Governor's Budget: Morris School District Getting Nearly $1M More State Aid

The Morris School District is slated to get nearly $1 million more in state aid for 2011-2012 than it did for 2010-2011, under Gov. Chris Christie's budget proposal.

Christie promised in his budget address Tuesday every district in the state would see an aid increase—part of a $250 million boost to education aid overall. In Morris County alone, schools would see an overall increase of more than $13 million.

Last year, the governor sharply reduced aid to schools, including several in Morris County. Some saw their state aid eliminated entirely. At the time, many districts had been making plans for their budgets based on suggestions of more modest cuts by the state Department of Education.

"I agonized over making cuts to education aid last year," the governor said in his budget address. "They were the very last cuts I approved. It was not a decision I took lightly. It was not something I wanted to do. However, in a year where shared sacrifice was required from everyone, it was a necessary choice."

But he said hard decisions made over the last year allowed for some increase this year. Many districts will still receive less than they did prior to 2010-2011, however.

Lisa Pollack, president of the Morris School District Board of Education, said she was pleased upon hearing the governor's speech that schools throughout the state would be getting increased aid. "We have gone through several years of aid cuts," she said. "It's a good sign and it's very welcome."

While the additional aid is welcome, other issues discussed by the governor, including a proposal to increase public employee contributions for health benefits from 8 percent to 30 percent over the next several years, will be difficult for some, but necessary overall, the board president said. "It is going to be a large increase," said Pollack, who works as general counsel for the Newark Public School System. "It will affect me as well."

Pollack said she worked for many years in industry where 30 percent "was a low number. I agree with the governor that those numbers are unavoidable," Pollack said. "Until we get a strong control over rising costs, we need relief ... people need to make a larger contribution."

The BOE president noted this was the first year many teachers were paying any contribution to their health plans, previously having paid co-payments agreed upon between teachers and their districts. "It will involve some pain," she said. "It simply must be done, certainly in school districts I feel it must be done. There are health cost increases we all must bear."

Another point the governor has touched on in recent months has been his intention to alter how tenure is given in New Jersey, opting for a system that would annually evaluate teachers based on the test scores of their students. If a teacher is determined not to be satisfactory two years in a row, they could lose tenure under the proposed changes.

"I think most school boards but not all, and certainly not all members, would agree some changes in tenure and seniority laws are a good thing," Pollack said. "The New Jersey School Boards Association has been pushing (for change) for a long time."

Still, Pollack said when it comes to evaluating teacher performance, "the devil is in the details.

"How do you measure teacher performance? The commissioner would say 'impact on student performance,' but I'm not quite as sanguine."

In proposals tied to his budget, the governor is also pushing for reform to tenure, and for public employees to take on much of the cost associated with their benefits. He's also pushing for associated pension reforms, and is planning to increase the amount of charter schools throughout the state.

"The need for reform, of course, is more urgent than ever. ... We need to reward excellent teachers, put an end to automatic tenure, and give parents trapped in failing schools a choice for a better future for their children. Once and for all, we must reward excellence and there must be consequences for failure. This is the way it is all across America – we must finally bring it to all of New Jersey’s classrooms," Christie said.

The governor's reform proposals have been met with opposition by groups including the NJEA, the state's largest teacher's union, which maintains Christie is unfairly burdening teachers and making them out to be the villians in a complex budget crisis. 

The proposed state aid for Morris County schools is as follows: