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Resistance See other Resistance Articles Title: When Chris Christie led a successful war on NJ school budgets N.J. voters reject school budgets in heated elections Updated Apr 01, 2019; Posted Apr 21, 2010 New Jersey voters took a stand on school spending and property taxes Tuesday, rejecting 260 of 479 school budgets across 19 counties, according to unofficial results in statewide school elections. In the proposed state budget he unveiled last month, Gov. Chris Christie slashed $820 million in aid to school districts and urged voters to defeat budgets if teachers in their schools did not agree to one-year wage freezes. The salvo ignited a heated debate with the state’s largest teachers union. New Jersey voters took a stand on school spending and property taxes Tuesday, rejecting 260 of 479 school budgets across 19 counties, according to unofficial results in statewide school elections. In the proposed state budget he unveiled last month, Gov. Chris Christie slashed $820 million in aid to school districts and urged voters to defeat budgets if teachers in their schools did not agree to one-year wage freezes. The salvo ignited a heated debate with the state’s largest teachers union. Christie said the cuts were necessary to help plug an $11 billion state budget gap. More election results : • Hudson County • Morris County • Essex County • Somerset County • Union County • Middlesex County • Hunterdon County • Gloucester County • Cumberland County • Salem County • Mercer County In many districts Tuesday, the governor made himself heard as 54 percent of the spending plans were rejected, according to unofficial returns. If the trend continues, it would mark the most budget defeats in New Jersey since 1976, when 56 percent failed. Typically, voters approve more than 70 percent of the school budgets. Key districts where budgets failed yesterday included Edison, Parsippany, Bridgewater-Raritan and Woodbridge. Budgets passed in Mountain Lakes, Piscataway, Livingston and Jersey City. In wealthy Somerset County, voters defeated 15 of 17 spending plans; in Hunterdon County, 23 of 28 budgets failed. In the governor’s hometown, Mendham Township, the budget was narrowly approved. Jeffrey Brookner, president of the Bridgewater-Raritan school board, said "lots of factors played into the defeat. One of those factors is the role that the governor played." Voter turnout was also high in elections that typically draw little interest. In Sparta, where turnout rivaled some presidential elections, the budget was defeated by roughly a 3-to-1 margin. Sparta teachers agreed to a one-year wage freeze late last week, but the budget still called for a nearly 10 percent tax increase for residents in the Sussex County community. "I think the governor’s rhetoric hurt us. The governor dumping all of the state issues on the local level hurt us," Superintendent Thomas Morton said. "It’s going to be a long, hard road. We’ll start to work tomorrow." How did you vote on your school budget? I voted no I did not vote I voted yes VoteView Results In towns where they failed, the budgets will now be presented to the local governing body, which can cut or leave the spending plans as is. Sparta Mayor Scott Seelagy said he wanted to analyze the budget before commenting on where the council would look for cuts. "The voters in Sparta have sent a very strong message about how they feel about taxes," said Seelagy, who said he couldn’t recall the last time a Sparta school budget had failed. "I think people voted with their pocketbooks." In North Brunswick, where the teachers union also agreed last week to a one-year wage freeze, the budget passed. "The cooperation, I think that was the difference," Superintendent Brian Zychowski said. "People recognized that everybody was trying to contribute to maintain the educational integrity of the school district." School elections in New Jersey are usually a low-key event, with voter turnout typically around 15 percent. This year was different, with weeks of harsh rhetoric and a bare- knuckles political battle between the governor and the 200,000- member New Jersey Education Association leading up to the vote. When it came time to cast ballots, residents like Dru Patel of Parsippany sided with Christie. Patel, 45, who voted at Lake Hiawatha School, said he turned down the district's $127 million budget because "there was nothing like a salary freeze ... in these tough times. Previous coverage: • N.J. school elections Q&A: What happens when school budgets fail • N.J. voters cast ballots on school budgets amid Gov. Chris Christie's budget cuts • Gov. Chris Christie calls N.J. students union 'pawns' in teacher layoff protests • Bergen County teachers union chief seeks to survive after 'prayer' memo • N.J. teachers unions in 17 of 590 districts agree to wage freezes so far • N.J. teachers union is skeptical of Gov. Christie's letters on wage freeze • Complete coverage of the 2010 New Jersey State Budget "At our work place, we have had a salary freeze for two years, and the budget and property taxes keep going up," said Patel, a research scientist at a chemical company. Don Wheeler, of Linden, voted against his district’s $102 million budget, which included $78 million to be raised in taxes. The budget failed. "There is such a thing as belt-tightening and if the educators don’t recognize it, they’re going to," Wheeler said. Not everyone felt that way. Anthony Cordasco, 38, of Parsippany, said he voted for the budget to preserve the quality of the schools. "I think our governor was irresponsible in his comment urging people to vote no. Individual communities should take their own local needs into consideration," Cordasco said. Clem Gibeault of Roselle Park, a former school board president, said he voted for his district's $29.2 budget, which would still mean the loss of 58 jobs. The budget failed by two votes, but election officials are going to tabulate provisional ballots today. "The school system is the only thing they’ve got in Roselle Park, and you’ve got to support it," Gibeault said. Districts were sent reeling by the cuts Christie proposed, which slashed aid to each district by an amount equal to 5 percent of their overall budgets, but resulted in eliminating 40-, 50- or even 100 percent of many districts’ state aid. School boards proposed laying off teachers, slashing programs and increasing class sizes. Hundreds of teachers gather to protest Chris Christies proposed cuts Christie cast his own ballot Tuesday morning in Mendham Township and declined to say how he voted . "I’m going to vote my conscience," Christie said. "It’s my business." Christie spokesman Michael Drewniak said in an email the governor would not comment last night on the results. The NJEA’s communications director did not immediately return a phone call late last night. By Jeanette Rundquist and Kristen Alloway/The Star-Ledger Staff writers Victoria St. Martin and Rohan Mascarenhas, and New Jersey Local News Service reporters Eliot Caroom, Eugene Paik, Dan Goldberg and Halley Bondy contributed to this report. Note to readers: if you purchase something through one of our affiliate links we may earn a commission. Poster Comment: What in the heck is with this? Citizens somewhere rose up against the scourge of property taxes that gouge parents and the childless alike? Jew Jersey's insufferably conservatiberal 55th governor did something radically right? OK, what was in in for him >;-} Has this happened elsewhere? Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
#1. To: NeoconsNailed (#0)
Pity that only 11 states permit voters to reject school budgets.
True. But if ppl would go to council mtgs and sound off against the hikes -- I don't -- it could achieve the same thing.
_____________________________________________________________ USA! USA! USA! Bringing you democracy, or else! there were strains of VD that were incurable, and they were first found in the Philippines and then transmitted to the Korean working girls via US military. The 'incurables' we were told were first taken back to a military hospital in the Philippines to quietly die. – 4um
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