State trims aid by nearly $56G

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LAWMAKERS: They will attempt to restore funding
State trims aid by nearly $56G
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 07/31/07
BY NICK PETRUNCIO
FREEHOLD BUREAU

FREEHOLD — The borough school district was told last month it would get $550,000 in extra aid. But, the district didn't get it in writing — until Friday.

And when written word of the amount to be allocated finally came — after requests from the district — the number was $55,804 less than what originally was reported.

Superintendent Elizabeth O'Connell updated the board on the matter at its regular meeting Monday and noted that Assemblywoman Jennifer Beck, R-Monmouth, and Assemblyman Michael Panter, D-Monmouth, sent letters to state Department of Education Commissioner Lucille Davy to find out what happened.

Board President James Keelan said that state Sen. Ellen Karcher, D-Monmouth, originally assured him that the figure would not be below $550,000.

Karcher also has been in contact with state officials to determine the cause of the discrepancy.

Board members reserved comment on the funding situation during the meeting.

The underfunded, overcrowded kindergarten-through-eighth-grade school system can now expect to get only $494,196 more than its base funding level.

Richard Vespucci, a spokesman for the New Jersey Department of Education, said late Monday afternoon that the technical staff needed to explain the difference had left for the day, but that he would have an answer today.

Beck said the difference in the amount could be because the state education department is basing its per-pupil spending calculations on outdated enrollment figures or that the amount was misstated from the beginning. She said she wants the department to recalculate the numbers.

Beck, Panter and Karcher they have been in contact with the department to determine what happened. Also, Karcher said she was in touch with Gov. Corzine's office on Monday morning.

The senator said she still is pushing for the district to get the full $1.2 million it says it needs to meet the minimum per-pupil spending standard required by the state constitution.

Moreover, Panter said he has asked the Office of Legislative Services to research whether Freehold and the other eight school districts below the "thorough and efficient" education standard can take legal action against the state.

The assemblyman, who has a law degree, said there is a Constitutional guarantee of a "thorough and efficient" education but state-imposed caps on how much a district can raise through taxation are forcing districts below the "T&E" threshold. Moreover, he said that with recent cuts in federal funding, districts have no where to turn for help but to the state.

"It either is a constitutional guarantee or it isn't," Panter said.

have been in contact with the department to determine what happened. Also, Karcher said she was in touch with Gov. Corzine's office on Monday morning.

The senator said she still is pushing for the district to get the full $1.2 million it says it needs to meet the minimum per-pupil spending standard required by the state constitution.

Moreover, Panter said he has asked the Office of Legislative Services to research whether Freehold and the other eight school districts below the "thorough and efficient" education standard can take legal action against the state.

The assemblyman, who has a law degree, said there is a Constitutional guarantee of a "thorough and efficient" education but state-imposed caps on how much a district can raise through taxation are forcing districts below the "T&E" threshold. Moreover, he said that with recent cuts in federal funding, districts have no where to turn for help but to the state.

"It either is a constitutional guarantee or it isn't," Panter said.

Nick Petruncio: [phone] or [e-mail]

[John Harvard]

And when written word of the amount to be allocated finally came — after requests from the district — the number was $55,804 less than what originally was reported.

Only with a town like Freehold can legislature politicians, like these, use the schools as a political hot potato. No one seems to want to do the right thing for our kids, unless it translates into votes for them. Darn it! These kids deserve better than promises made; promises not kept. Fund them in full or don't fund them at all. Just don't say one thing and do something worth much less. It insults our intelligence and shows no respect for us as education consumers.

What are we teaching our kids about honesty and integrity by letting them see what is being done to their education's by several seedy state politicians looking to position themselves for vistory in the fall. Are our children supposed to believe that what little the state has done for them means much less than what has been done TO them by denying them their full share of funding? They need a million dollars and change, not a half million with a sizable chunk missing.

Freehold Borough has never had fair representation from its state senators and assembly people. When have they ever been seen in this town after elections? The current folks aren't much better. If they were, they would have convinced their colleagues to right a social inequality, instead of just dangling carrots the horse can never reach.

[Zbigniew Balzak]

John said:

And when written word of the amount to be allocated finally came — after requests from the district — the number was $55,804 less than what originally was reported.

Only with a town like Freehold can legislature politicians, like these, use the schools as a political hot potato. No one seems to want to do the right thing for our kids, unless it translates into votes for them. Darn it! These kids deserve better than promises made; promises not kept. Fund them in full or don't fund them at all. Just don't say one thing and do something worth much less. It insults our intelligence and shows no respect for us as education consumers.

What are we teaching our kids about honesty and integrity by letting them see what is being done to their education's by several seedy state politicians looking to position themselves for vistory in the fall. Are our children supposed to believe that what little the state has done for them means much less than what has been done TO them by denying them their full share of funding? They need a million dollars and change, not a half million with a sizable chunk missing.

Freehold Borough has never had fair representation from its state senators and assembly people. When have they ever been seen in this town after elections? The current folks aren't much better. If they were, they would have convinced their colleagues to right a social inequality, instead of just dangling carrots the horse can never reach.

I have been hearing talk that it is not only Trenton that shortchanges Boroughs schools, shared blame goes to Borough Hall too!

The Borough sustains one of the lowest % tax ratable contribution to education than most other Monmouth Municipalities.

This low priority to the Public Schools from the Municipal government is another chief (NON)contributor, Trenton just amplifies the Funding issue.

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[Kermit D Frog]

Parkway tunnels to offer safe passage for critters to cross road
by Tom Feeney
Tuesday July 31, 2007, 9:07 PM

Snakes, frogs and salamanders may never be stuck in Shore traffic again.

The long-planned widening of the Garden State Parkway through the Pinelands will include a series of wildlife tunnels designed to let five threatened or endangered species of reptiles pass safely from one side of the highway to the other.

The passages and 6.7 miles of concrete walls to channel the reptiles into them and off the road will cost about $9 million, Turnpike Authority officials said.

The widening project will disrupt the habitats of 14 animals on the federal or state threatened or endangered species lists, a Turnpike consultant found. Nine of the animal species were birds. The other five - the timber rattlesnake, the northern pine snake, the Pine Barrens tree frog, the Cope's gray tree frog and the eastern tiger salamander - would have to slither, hop or walk through traffic to cross the newly widened Parkway if the wildlife passages weren't built.

The DEP has told the Turnpike Authority it must build the tunnels to qualify for the permits it needs to widen the road.

The Turnpike Authority plans to spend $135 million to widen the Parkway from two lanes in each direction to three between Toms River and Manahawkin, a stretch of 17 miles.

Because it might want to expand other sections of the Parkway in the future, it has applied for permits to widen the full 50-mile stretch of the road between Toms River and Somers Point.

[Concerned Parent]

On the subject of local municipal money and the schools, I still have not seen an accounting, or even a hint, of what Borough Hall has done with the PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) money which landed in their coffers from the Rug Mill.

There are many children from that project, and the schools have gotten nothing - zilch - nada - and the cost to educate all of those children is, once again, absorbed by the taxpayers. Why don't people pay attention? Too many pals and cronies in a small town, things will never change.

[4sale411]

Sell Your Home

When I first got into hypnosis, we were trying to sell our home and having great difficulty doing so. Our home had been on the market for a year and we hadn't had any offers. Not even a nibble. It was a great home and many who came to our open houses said so. I'd tried making a self-hypnosis script for myself at the beginning, but to no avail. So, why no offers? The thoughts (concerns) of my rational mind were easily canceling out my positive thoughts about selling the house. My doubts and concerns about the house were overwhelming me. I was worried about the roof (needed a little work), the furnace was old though still working fine, and we lived on a fairly busy street. I was focusing on negative thoughts rather than on positive thoughts about selling the house. After a year of futility, I was reading Dr. Joseph Murphy's book on The Power of Your Subconscious Mind. I found a script in the book for selling a home. One thing I discovered was that my main fear was that whoever bought our home wouldn't be happy with it. But the script I found relieved all my concerns. And after I tweaked the script a little, I began practicing self-hypnosis with it and two weeks later we had an offer and sold the home. Here is the "tweaked version" of that script.

My powerful subconscious attracts to me the perfect buyer for our home. This is a buyer who wants our home and will prosper in it. My powerful subconscious mind is attracting this buyer to us just as the powerful subconscious mind of the buyer is guiding them toward us. This buyer is sent to us by the Creative Level of my mind which makes no mistakes. This buyer may look at other homes, but our home is the one this buyer wants. Our home is the perfect home for this buyer; the only home they want. I know the buyer is right, the time is right, and the price is right. The deeper levels our subconscious minds are bringing us together, and we will both prosper.

Then I added a visualization. I imagined myself walking out into the front yard, pulling the For Sale sign from the ground, walking around to the backyard where I placed the sign in the tough shed and said aloud, "Thank you for having served me, but I don't need you any longer." And I'd feel a great deal of relief every time I imagined this scene.

And on the day we struck a deal with the buyer, I fulfilled my visualization and put the For Sale sign in the tough shed. The phrase, "a buyer who wants our home and will prosper in it," is what sealed the deal for me. I believed that we were finding a buyer who would truly prosper in our home and be happy that they had bought it. We struck a deal on repairing a portion of the roof and everything proceeded smoothly. I repeated this script two to three times a night along with the visualization. In large part, this script worked because it helped me to let go of my fears. I can't express just how important it is to let go of negative thoughts when you're trying to create something for yourself or trying to make a change.

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