The Franklin Reporter & Advocate Eight Villages, One Community
A proposed bill that would establish a state legislative commission to look into changing the way schools are funded in the state was announced October 23 by state Assemblyman Joe Danielsen.
Flanked by Mayor Phil Kramer, members of the Township Council and the president of the Somerset County Education Association, Danielsen (D-17) said his proposal, which would create the “School Finance Reform Commission,” would seek to “restore the transparency and order” to school funding and “perhaps move away from the property taxes as the mechanism for funding our schools because today we have an unsustainable problem of too few dollars chasing a growing educational formula.”
Danielsen said that at least since 2009, there has been a growing disparity of financial aid that school districts across the state are receiving from the state, contrary to the School Funding Reform Act.
“This past school term saw over 140 school districts receiving cuts of more than 3 percent and around 280 districts saw increases in more than 6 percent,” he said. “To those districts who have endured cuts, this meant laying off staff members and teachers, canceling critical programs, and in some cases selling their schools and their buildings.”
“This was never the intention of the constitutional mandate that all students in our state receive a thorough and efficient education,” Danielsen said. “In addition, some school districts, like Franklin, were forced to increase their school tax levy above the 2 percent cap, adding an additional tax burden to the residents of over 10.7 percent based upon a school formula which lacks predictability and stability on a year-to-year basis. These uneven tax increases place enormous pressure on all residents as they struggle with inflationary costs at all levels, all creating worrisome concerns for my constituents who tell me on a daily basis they cannot keep up with these extraordinary tax increases.”
Danielsen said the Commission would be composed of 13 members, “including representatives of the Commissioner of Education, the President of the State Board of Education, and 11 public members, two each appointed by the Senate President, the Senate Minority Leader of the Senate, the Assembly Speaker and the Assembly Minority Leader, and three members of the Governor, of whom no more than two shall be of the same political party.”
The Commission would have one year to complete its study, Danielsen said. He said he plans to introduce the bill when the state Assembly resumes on November 13.
“I remain committed to enacting this plan of action as soon as possible and finally seek fairness for all students, for all school districts, and all of our taxpayers,” he said. “We have endured for far too long a painful method of paying for our schools, not knowing in advance the implications and not justly taxing the correct sources of funds. Expecting changes to happen without us making changes will not work.”
Danielsen said he has not yet discussed the proposal with leaders in the two houses, but he has talked about it with “a number of my colleagues who were favorable.”
Danielsen said two possible sources of school funding could be capital gains or income taxes.
Danielsen said he created the bill in response to a resolution passed earlier this year by the Township Council asking the state Legislature to look at how schools are funded in New Jersey.
“My premise is that the way we fund schools currently is stupid,” Kramer said. “It’s a stupid way to tax for schools in general, but mostly for schools because that’s the largest portion of our property tax.”
“The problem with property taxes is they are regressive. Someone could be land rich and cash poor. They are ignorant to retirement and to losing your job,” he said. “And it’s forcing older people to leave the state, leaving their house vacant, which some younger couple will move in. They will bring children, which will put more kids in the school, which will raise taxes more.”
“Instead of based on property tax, base it on the means to pay,” the Mayor said. “If you have the means to pay, then you’ll pay a little bit more. I personally, probably my taxes would go up and I would pay them proudly if I knew that people who couldn’t pay got a little bit of relief from it.”
Council members Ed Potosnak, Ram Anbarasan, James Vassanella, Alex Kharazi, Deputy Mayor Shepa Uddin and Dan Epstein, a township special education teacher and the president of the SCEA, also spoke and thanked Danielsen for the bill.
Stay ‘In the Know,’ subscribe to the Franklin Reporter & Advocate!
No other media outlet covering Franklin Township brings you the depth of information presented by the Franklin Reporter & Advocate. Period. We are the only truly independent media serving the Eight Villages.
But we can only do that with your support. Please consider a yearly subscription to our online news site; at $37 a year, it’s one of the best investments you can make for yourself.
To subscribe, please click here.
