Hundreds of Teachers Protest School Aid Cuts in Mendham

March 17, 2010

– Hundreds of protesters braved driving rains in Mendham today to protest Gov. Chris Christie’s decision to cut school aid.

Carrying signs and chanting slogans, the teachers and a handful of students protested for more than two hours. They said they were frustrated with the governor’s actions and feel he has been unresponsive to their concerns.

"We want him to sit down and talk," said Laurie Klinck, a math teacher at Valleyview Middle School in Denville who was standing outside the King’s Shopping Plaza. "He hasn’t thought this all the way through."

Christie’s budget includes almost a 5 percent across-the-board cut in state aid to school districts, about $800 million.

Christie, a Mendham Township resident, also cut $475 million from school aid in the current fiscal year. Those cuts were based on districts’ excess surplus.

"When you start cutting funding that school districts depend on, you are hurting kids," said Susan Vigilante, president of the Morris County Council of Education Associations, which organized the protest. "If the governor would sit down with the NJEA, maybe he would learn a few things

The protesters, who came from just about every school district in Morris County, lined both sides of the sidewalk and extended about two blocks along the busy Route 124.

The Mendham and Morristown Tea Party organized a small counter protest to support Christie and his proposed budget cuts.

About two dozen Tea Party membe rs formed a counter protest and had their own signs, claiming the unions were taking more than their fair share.

Jeff Weingarten, president of the Morristown Tea Party, said he believed good teachers should earn good salaries but that the state needed to cut back in order to fix its finances.

"Everybody should be asked to sacrifice," Weingarten said. "We have a huge budget shortfall and we have to start cutting that down for everybody’s sake."

Teachers, though, contend that they have already sacrificed.

"Don’t say we have to hurt some more," Vigilante said. "We have hurt for a long time."

Vigilante pointed to the state’s past underfunding of teachers’ pensions.

The NJEA has filmed several ads in recent weeks meant to persuade the public that cuts in school aid hurt students as well as teachers.

"They feel like their voices haven’t been heard in this exchange," said Christy Kanaby, associate director of public relations for the NJEA. "Teachers go in and do a great job. Our schools are among the best."