and the RATS, take another one in the..............................HA ha!!!
Posted on 11/01/2010 3:47:47 PM PDT by nmh
Christie Reform Agenda Restores Fiscal Discipline and Ends Abuse of Property Tax Dollars, While Keeping Money in the Classroom Where It Belongs
Trenton, NJ – The Christie Administration today announced it is moving forward with a comprehensive plan to enact fiscal discipline and promote the prudent use of scarce property tax dollars by capping salaries for superintendents. The regulations, announced in July, will result in a salary reduction for more than 360 school superintendents who serve school districts with low numbers of students.
“In these difficult economic times, when fewer resources are available for our schools, it is not acceptable for superintendents in districts with fewer than 1,000 students to be paid salaries of $150,000 and greater,” said Governor Christie. “Capping pay to reasonable levels is a commonsense initiative that will end abuses that have been permitted for too long at the expense of our children’s education. By bringing superintendent salaries in-line with district needs, we will be able to save millions in tax dollars and put that money back where it belongs – in the classrooms.”
About 70 percent of the state’s school superintendents currently earn above the proposed salary caps, costing school districts a total of $9.8 million. Under the Governor’s proposal, superintendents earning in excess of the cap would have their salaries brought in line with the cap after their current contracts expire. Acting Education Commissioner Rochelle Hendricks said the Governor’s proposal also introduces performance bonuses, which she said is an important reform in the way the state pays educators.
“Raises will no longer be automatic but will be earned, based on how students are performing in a school district,’’ Acting Commissioner Hendricks said. Local districts can develop criteria for how their superintendents can earn one-year incentives that will not count toward a superintendent’s pension.
(Excerpt) Read more at nj.gov ...
Heh,
If I knew wtf I was doing, my reply would be a video clip of Arthur Carlson trying to beat the monkey off his back with his shoe !
ah well...
“Let ME take care of YOUR problems since you local yokels can’t reign in your problems....This is BS. He has no business doing it, and if he’s looking to save NJ money, then he can get the state the hell out of the RGGI period.”
Absolutely. The biggest growth in the local schools’ growth as a share of local property taxes has coincided with more state education regulation and mandates, more state involvement in local education finances - like all teachers brought into a state pension plan; “anything” to “relieve” the local “burden” AND THE LOCAL RESPONSIBILITY.
So, in all the ways not covered (yet) by state funding and regulation, the locals become even more irresponsible about everything else and the property taxes still go up.
IF New Jesreyans REALLY want lower property taxes GET THE STATE OUT OF k-12 education altogether and forbid it from “helping” the districts “pay for” what the local citizens will not raise their local taxes to pay for.
For instance, “property tax rebates” are nothing other than a prop - support mechanism - for local politicians who get elected to support local government employees, not the taxpayers. “Don’t worry about the property taxes we’re raising, we’re going to fight for bigger ‘rebates’ from Trenton”.
So let me start by apologizing for being a DB on this thread. I believe lack of personal interrelationships foment this behavior (or maybe I’m just a db).
I was a euphoric individual watching, hoping, and praying that C. Christie and S. Brown win their elections against all odds.
Of course, even seeing that take place, it is so easy to slip into the “what have you done for me lately” mode; which is sad and bad.
My current state, NY is total shit, and I would give hugh (and series) to have C. Christie as my Gov.
Bottom line is that there is no perfect scenario, as politics is a dirty game.
Even though, diligence is required. So, admonition administered, we hope, we help, we pray, and we watch.
Thank you all.
I really love this guy. Hope he stays safe.
You can Select the "Primary Job", then hit the "Salary" column to pull it into highest to lowest range.
PA Schools are here:
(As usual, PA is behind!)
You warm my heart!
I'd love to have GOVERNMENT out of K-12.
What people don't always understand or are aware of is that your “better” school districts pay the HIGH TAXES and get little of it. Instead THEIR taxes go to God forsaken places like Newark, Trenton and Camden etc.. It really doesn't matter how much money you throw at these school districts. The result is always the same - failure!
These kids live in a war zone with drugs, guns prostitution, parents that don't care and some have no idea who their parents are. It's a mess! I don't know how many studies they have to do to figure out these kids need a STABLE home life and parents that CARE. So much of our taxes are WASTED.
What we need is VOUCHERS. Then anyone can go to a school of their choice - private, public, parochial, whatever!
Thanks for the link!
I don’t know the local teachers very well ... but we did meet with the middle school principal, guidance counselor and vice principal. Needless to say we were very unimporessed and decided to continue the private school route.
It was amusing ... they could hardly beleive that people would INTERVIEW them. They really believe they have a monopoly and you have no choice. LOL! We decided NOT to go there. We were actually looking for some financial relief and trying to see for ourselves how good or how they were.
When I looked at some of the salaries ... what a joke! They’re not worth THAT. The ones we met with certainly weren’t worth THAT. Intersetingly, of those we met with, NONE of them had THEIR kids in our local school district! None of them! They had them in private schools!!! They all lived in the area too!
When you mess with the bull you will get the horn!
bingo...
“What we need is VOUCHERS. Then anyone can go to a school of their choice - private, public, parochial, whatever!”
I want more than vouchers.
I want EVERY dollar of state aid to K-12 education to go to the parents of “needy” K-12 students, letting THEM deposit it with the school of their choice, public or private; even allowing them to deposit it outside their designated school district. I want no single penny of state aid for K-12 education to be consigned to supporting any particular school or school district.
This would even allow some “good” “public schools” and even some “good” “public school districts” to voluntarily choose to take some students from outside their assigned area, and obtain those students portion of state assistance as well.
Don’t apologize.
I am sure Christie believes it is enough to be correct on the question of why should state aid should over-subsidize school districts that want to be extravagant with their top administrative salaries. And, if that is the question, his answer is correct.
But, its the wrong question. That’s where Christie is insufficiently Conservative.
The Conservative needs to ask: Why is state aid involved local education in a general way? If the idea is that the state should be helping those who need financial assistance for K-12 education (”safety net” vs entitlement), then that state aid should go to the parents of the students who need that assistance - they are who the state should be directly supporting and defending; not any particular education institution, public or private.
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