We have been dealt a very hard blow, but we will do everything possible to mitigate its effects. Our core educational mission will be protected." The town further stated it is in the process of negotiating a new contract with the GREA (teachers’ union) for 2010-2013. More on this story, here.
The Bloomfield Public Schools will take a $4 million hit to its budget, and the district has notified all tenured and non-tenured administration building staff that layoffs are possible Superintendent Catherine Mozak told NorthJersey.com " All administrators, supervisors, managers and secretaries are on notice…It’s devastating on the personal level, it’s devastating on the economic level…things are not going to be the same."
We asked Montclair officials to comment on the budget cuts; Dr. Al varez was in meetings this morning, but in a letter being sent to parents, he says programs, services, and staff will have to be eliminated. We did get a statement from Councilor Cary Africk:
While no one knew a year ago what a horrible situation we would be in, a year ago September the market came tumbling down and it wasn’t hard to see that tough times were ahead.
At that time, the Board of Education introduced a budget that contained raises for all staff — from senior administrators to clerical staff and janitors. They said at the time that excellent education — such as that in Montclair — costs money and now wasn’t the time to cut back. The Board of School Estimate eagerly supported them.
At the same time ground was broken at the new school.
I’m no clairvoyant but I did publicly make the suggestion of 1) freezing at least administrative salaries and 2) investigating whether we could put a hold on the new school, at a time when ground hadn’t even been broken. No one supported my proposals.
Not two months ago the entire Council, other than Councilor Baskerville and myself, was going full steam ahead on a new "intergenerational facility." Even if we to ignore capital costs, it was expected to add at least $350,000 to our operating budget.
Not two months ago our parking authority announced a substantial shortfall in revenue. I asked for a complete analysis but others said we didn’t need it, we might as well write off the debt.
The depth of th e cuts for Montclair is deep. The Board of Education has stepped up to the plate and made hard, but needed suggestions for change. It is likely the Town will do similar. But in the last year we could have, at least, recognized the opportunities to mitigate the damages by paying more attention. Perhaps now the idea of planning and analysis will appear less radical.
It’s just good business.