Beck Stands With Parents, Local Officials, Education Experts for Fair School Funding
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Beck Stands With Parents, Local Officials, Education Experts for Fair School Funding
Supports $175 Million Increase in New School Aid, Says $46 Million in Cuts Unnecessary Senator Jennifer Beck (R-Monmouth) rallied with parents, superintendents, local officials, and other legislators at the State House today for a fair school funding plan that would give underfunded districts the additional aid they deserve without imposing cuts to other districts that would result in huge property tax hikes and teacher layoffs. Sen. Jennifer Beck rallied with parents, superintendents, local officials, and other legislators at the State House today for a fair school funding plan that would give underfunded districts the additional aid they deserve without imposing cuts to other districts that would result in huge property tax hikes and teacher layoffs. (SenateNJ.com) “All of our children deserve a fair share of state aid for their schools,” said Beck. “That’s why I’ve fought for a decade to increase support for massively underfunded districts like Red Bank and Freehold Borough. Most importantly, it’s clear that we have the financial ability to increase support for those districts by $175 million, without taking a penny away from anyone else.” Beck was joined at the rally by Senator Joe Kyrillos (R-Monmouth), Senator Steven Oroho (R-Sussex), Assemblyman Dave Wolfe (R-Ocean), Assemblyman Greg McGuckin (R-Ocean), Brick Mayor John Ducey (D), NJEA President Wendell Steinhauer, Ocean Twp. Deputy Mayor Robert Acerra, Toms River Superintendent David Healy, Andover Regional Board of Education President Michael Fancher, Tinton Falls Superintendent John Russo, Middletown Superintendent William George, Ocean Twp. Superintendent Jim Stefankiewicz, Eatontown Superintendent Scott McCue, and other local officials, parents, and school children. The joint message from the bipartisan group of officials, the NJEA, and local superintendents was one of support for $175 million of new state revenues to be directed to increase aid to the state’s most underfunded districts. Parents and school children joined Sen. Beck at the rally to call for a fair share of school funding for underfunded districts. (SenateNJ.com) Grave concern, however, was expressed at the $46 million of cuts proposed by Senate President Stephen Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto for a number of districts, including those represented at the rally. The superintendents highlighted the devastation that would be caused by reopening school budgets that have already been adopted, which would almost surely result in teacher layoffs after staffing levels and contracts have already been set for the upcoming school year. Many noted their state aid is less today than it was seven years ago. Beck noted that that there is no budgetary need to enact the $46 million of cuts to school districts that have been proposed by the Senate President and Assembly Speaker. “We’ve heard from Democrats that the State has hundreds of millions of revenues that were unexpected even a few months ago,” Beck said. “It’s clear that the millions of cuts they are planning to districts like Ocean, Tinton Falls and Eatontown aren’t needed from a budgetary perspective. There’s no reason why the $125 million in proposed new school aid can’t be increased to $175 million, negating the need for teacher layoffs or property tax increases. That’s exactly what we should do.” Related Facebook Post: Related Tweet: |
