Posted on 04/21/2010 5:42:18 AM PDT by ml/nj
New Jersey voters took a stand on school spending and property taxes Tuesday, rejecting 260 of 479 school budgets across 19 counties, according to unofficial results in statewide school elections.
In the proposed state budget he unveiled last month, Gov. Chris Christie slashed $820 million in aid to school districts and urged voters to defeat budgets if teachers in their schools did not agree to one-year wage freezes. The salvo ignited a heated debate with the state’s largest teachers union.
Christie said the cuts were necessary to help plug an $11 billion state budget gap.
In many districts Tuesday, the governor made himself heard as 54 percent of the spending plans were rejected, according to unofficial returns. If the trend continues, it would mark the most budget defeats in New Jersey since 1976, when 56 percent failed. Typically, voters approve more than 70 percent of the school budgets.
Key districts where budgets failed yesterday included Edison, Parsippany, Bridgewater-Raritan and Woodbridge. Budgets passed in Mountain Lakes, Piscataway, Livingston and Jersey City. In wealthy Somerset County, voters defeated 15 of 17 spending plans; in Hunterdon County, 23 of 28 budgets failed. In the governor’s hometown, Mendham Township, the budget was narrowly approved
(Excerpt) Read more at nj.com ...
ML/NJ
Why is it that no matter if it is good economic times, or bad economic times, the people who continually demand annual double digit increases in their income always seem to work for Government unions?
Funny how no one in Government is ever expected to help pay their “fair share”.
Does this mean the governor won and can hold the line on taxes?
Or the teacher unions “won” and will now force the governor to “tax the rich”?
(and see many more of them move to FL and Delaware!
Tax the rich” COST Maryland $106 million in 2009)
My guess is that the governor "won." The people who vote on these questions seem to be predominantly those with kids in the schools and most of them vote "yes." So defeating more than half of the budgets seems to me to be rather significant.
ML/NJ
you say you never heard about it, well I bet most of the state never heard about this vote either.
Every time the left want to pass something or have something defeated the news about the vote never gets out except to the far left and the unions.
I remember sitting in a pub when the homosexuals got their way in MA.
Every person just looked and said what these queers can marry now,.
No one even knew about this until it was too late.
The media are in bed with the far left and unions and that is why we need to get more kids into teaching, into the media . This saying no no get away form schools does nto work you cannot fight and win for the outside
Stupid thing passed in my town. The local NJ.com board has a few people gloating how it was a middle finger to Christie and how they won...blah blah blah. I don’t have kids. I LOSE and now I can lose more.
You have that right. When liberals use the word “sacrifice” they mean anyone but them. I’ve grown to absolutely hate unions. My Father is a coal miner and I come from a long line of them who were or are union members but the unions just disgust me.
The NJEA (Teachers Union) has a powerful lobby in NJ and as Gov. Christie says, teachers use students like drug mules to spread their lies.
In the town that I live in which has voted Republican in most elections (even 2008), there were a bunch of signs around town from the teachers union saying simply “Vote YES!” for the school budgets. The yes votes prevailed so I get stuck with a 7.5% increase in my already very high property taxes to pay for more wasteful school spending. In 2003 when all the school budgets were approved, every single school in the district had a multi-million dollar expansion. EVERY ONE! And this is a very mature area with no new growth and very steady population numbers.
They sell it with the lies beginning “Lets do this for the kids...”. Teachers unions are such crooks.
Another remarkable fact about yesterday’s elections is that in many, if not most, of the contested school board elections, the incumbents lost. This is absolutely unheard of in school elections.
Yet another ominous sign for incumbents in November.
My township in Morris County surprisingly went NO on 2 school budgets. I was shocked to say the least.
Our town of 25,000 people on the San Francisco peninsula passed a $60 million bond issue about a decade ago which was used to remodel five elementary, two middle and one high school. Now the bond issue is expiring and they are going out with a vote to extend it another decade. Get this! Their marketing strategy is that this huge extension is NOT a tax increase — just an extension of the current taxes which were clearly meant to be retired in the next year or two.
Indeed. Most of these elections, the resistance is made up of a few senior citizens. I used to get annoyed at the old people who had probably seen their kids through public school already and were now happy to vote against the budget in their own self interest. This time, however, the sentiment against school budgets is more universal and turnout was much higher.
Are you in Sussex County? That is what our forum was saying.
Watched about five minutes of ABC local news last night and there was their reporter gloating about the huge turnout and the bid defeat coming for Christie.
Imagine my surprise this morning when I learned the opposite was true.
What a wonderful way to start the day!!!
This is a big victory for Christie...Most of these budgets pass automatically every year. 55% defeat rate is unheard of in these elections...some of the county results were stunning...Participation rate was almost 30% of voters...
Teachers need to get a clue...Nobody, asks for pay raises in a recession and people have absolutely NO sympathy for someone that does not contribute to their healtcare costs...Typcial liberals think it’s okay to raise your taxes to pay for their benefits, but they can’t use their own money to provide for their families...So, now there will be even more layoffs in school districts...sometimes the lesson is hard to learn....
There is nothing stronger than teacher greed. Oregon has one of the highest unemployment rates in the nation. State employees are being furloughed, yet the teachers are getting raises. It's time for separation of schools and state.
Now, if we could only get rid of those illegal aliens who cost NJ taxpayers > $2.1 BILLION per year in three areas: Medical Care, Education, and Incarceration.
This does not include free lunch and breakfast at school, food stamps, housing aid, higher cost of car and health insurance, salary suppression, etc. It has been estimated that the additional costs would easily double or triple the $2.1 Billion.
I bet taxpayers voted against the budgets and tax takers voted for them having no skin in the game.
Where I live, at least, I think everyone pays school (property) taxes.
ML/NJ
Renters?
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