Sen. Barbara Buono Hundreds of teachers, administrators, students and parents filled the Edison High School auditorium recently, eager to discuss the impact of last year’s reductions in public education funding.
More than two and a half hours of testimony were given during the Jan. 20 public meeting called by state Sen. Barbara Buono and Assemblymen Patrick Diegnan and Peter Barnes. The officials, all Democrats representing the 18th Legislative District, presided over the forum while speaker after speaker lamented the damage incurred by the 2010 state aid cuts and blasted Republican Gov. Chris Christie’s newest proposals regarding education.
“It’s become in vogue to demonize public education,” Buono said in her opening remarks. “This isn’t reform. It’s not a choice. This is an assault on education.”
Last year, Christie, in an effort to close the state budget deficit and reduce spending, cut more than $1 billion from public education. School districts throughout New Jersey were affected at varying levels, but many were forced to make drastic cuts to programs, materials and staff.
Christie also announced plans to implement a 2 percent property tax cap effective Jan. 1. The law, which applies to both municipal and school budgets, requires permission from voters via a referendum in order to increase taxes beyond the cap.
Most recently, Christie indicated in his Jan. 11 State of the State address that he would seek to build more charter schools and push for the state to pass a voucher program due to the failure of some New Jersey schools.
“We cannot ask children and families stuck in chronically failing public schools to wait any longer,” he said during the speech. “It is not acceptable that a child who is neglected in a New Jersey school must accept it because of their ZIP code. We must give parents and children a choice to attend better schools.”
A week later, Christie approved a record 23 new charter schools and succeeded in passing a school voucher bill, which will cost about $825 million and serve 40,000 students in 166 underperforming public schools. The bill, opposed by the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA), will be funded by corporate contributions that will earn tax credits.
Forum attendees openly opposed Christie’s recent move, in addition to admonishing his previous moves on public education.
“If we have revenue from corporate businesses, if we have extra money to fund these vouchers, then we can fund our existing schools,” Buono said. “To take any more money from school budgets is unconscionable.”
AnnMarie Griffin-Ussak, principal of Washington Elementary School in Edison, expressed similar concerns, noting that the money used for charter schools amounts to another cut to public education funding.
“Districts across the county and the state have been forced to make difficult decisions due to these cuts. Parents don’t expect less for their child, students don’t expect to receive less education, and teachers don’t expect to teach less, but yet the governor has asked us to make do with less,” she said. “Our funds are being siphoned away through vouchers and charter schools, all the while there’s a demoralization of the profession I hold sacred.”
Griffin-Ussak said she has been verbally attacked at the supermarket because of what she considers to be anti-teacher rhetoric coming from Trenton. Several other speakers also touched on the same issue.
“This continual, unending beating of the drum demonizing teachers; I never thought the day would come,” Diegnan said. “Teachers are already hearing it from the kids. This has got to stop.” The overarching theme of the night, however, was the negative consequences of last year’s school aid cuts. Teachers, administrators and students from throughout Middlesex County discussed such repercussions, which include increased class sizes, the elimination of foreign language classes, athletic programs and after-school transportation, and, in Edison’s case, a lack of proper school equipment.
“This year’s class sizes are so much bigger, and it’s harder to learn with that many students in a class,” said Sarah Briant, an Edison High School senior. “In some classes, there aren’t enough seats, so some students have to sit on the floor or in broken chairs and desks.”
Ammaarah Khan, also an Edison senior, spoke about larger class sizes at the Advanced Placement (AP) level, as well as the loss of after-school busing.
“There’s no after-school busing at all. It’s a ghost town. And that’s very sad because I’m here more than I am at my own house,” she said. “But it’s only going to get worse. Younger kids aren’t going to have the same opportunities that I did.”
Other students lamented the elimination of clubs and honor societies, as well as broken lockers and dwindling guidance counselors.
Debbie Boyle, a member of the South Plainfield PTO and a delegate to the New Jersey School Boards Association, said Christie vowed to take New Jersey public schools “to the next level” when he took office, but has only taken away from the system since.
“I would like to know where the funds are coming from to take this to the next level. We’re told to meet core curriculum standards, but how can we afford to meet those standards if we can’t afford textbooks?” she said. “When you say that you’ll take our schools to the next level, do you mean the basement level?” Marie Corfield, a Flemington art teacher, outlined the positive steps being taken by schools, and expressed her outrage at Christie’s actions as forum attendees cheered on. Corfield became an informal spokeswoman for teachers after an exchange between her and Christie became a YouTube sensation.
“We are not salespeople. We are in the business of building minds, developing character, and educating children in mind, body and spirit,” she said.
“Making kids to be line items on a spreadsheet is disgusting and deplorable.”
School officials are worried about how much more could be cut and what will happen next.
Wendy Saiff, president of the Highland Park school board and former president of the NJEA, expressed her concern that the cuts will cause the public education system to collapse.
“Christie has created a feeding frenzy for school funding,” she said. “And I think this will cause the ruination of the public school system. They’ll just become abandoned. If the governor claims that our public school system is an abject failure, then it’ll become a self-fulfilling prophecy.”
Leaders from the Save Our Schools group distributed fliers and encouraged parents to join efforts to protest education cuts implemented by Christie, and many took to the podium to speak about their efforts in addition to the cuts.
“My concern about these cuts pales in comparison to the cuts coming down the road,” said Save Our Schools member and Highland Park parent Melanie McDermott.
Christie has said that spending cuts were the only option in working to close the state’s budget deficit. Cuts to school aid could not be avoided, his administration has said, since education spending accounts for more than 40 percent of state and local spending in New Jersey. Christie’s office has also indicated that the reduced aid to school districts in the last budget cycle amounted to less than 2 percent of districts’ total spending.
School officials will be provided with more definitive details about what to expect in terms of state aid in the coming year when Christie delivers his annual budget message on Feb. 22.