Article

Officials put much blame on state for lowest approval rate since'94

Thursday, April 20, 2006 • By JOHN MOONEY • Star-Ledger Staff

The freeze in state aid to schools. Scandals in school construction and administration. Double-digit property tax increases.

Far from local school budgets, even Gov. Jon Corzine's proposed sales tax hike took some of the blame yesterday.

Whatever the reason, school election voters on Tuesday sent a stinging message of taxpayer discontent, if not hostility, in rejecting almost half of the Garden State's local school budgets, the lowest rate in a decade.

The 53.4 percent approval rate was among only five in the last 30 years that fell below the 60 percent mark, but that was hardly much consolation for voters like Robert Kluska.

"There's no real solution for the taxpayers," said Kluska, 72, a retired accountant who voted against Roxbury's $63.2 million budget on Tuesday. "Just sit back and pay."

In terms of turnout, Kluska was in the minority, as just 15.7 percent of registered voters cast ballots statewide, a slight increase from the year before. And even the rejections are no guarantees of much, if any, tax relief, as city, town and borough councils now decide on any actual cuts.

Some prominent legislators this week proposed revamping the vot ing system to make the school elections more enticing, including a move from the April polling date to help boost turnouts.

In the meantime, the sentiment appeared clear from Sussex to Atlantic counties in a budget success rate that dropped more than 17 points from the year before.

In Middlesex, only a third of budgets passed. Somerset and Hunterdon counties' voters approved fewer than half of their budgets. Morris County's 53 percent approval was its lowest in 15 years.

In addition to the base budget votes, only 28 of 78 separate ballot questions for additional programs were approved, with lower class sizes and courtesy busing likely to take the toughest hits, officials said.

School officials placed much of the blame on the state, be it Cor zine, the Legislature or both. State funding has been virtually frozen for the last five years, leading di rectly to the higher property taxes and depressed budget approvals, they said.

Officials added that the state's overall fiscal crisis, with its threats of tax increases and service cuts, has put voters further on edge. And they have only one annual outlet to vent.

"Gov. Corzine's budget has made everyone mad and increased the fears, and we're the ones they vote on," said Edwina Lee, executive director of the state school boards association. "We've become the whipping boy for the whole situation."

Others said the Legislature, in affirming the aid freezes and also imposing strict caps on school spending, has exacerbated the problems.

"The legislative leadership has been dissing schools year in and year out," said Lynne Strickland, a lobbyist for mostly suburban districts. "They are making choices, and it's hurting kids."

Corzine did not speak directly to the election results yesterday, but did renew his pledge to reform the property tax system and take on rising school costs.

"We're going to need a new school funding formula because I think we have a broken system today where we're more focused on districts than we are on kids," Cor zine said in a radio interview on New Jersey 101.5 FM.

Schools haven't been helped by a series of recent criticisms, either, including a scathing investigative report last month on exorbitant administrator pay and perks.

The ongoing scandal over excessive costs in the state's $8.6 billion school construction program also has cast a bad light on schools, although that appears more rooted in Trenton bureaucracy than the districts.

Nevertheless, Corzine spokesman Anthony Coley yesterday showed little sympathy for school districts when asked directly about Tuesday's outcome.

"Gov. Corzine has been in office three months now, and it seems like every rock he turns over, excessive spending and fiscal mismanagement is staring him in the face," he said. "The people of New Jersey are sick of it, and so is this governor."

Reflecting the political tension in Trenton over Corzine's overall budget plans, leaders in both major parties yesterday used the school votes as a platform for their positions.

"This is a sign of the tax backlash out there," said Tom Wilson, chairman of the Republican State Committee. "These are not against education or against teachers, but voters were using this election to send a message to Trenton ... and frankly, I think the Democrats owe the schoolchildren an apology."

Some Democratic lawmakers said the votes validate their efforts to stem school spending, including the controversial budget cap law that is starting to take hold on schools.

"The law is working, the voters are demanding the same degree of restraint, and the governor has been steadily imposing standards of efficiency and accountability for public spending at all levels," said state Assemblyman Joseph Cryan (D-Union), chairman of the Democratic State Committee.

Several other leading Democrats yesterday also renewed efforts to move the April election date, saying it hinders voter turnout. School organizations have op posed such a shift, saying a move to the June primary date or November general election would in fuse partisan politics into the school elections.

But state Sen. Shirley Turner (D-Mercer) said a change was needed "so as to never repeat the dismal turnouts we just witnessed statewide."

As chairman of the Senate Education Committee, Turner said she would soon convene hearings on various proposals and pointed out potential fiscal savings as well. "Millions of dollars could be saved annually by eliminating an election cycle that was barely noticed for too many years," she said.

Voters reject nearly half of school budgets

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