Gov. Chris Christie’s executive order that effectively confiscates the surplus in local board of education budgets to offset the anticipated shortfall in the state budget is simply wrong.
The governor’s unilateral action, taken without the input of the state Legislature, will increase property taxes in East Brunswick by $5.4 million, South Plainfield by $1.6 million, South River by $750,000, Metuchen and Spotswood by $400,000 each, and Edison by approximately $120,000.
In total, the governor is raiding the accounts of some of the bestperforming school districts in our state by a total of about $8.5 million.
These are not state funds. They were raised from the property taxes paid by the hard-working middle-class families of the 18th Legislative District who we are honored to represent.
During the campaign, candidate Christie stated that education would be a top priority of his administration. With one stroke of his pen, he has reduced aid to kindergarten-12th grade by a halfbillion dollars and reduced aid to higher education by about $62 million.
We agree that government must be leaner and more efficient. We support efforts to reduce costs. This imprudent action does just the opposite. It will hurt middleclass families and jeopardize the education of our children.
We encourage everyone to contact the governor’s office and express your outrage over this executive order. This is still a democracy, after all, and the will of the people must be followed. We can assure you that we will do whatever we can to reverse this decision.
Patrick J. Diegnan Jr. (D-18)
Peter J. Barnes III (D-18)
Members New Jersey Assembly