From Monday’s New York Post: [emphasis added]
Gov. Chris Christie is making good on his promise to get tough with New Jersey’s $2.2 billion budget gap — by taking aim at one of the drivers of the state’s out-of-control taxes: school budgets.
Under Christie’s budget, New Jersey’s 605 school districts will see their state aid reduced by 5 percent of their last budget. That trims state spending by $820 million, forcing school districts to make deeper cuts or raise property taxes.
If it stopped there, Christie’s one-time aid cut would do nothing but aggravate property-tax payers. But he’s also seeking a constitutional amendment on the November ballot to lower the property-tax cap from 4 to 2.5 percent — preventing localities from guzzling at the local revenue tap while blaming it on Trenton’s stinginess.
Federal stimulus money let Jersey avoid major spending cuts the last two years — but now the state is broke. And school budgets have plenty of fat to lose. They’ve been growing evermore bloated since 1976, when the state Supreme Court more or less forced New Jersey to institute an income tax to fund what the court deemed more equitable school spending.
Supplementing school budgets with state aid was supposed to control property-tax hikes while leveling the disparity between wealthy and poor school districts. Instead, it turned into a revenue boon for the state’s teacher union, the New Jersey Education Association. Slicing NJ’s schools
Biff! Pow! Bam! The writing’s on the wall!
For on the wall, there appeared a hand,
Nothin’ else, there was no man.
In blood the hand began to write,
And Belshazar couldn’t hide his fright.
For he was weighed in the balance and found wanting,
His kingdom was divided, couldn’t stand.
He was weighed in the balance and found wanting,
His houses were built upon the sand.
– Belshazzar, Johnny Cash