Read these two editorials on the governor’s school aid plan — one in The Star-Ledger and one in the Asbury Park Press.
As expected, the Press takes a pretty dim view of the plan, railing against previous efforts to improve schooling in cities while accusing the governor of not doing enough to help suburban schools. The paper makes some valid points — lower-income districts have been ignored in the past, as have fast-growing districts. But the editorial also hits the governor and the Department of Education for something else, a knee-jerk opposition to spending money on education.
There are other, less parochial, reasons not to like the new school aid formula, beginning with its allocation of an additional $530 million in funding — little of which will be applied to property tax relief — and its failure to offset that increase with improved efficiencies and cost-cutting measures. New Jersey spends more on education than any state. Its deficiencies are related to waste, mismanagement, its profusion of school districts and overly generous employee benefits. New Jersey should be spending less money on education, not more. And it should be allocating it in a way that is fair to all taxpayers and all children in all communities.
Again, there are some valid points here. There is waste and there are too many districts. But spending less money is the wrong prescription. In fact, the state needs to pick up much more of the tab, lessening the need for local property taxes in the process. New Jersey — when all school spending, local and state, is taken into account — spends more on education than any other state; but as the Ledger points out, the state provides less of it than other states.
The issue, unfortunately, has never just been about the formula; rather, it has been the political will of both voters and legislators who have rarely funded school aid formulas to the level necessary. By shorting funding at the same time that the state is forced to meet the court funding mandate for urban schools, the Legislature creates the perceived imbalance, generating resentment among suburban voters.
It is time to take a breath, to slow the process so we can truly understand the ramifications. Jumping to conclusions, as the Press does in its editorial, does little to advance the discussion.
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Hank Kalet 