Vote TODAY! (3-9PM)

[dfx]

All -

Today from 3 to 9pm is the Freehold Borough School District (Elementary & Middle School) Board of Education election/school budget public vote. And as you're all probably aware, one of the largest single uses of your property taxes is the support of our local educational institutions. However I'm not sending you this e-mail to ask for your support in passing the proposed school budget as that is strictly a personal decision on each of your parts. Instead I am asking for your confidence and vote in continuing to represent your interests as a member of the Board of Education.

Since being appointed to fill an empty BoE position 8 months ago, I've pushed for the formation of a Community Relations Committee (which I now chair), developed a communications strategy, and have regularly "walked the town" in order to proactively solicit community feedback. I'm also not afraid to push back on issues that I feel strongly about - such as the 4% property tax increase initially proposed by the superintendent and subsequently REDUCED to 1.76% due to a growing coalition of budget-conscious board members. (This new budget includes no staff reductions, no increases in class sizes, and no cancellation of any programs - which will still keep our schools competitive.)

In summation, I hope you provide me with the opportunity to continue serving you as an elected Board of Education member and I promise to continue trying my hardest to support and promote our wonderful district.



Thank you,

Dan Xavier


PS.
One more thing - I think it's crucial that a Board of Education member always be available to hear directly from the town's residents. Since moving back to Freehold five years ago, I've been active in the community (Freehold Borough Volunteer Fire Department, Freehold Borough Neighborhood Pride Committee, etc.) and a Sunday morning regular at Sweet Lew's – so one never needs to look very far to find me. And those of you who know me can attest to my openness to new ideas and willingness to look into any/every avenue to continuously improve the Borough’s educational standards while remaining mindful of taxpayer investments...

[BrianSullivan]

Apr 20, 2010 5:40:55 GMT -5 dfx said:

All -

Today from 3 to 9pm is the Freehold Borough School District (Elementary & Middle School) Board of Education election/school budget public vote. And as you're all probably aware, one of the largest single uses of your property taxes is the support of our local educational institutions. However I'm not sending you this e-mail to ask for your support in passing the proposed school budget as that is strictly a personal decision on each of your parts. Instead I am asking for your confidence and vote in continuing to represent your interests as a member of the Board of Education.

Since being appointed to fill an empty BoE position 8 months ago, I've pushed for the formation of a Community Relations Committee (which I now chair), developed a communications strategy, and have regularly "walked the town" in order to proactively solicit community feedback. I'm also not afraid to push back on issues that I feel strongly about - such as the 4% property tax increase initially proposed by the superintendent and subsequently REDUCED to 1.76% due to a growing coalition of budget-conscious board members. (This new budget includes no staff reductions, no increases in class sizes, and no cancellation of any programs - which will still keep our schools competitive.)

In summation, I hope you provide me with the opportunity to continue serving you as an elected Board of Education member and I promise to continue trying my hardest to support and promote our wonderful district.



Thank you,

Dan Xavier


PS.
One more thing - I think it's crucial that a Board of Education member always be available to hear directly from the town's residents. Since moving back to Freehold five years ago, I've been active in the community (Freehold Borough Volunteer Fire Department, Freehold Borough Neighborhood Pride Committee, etc.) and a Sunday morning regular at Sweet Lew's – so one never needs to look very far to find me. And those of you who know me can attest to my openness to new ideas and willingness to look into any/every avenue to continuously improve the Borough’s educational standards while remaining mindful of taxpayer investments...

Dan, best of luck to you and thank you for posting here and keeping us in the loop.

I do want to thank all of the candidates this year. It is great to see such a good race with so much energy from people who want to serve. Apathy is the worst thing for all of us and there is no sign of it this year. Let hope the voters show up in larger numbers than usual.

[BrianSullivan]

I posted the FinNJ links about the candidates in other thread, Here is the last in that series.

Dan Xavier and Roxanne Payne

freehold.injersey.com/2010/04/20/meet-the-candidates-payne-and-xavier/

[BrianSullivan]

Congratulations to Thomas Park, Annette Jordan, Kevin TennantP
Dan Xavier and Ron Reich for winning their electio to the BOE.

To all the other candidates, a big thank you to allof you for showing an interest in serving, sharing your ideas and giving us a race.

The budget was defeated in the borough, township, and regional district, as I am sure it was in many, many places.

[adefonzo]

990 Total votes on the budget

694 people voted for 3-year term positions

581 people voted for 2-year term position (though there was only the one candidate)

692 people voted for the 1-year term position

In a year when the schools did even more to get the information out to the public, apathy is once again the clear winner in the election.

The schools continue to fight a losing battle against a public that, save for a small group of people who regularly show up, continues to turn it's back and not step up when it's needed.

Good luck to those who were elected and re-elected...as always, you're work is cut out for you.

[Mike Rosseel]

Apr 21, 2010 1:30:18 GMT -5 adefonzo said:

990 Total votes on the budget

694 people voted for 3-year term positions

581 people voted for 2-year term position (though there was only the one candidate)

692 people voted for the 1-year term position

In a year when the schools did even more to get the information out to the public, apathy is once again the clear winner in the election.

The schools continue to fight a losing battle against a public that, save for a small group of people who regularly show up, continues to turn it's back and not step up when it's needed.

Good luck to those who were elected and re-elected...as always, you're work is cut out for you.

Andrew,

Playing devils advocate, why is it when people vote down a budget its always assumed they dont care about the school system. Isnt it possible, people can barely afford the taxes as it is in a town like Freehold. Isnt it possible, althought the BOE, IMHO came up with an amazing budget, people are saying enough is enough. When teachers send a message to NJ that they will not take a freeze or pay a mininimal amount for benefits for one year to save all there jobs, what message is that? The entire US is taking a hit, why cant they. I think this was a message to the admins, principles, and staff saying you cut back things, scale down your 100k plus salaries. Principles have 4 assistants who make a nice penny, come on, who are we kidding. IMHO, its time they get realistic and show the people of NJ some good faith instead of wanting us to always show them. We are taxed enough, to the maxs! I think a message was sent!

Although it is indeed sad that our schools and children take a hit, I think alot of residents are at there break point with taxes etc. FYI- before you try to jump all over me, I voted YES! ;D

[lisas84]

Congratulations, Dan!

I am truly very happy for you.

[adefonzo]

Apr 21, 2010 7:31:09 GMT -5 Mike Rosseel said:

Andrew,

Playing devils advocate, why is it when people vote down a budget its always assumed they dont care about the school system. Isnt it possible, people can barely afford the taxes as it is in a town like Freehold. Isnt it possible, althought the BOE, IMHO came up with an amazing budget, people are saying enough is enough. When teachers send a message to NJ that they will not take a freeze or pay a mininimal amount for benefits for one year to save all there jobs, what message is that? The entire US is taking a hit, why cant they. I think this was a message to the admins, principles, and staff saying you cut back things, scale down your 100k plus salaries. Principles have 4 assistants who make a nice penny, come on, who are we kidding. IMHO, its time they get realistic and show the people of NJ some good faith instead of wanting us to always show them. We are taxed enough, to the maxs! I think a message was sent!

Although it is indeed sad that our schools and children take a hit, I think alot of residents are at there break point with taxes etc. FYI- before you try to jump all over me, I voted YES! ;D

Mike...do not misunderstand me...quite honestly, I don't care that the budget was voted down. In fact, during my brief stint on the BOE, there were a couple of times where I myself voted against the budget, both as a board member in our meetings, and also at the polls as a resident of the Boro.

I have no problem with "the voice of the people" being heard, and I agree with you that even though the administration and BOE apparently worked hard to make the tax increase as small as possible, people are very likely just fed up with their taxes going up every year...no matter how little...especially during a time when people are trying to cut back on expenses.

My problem is in the turnout, as it has been for several years now.

When I read through the articles that Brian posted on here which detailed the "meet the candidates" night, they all had one common point...communication between the schools and the folks in town. It's something that we battled with when I was on the board, it was something my father battled with when he was on the board.....it's something that will never (in my opinion) be resolved.

When it comes to the schools, the sad reality is - and I'm ready to take a beating for this - the folks in town only show an ounce of interest when it comes time to vote down the budget. And I have news for you...people don't even show up to learn about the budget, they just show up at the polls to vote it down, no matter what. There always have been these types of folks, there always will be...and they are entitled to vote as they choose.

The ones that bother me, though...the ones that really confuse me even...are the parents.

The Boro schools have fairly consistantly been around the 1300 student mark for several years now. Let's be conservative and say that each kid in school has a brother or sister, so we'll say 650 families. Let's be conservative again and say that each "family" has only one parent, which means there are 650 parents out there who should be involved or at least informed about the schools that their children are attending. You can't even get that many people out to vote in favor of the school's budget.

Now, it's entirely possible that there are plenty of parents who actually voted against the budget. Maybe all 650 showed up, but a number of them voted against it. Now my question is...were they at the budget meetings that the BOE held? Were they at any BOE meetings questioning how the money is being spent? Were they at any BOE meetings at all???

Maybe a lot has changed in the last 8 months that I have been off the BOE and out of the country...but I can tell you from first hand experience...in the 3 years I was on the board, I could count the number of people that showed up for BOE meetings without having to borrow anyone else's fingers or toes.

For the people in town that I have spoken to over the years, it's simple...all they see is their tax dollars going up year after year after year...and they're tired of it. And believe me, this plays into a larger view of things, because I believe with all of my heart and soul that if a municipality, county, state, or the federal government ever had the guts to put their budget up for a vote, you would get a record turnout of people who would absolutely vote it down.

I'm starting to ramble, and I apologize. It's getting late over here, so let me just finish with this...

As I said before, the BOE members who will be running things for the next year and going forward have the same daunting task as several of them (and others who have come and gone) have been faced with for years now. A public that doesn't want to see justification for spending what you're spending, they want to know when you're going to stop taking more out of their wallets. They are a stubborn group...they don't want to hear a song and a dance about test scores, or being in the lower half of administrative spending, or being below adequacy, and they especially don't want to hear about "tax rebates" when their taxes are still going up.

Perhaps it's not the lines of communication that need to be developed...it's just a new message that needs to be developed...one that the people will believe.

Good luck

[Mike Rosseel]

Apr 21, 2010 10:51:09 GMT -5 adefonzo said:

Apr 21, 2010 7:31:09 GMT -5 Mike Rosseel said:

Andrew,

Playing devils advocate, why is it when people vote down a budget its always assumed they dint care about the school system. Isn't it possible, people can barely afford the taxes as it is in a town like Freehold. Isn't it possible, although the BOE, IMHO came up with an amazing budget, people are saying enough is enough. When teachers send a message to NJ that they will not take a freeze or pay a minimal amount for benefits for one year to save all there jobs, what message is that? The entire US is taking a hit, why cant they. I think this was a message to the admins, principles, and staff saying you cut back things, scale down your 100k plus salaries. Principles have 4 assistants who make a nice penny, come on, who are we kidding. IMHO, its time they get realistic and show the people of NJ some good faith instead of wanting us to always show them. We are taxed enough, to the maxs! I think a message was sent!

Although it is indeed sad that our schools and children take a hit, I think alot of residents are at there break point with taxes etc. FYI- before you try to jump all over me, I voted YES! ;D

Mike...do not misunderstand me...quite honestly, I don't care that the budget was voted down. In fact, during my brief stint on the BOE, there were a couple of times where I myself voted against the budget, both as a board member in our meetings, and also at the polls as a resident of the Boro.

I have no problem with "the voice of the people" being heard, and I agree with you that even though the administration and BOE apparently worked hard to make the tax increase as small as possible, people are very likely just fed up with their taxes going up every year...no matter how little...especially during a time when people are trying to cut back on expenses.

My problem is in the turnout, as it has been for several years now.

When I read through the articles that Brian posted on here which detailed the "meet the candidates" night, they all had one common point...communication between the schools and the folks in town. It's something that we battled with when I was on the board, it was something my father battled with when he was on the board.....it's something that will never (in my opinion) be resolved.

When it comes to the schools, the sad reality is - and I'm ready to take a beating for this - the folks in town only show an ounce of interest when it comes time to vote down the budget. And I have news for you...people don't even show up to learn about the budget, they just show up at the polls to vote it down, no matter what. There always have been these types of folks, there always will be...and they are entitled to vote as they choose.

The ones that bother me, though...the ones that really confuse me even...are the parents.

The Boro schools have fairly consistantly been around the 1300 student mark for several years now. Let's be conservative and say that each kid in school has a brother or sister, so we'll say 650 families. Let's be conservative again and say that each "family" has only one parent, which means there are 650 parents out there who should be involved or at least informed about the schools that their children are attending. You can't even get that many people out to vote in favor of the school's budget.

Now, it's entirely possible that there are plenty of parents who actually voted against the budget. Maybe all 650 showed up, but a number of them voted against it. Now my question is...were they at the budget meetings that the BOE held? Were they at any BOE meetings questioning how the money is being spent? Were they at any BOE meetings at all???

Maybe a lot has changed in the last 8 months that I have been off the BOE and out of the country...but I can tell you from first hand experience...in the 3 years I was on the board, I could count the number of people that showed up for BOE meetings without having to borrow anyone else's fingers or toes.

For the people in town that I have spoken to over the years, it's simple...all they see is their tax dollars going up year after year after year...and they're tired of it. And believe me, this plays into a larger view of things, because I believe with all of my heart and soul that if a municipality, county, state, or the federal government ever had the guts to put their budget up for a vote, you would get a record turnout of people who would absolutely vote it down.

I'm starting to ramble, and I apologize. It's getting late over here, so let me just finish with this...

As I said before, the BOE members who will be running things for the next year and going forward have the same daunting task as several of them (and others who have come and gone) have been faced with for years now. A public that doesn't want to see justification for spending what you're spending, they want to know when you're going to stop taking more out of their wallets. They are a stubborn group...they don't want to hear a song and a dance about test scores, or being in the lower half of administrative spending, or being below adequacy, and they especially don't want to hear about "tax rebates" when their taxes are still going up.

Perhaps it's not the lines of communication that need to be developed...it's just a new message that needs to be developed...one that the people will believe.

Good luck

Andrew.

You bring up a very interesting point, voting on budgets. I must admit, I never thought of that. I could see not being able to vote on state or possibly even county, but voting on town budgets seems to be a GREAT idea. Imagine a world, were you have a say in how your moneys spent...yikes, scary, at least for politic ans.

This is off subject for here but I'm wondering if Councilmen Newman's Citizens Budget committee would be a step in the right direction. Would that give us the citizens, a say in all this? Interesting. Not sure if councilmen Newman will read this but I wonder if he could give us a break down of the duties his proposed committee would have, could be an interesting read!

[BrianSullivan]

Apr 21, 2010 10:51:09 GMT -5 adefonzo said:

Apr 21, 2010 7:31:09 GMT -5 Mike Rosseel said:

Andrew,

Playing devils advocate, why is it when people vote down a budget its always assumed they dont care about the school system. Isnt it possible, people can barely afford the taxes as it is in a town like Freehold. Isnt it possible, althought the BOE, IMHO came up with an amazing budget, people are saying enough is enough. When teachers send a message to NJ that they will not take a freeze or pay a mininimal amount for benefits for one year to save all there jobs, what message is that? The entire US is taking a hit, why cant they. I think this was a message to the admins, principles, and staff saying you cut back things, scale down your 100k plus salaries. Principles have 4 assistants who make a nice penny, come on, who are we kidding. IMHO, its time they get realistic and show the people of NJ some good faith instead of wanting us to always show them. We are taxed enough, to the maxs! I think a message was sent!

Although it is indeed sad that our schools and children take a hit, I think alot of residents are at there break point with taxes etc. FYI- before you try to jump all over me, I voted YES! ;D

Mike...do not misunderstand me...quite honestly, I don't care that the budget was voted down. In fact, during my brief stint on the BOE, there were a couple of times where I myself voted against the budget, both as a board member in our meetings, and also at the polls as a resident of the Boro.

I have no problem with "the voice of the people" being heard, and I agree with you that even though the administration and BOE apparently worked hard to make the tax increase as small as possible, people are very likely just fed up with their taxes going up every year...no matter how little...especially during a time when people are trying to cut back on expenses.

My problem is in the turnout, as it has been for several years now.

When I read through the articles that Brian posted on here which detailed the "meet the candidates" night, they all had one common point...communication between the schools and the folks in town. It's something that we battled with when I was on the board, it was something my father battled with when he was on the board.....it's something that will never (in my opinion) be resolved.

When it comes to the schools, the sad reality is - and I'm ready to take a beating for this - the folks in town only show an ounce of interest when it comes time to vote down the budget. And I have news for you...people don't even show up to learn about the budget, they just show up at the polls to vote it down, no matter what. There always have been these types of folks, there always will be...and they are entitled to vote as they choose.

The ones that bother me, though...the ones that really confuse me even...are the parents.

The Boro schools have fairly consistantly been around the 1300 student mark for several years now. Let's be conservative and say that each kid in school has a brother or sister, so we'll say 650 families. Let's be conservative again and say that each "family" has only one parent, which means there are 650 parents out there who should be involved or at least informed about the schools that their children are attending. You can't even get that many people out to vote in favor of the school's budget.

Now, it's entirely possible that there are plenty of parents who actually voted against the budget. Maybe all 650 showed up, but a number of them voted against it. Now my question is...were they at the budget meetings that the BOE held? Were they at any BOE meetings questioning how the money is being spent? Were they at any BOE meetings at all???

Maybe a lot has changed in the last 8 months that I have been off the BOE and out of the country...but I can tell you from first hand experience...in the 3 years I was on the board, I could count the number of people that showed up for BOE meetings without having to borrow anyone else's fingers or toes.

For the people in town that I have spoken to over the years, it's simple...all they see is their tax dollars going up year after year after year...and they're tired of it. And believe me, this plays into a larger view of things, because I believe with all of my heart and soul that if a municipality, county, state, or the federal government ever had the guts to put their budget up for a vote, you would get a record turnout of people who would absolutely vote it down.

I'm starting to ramble, and I apologize. It's getting late over here, so let me just finish with this...

As I said before, the BOE members who will be running things for the next year and going forward have the same daunting task as several of them (and others who have come and gone) have been faced with for years now. A public that doesn't want to see justification for spending what you're spending, they want to know when you're going to stop taking more out of their wallets. They are a stubborn group...they don't want to hear a song and a dance about test scores, or being in the lower half of administrative spending, or being below adequacy, and they especially don't want to hear about "tax rebates" when their taxes are still going up.

Perhaps it's not the lines of communication that need to be developed...it's just a new message that needs to be developed...one that the people will believe.

Good luck

Andrew, You missed one very important element in your break down of families in the schools. Many parents cannot vote! That in itself is a big obstacle for the schools in passing a budget.

That aside, I am still surprised that the borough budget did not pass. I thought it would though many schools predictably would not. I even had a co worker today comment on his surprise about the borough schools. He was aware that our proposed tax increase was very, very low. That co worker lives in a town where the proposed budget was a 9 percent increase. That one got decimated by the voters.

For me, I will share my vote and why now that the election is over. I voted no. I apologize to the BOE who may read this, I know they do a great job. I know the town is in contract talks with the unions. I voted no to send the union a message. I have written this before and will write it again. I am a very firm believer in three things.

1. All public employees from top to bottom must accept a wage freeze for the next year or two.

2. All public employees must pay the proposed 1.5 percent of their salary into their health benefits.

3. Retirement age has got to be raised higher than 55.

All three of the above would apply to me, so I would be taking my own medicine. I hope the unions read this, they need to wake up. What we are seeing is not an anti education backlash. It is a backlash against the extreme expenses we are all paying. The general public is rightfully fed up and cannot be blamed.

I will say to our BOE members who read this. What we need from you is to become activist oriented in ways we have not seen before. Trenton is going through changes and it is important to be on top of those changes. Identify the mandates that cost us tons of money and tell Trenton to ease up on them. Make noise about the awful Abbot funding. Everybody else has lost a lot of ground because of that. The class warfare approach to things had got to end.

Asking Trenton for more money is a waste of time.
Their will be no sympathy and the state is broke. We cannot complain about the high costs of education when we gleefully accept expensive things like pre K schooling. We may not pay for it locally, but we do pat for it. The problems in this state is not revenue, we are massively taxed and soaking the rich will only get us so much. The problem is spending from top to bottom.

[BrianSullivan]

Here is an interesting message fro Greater Media News papers tha puts things in perspective....

Every school budget in the News Transcript, Tri-Town News & Examiner coverage area was defeated in Tuesday’s elections, except for Roosevelt. Check out the full story next week in print or at www.gmnews.com/

[BrianSullivan]

Apr 21, 2010 16:09:33 GMT -5 BrianSullivan said:

Apr 21, 2010 10:51:09 GMT -5 adefonzo said:

Mike...do not misunderstand me...quite honestly, I don't care that the budget was voted down. In fact, during my brief stint on the BOE, there were a couple of times where I myself voted against the budget, both as a board member in our meetings, and also at the polls as a resident of the Boro.

I have no problem with "the voice of the people" being heard, and I agree with you that even though the administration and BOE apparently worked hard to make the tax increase as small as possible, people are very likely just fed up with their taxes going up every year...no matter how little...especially during a time when people are trying to cut back on expenses.

My problem is in the turnout, as it has been for several years now.

When I read through the articles that Brian posted on here which detailed the "meet the candidates" night, they all had one common point...communication between the schools and the folks in town. It's something that we battled with when I was on the board, it was something my father battled with when he was on the board.....it's something that will never (in my opinion) be resolved.

When it comes to the schools, the sad reality is - and I'm ready to take a beating for this - the folks in town only show an ounce of interest when it comes time to vote down the budget. And I have news for you...people don't even show up to learn about the budget, they just show up at the polls to vote it down, no matter what. There always have been these types of folks, there always will be...and they are entitled to vote as they choose.

The ones that bother me, though...the ones that really confuse me even...are the parents.

The Boro schools have fairly consistantly been around the 1300 student mark for several years now. Let's be conservative and say that each kid in school has a brother or sister, so we'll say 650 families. Let's be conservative again and say that each "family" has only one parent, which means there are 650 parents out there who should be involved or at least informed about the schools that their children are attending. You can't even get that many people out to vote in favor of the school's budget.

Now, it's entirely possible that there are plenty of parents who actually voted against the budget. Maybe all 650 showed up, but a number of them voted against it. Now my question is...were they at the budget meetings that the BOE held? Were they at any BOE meetings questioning how the money is being spent? Were they at any BOE meetings at all???

Maybe a lot has changed in the last 8 months that I have been off the BOE and out of the country...but I can tell you from first hand experience...in the 3 years I was on the board, I could count the number of people that showed up for BOE meetings without having to borrow anyone else's fingers or toes.

For the people in town that I have spoken to over the years, it's simple...all they see is their tax dollars going up year after year after year...and they're tired of it. And believe me, this plays into a larger view of things, because I believe with all of my heart and soul that if a municipality, county, state, or the federal government ever had the guts to put their budget up for a vote, you would get a record turnout of people who would absolutely vote it down.

I'm starting to ramble, and I apologize. It's getting late over here, so let me just finish with this...

As I said before, the BOE members who will be running things for the next year and going forward have the same daunting task as several of them (and others who have come and gone) have been faced with for years now. A public that doesn't want to see justification for spending what you're spending, they want to know when you're going to stop taking more out of their wallets. They are a stubborn group...they don't want to hear a song and a dance about test scores, or being in the lower half of administrative spending, or being below adequacy, and they especially don't want to hear about "tax rebates" when their taxes are still going up.

Perhaps it's not the lines of communication that need to be developed...it's just a new message that needs to be developed...one that the people will believe.

Good luck

Andrew, You missed one very important element in your break down of families in the schools. Many parents cannot vote! That in itself is a big obstacle for the schools in passing a budget.

That aside, I am still surprised that the borough budget did not pass. I thought it would though many schools predictably would not. I even had a co worker today comment on his surprise about the borough schools. He was aware that our proposed tax increase was very, very low. That co worker lives in a town where the proposed budget was a 9 percent increase. That one got decimated by the voters.

For me, I will share my vote and why now that the election is over. I voted no. I apologize to the BOE who may read this, I know they do a great job. I know the town is in contract talks with the unions. I voted no to send the union a message. I have written this before and will write it again. I am a very firm believer in three things.

1. All public employees from top to bottom must accept a wage freeze for the next year or two.

2. All public employees must pay the proposed 1.5 percent of their salary into their health benefits.

3. Retirement age has got to be raised higher than 55.

All three of the above would apply to me, so I would be taking my own medicine. I hope the unions read this, they need to wake up. What we are seeing is not an anti education backlash. It is a backlash against the extreme expenses we are all paying. The general public is rightfully fed up and cannot be blamed.

I will say to our BOE members who read this. What we need from you is to become activist oriented in ways we have not seen before. Trenton is going through changes and it is important to be on top of those changes. Identify the mandates that cost us tons of money and tell Trenton to ease up on them. Make noise about the awful Abbot funding. Everybody else has lost a lot of ground because of that. The class warfare approach to things had got to end.

Asking Trenton for more money is a waste of time.
Their will be no sympathy and the state is broke. We cannot complain about the high costs of education when we gleefully accept expensive things like pre K schooling. We may not pay for it locally, but we do pat for it. The problems in this state is not revenue, we are massively taxed and soaking the rich will only get us so much. The problem is spending from top to bottom.

The APP has an editorial today that is pretty good and backs up what I have written.

www.app.com/article/20100421/OPINION01/4220316/1029/OPINION/Bring-teacher-salaries-and-benefits-in-line-with-today-s-economic-realities


Various explanations have been offered for voters' rejection of nearly six of every 10 school budgets in New Jersey Tuesday — the highest rejection rate in at least 35 years:





Outrage over the state's highest-in-the-nation property taxes and anxiety over the prospect of further increases.
The stagnant economy and stubbornly high unemployment rate.

Anger at the refusal of most local teachers' unions — all but 20 statewide — to accept a one-year wage freeze requested by Gov. Chris Christie.

Longstanding frustration with government's failure at all levels to rein in spending.

All contributed to the climate that led to the stunning 72 percent rejection of school budgets in Monmouth County, the rejection of all six second-ballot questions statewide to spend above the state spending caps, the lopsided margins of defeat in places like Lakewood (5,448 to 659), Plumsted (1,222 to 564) and Howell (5,024 to 3,249), and the beating scores of incumbent school board members took in Monmouth and Ocean county towns.



But the most important factor may well have been Christie's call for voters to reject budgets in school districts where the teachers' union failed to agree to one-year wage freezes to ease property tax increases and reduce layoffs and program cuts necessitated by the state's $11 billion budget deficit.[/b]
While the poor economy likely played a part in the defeats, the economic climate was as bad or worse last year, when voters approved 73.3 percent of the budgets. Similarly, property

Next Page1| 2Previous PageVarious explanations have been offered for voters' rejection of nearly six of every 10 school budgets in New Jersey Tuesday — the highest rejection rate in at least 35 years:





Outrage over the state's highest-in-the-nation property taxes and anxiety over the prospect of further increases.

The stagnant economy and stubbornly high unemployment rate.

Anger at the refusal of most local teachers' unions — all but 20 statewide — to accept a one-year wage freeze requested by Gov. Chris Christie.

Longstanding frustration with government's failure at all levels to rein in spending.

All contributed to the climate that led to the stunning 72 percent rejection of school budgets in Monmouth County, the rejection of all six second-ballot questions statewide to spend above the state spending caps, the lopsided margins of defeat in places like Lakewood (5,448 to 659), Plumsted (1,222 to 564) and Howell (5,024 to 3,249), and the beating scores of incumbent school board members took in Monmouth and Ocean county towns.

See what passed and what didn't in this election results chart for Monmouth, Ocean counties

But the most important factor may well have been Christie's call for voters to reject budgets in school districts where the teachers' union failed to agree to one-year wage freezes to ease property tax increases and reduce layoffs and program cuts necessitated by the state's $11 billion budget deficit.

While the poor economy likely played a part in the defeats, the economic climate was as bad or worse last year, when voters approved 73.3 percent of the budgets. Similarly, property taxes were no more of a concern this year than last.
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In districts where school budgets were defeated, the municipal governing bodies will have until May 19 to decide whether to leave the spending plans intact or to make cuts.





The reviews will present another opportunity for teachers to accept the concept of shared sacrifice and decide whether they want to accept a wage freeze to ward off additional layoffs and program cuts.

The teachers' response to the budget defeats and their willingness to soften their hardline stance on concessions may well determine how long it takes for them to win back the support of taxpayers in their communities.

In the meantime, we hope the intransigence of the teachers' unions will strengthen the resolve of state lawmakers to do legislatively what the union leadership has failed to do voluntarily — bring teacher salaries and benefits in line with today's economic realities and with what taxpayers in New Jersey can afford.