Kim Guadagno will not be the Acting Governor during Governor Chris Christie’s appearance of the Morning Joe Show tomorrow.
The show, which usually broadcasts from New York, requiring Christie to transfer the power of his office to the Lt. Governor for his frequent guest appearances, will be broadcast from Fort Lee High School tomorrow.
Christie is scheduled to appear on the MSNBC show at 7am.
Governor Chris Christie will hold a Town Hall meeting on Ocean Township next Tuesday, March 6, at 3PM. Doors open at 2PM.
The meeting will be held at the Ocean Township Community Gym, 1100 West Park Ave. Click here to get directions.
Seating is on a first come, first served basis and open to the public. The Governor’s office asks that those planning on attending RSVP by clicking here.
To hear the Governor’s critics tell it, New Jersey’s high income tax rates have no effect on our economic health. To them, the income tax can be raised without consequence to our economy, while reducing rates yields little or no benefit.
New Jersey’s business leaders- the entities responsible for employing the vast majority of the state’s workforce- disagree, however.
The New Jersey Business and Industry Association, representing 21, 500 businesses of all types in the Garden State, lauds the Governor’s proposed 10% reduction in the income tax as “the best thing you can do for taxes”. Noting that the majority of businesses file under the personal income tax rather than the corporate income tax, NJBIA says the proposal will give savings to “80% of the business community”.
More telling, however, is what individual small business owners and operators are saying upon learning of the Governor’s proposal.
“It signals your government is working with you, and that you’ve got government at your side at a tough time,” says a proprietor of a Hoboken print shop.
“I believe it to be a proposal that, in fact, could significantly alter New Jersey’s favorability rating, in terms of being a destination of choice,” said the president of a Linden-based manufacturing outfit.
Republican legislators join the Governor’s call for an income tax reduction because we trust the real world experience of job creators. Who better to help guide New Jersey on a path toward sustainable, good paying jobs than the people who do the hiring?
Democratic critics are putting their faith in higher taxes, more spending and bigger government as the solution to the problem. If history is any indication their trust is misplaced, given that the exponential increase in state spending, taxes, and debt we saw from 2002 through 2009 coincided with the loss of 150, 000 jobs.
Coincidentally, these are the same Democrats who raised taxes on middle class families repeatedly during those years, taxing everything from utility bills and car tires to gym memberships and home ownership. Their credibility on helping the middle class is suspect at best.
Smart income tax policy is good jobs policy, and New Jersey is currently at a severe disadvantage in a competition for jobs with neighboring states.
Pennsylvania’s 3.07% income tax rate is far more attractive than the 6.37% rate many middle income families and small business owners pay in New Jersey, and certainly preferable for businesses that file at the state’s 8.97% top rate.
New Jersey lost more residents to Pennsylvania- over 20, 000- than any other state in 2010. That figure is roughly one-third of the total population loss New Jersey experienced that year. The economic and cultural impacts of these moves are real.
The engines of job creation and population growth in America, states like Texas, Florida, and the Carolinas, have tax rates that either are far lower than New Jersey’s or no income tax altogether.
It cannot be sheer coincidence that the states experiencing economic success are ones that have favorable tax climates as compared with the rest of the nation. Income tax levies are a substantial factor in a state’s overall business climate and economic growth.
Opponents of the Governor’s tax cut plan in the Legislature are trying to confuse the issue by changing the subject to property taxes. I agree that New Jersey’s highest in the nation property taxes are the shame of our state and must not only be contained, but lowered. Unfortunately, the Democrats’ plan to use state tax revenues to offset local levies is unlikely to reduce a single county, municipal, or school tax rate.
Their plan is a state incentive for property tax increases, not a solution for reducing them. Permanently lowering property taxes requires us to help local governments control labor costs, share services, and live within their means so that fewer tax dollars are needed to operate.
The effort to reduce property tax bills need not, and should not, come at the expense of job creation and economic growth in New Jersey.
Income taxes do matter to our economic health and jobs climate. Businesses, and the experiences of states that have successfully attracted job growth, show this to be the case. It is time that New Jersey start listening to them in order to strengthen our economic future.
State Sen. Tom Kean, Jr., R- Union, serves as the Senate’s Republican leader.
O’Scanlon: “I’m holding my breath waiting for S&P to revise their report.”
Wall Street rating agency, Standard and Poor’s, released an analysis of Governor Christie’s Fiscal Year 2013 budget yesterday that concurred with the reaction that many on both sides of the aisle have had since Christie addressed the legislature on Monday; Where are these revenue numbers coming from?
NEW YORK (Standard & Poor’s) Feb. 24, 2012–New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie
released his proposed $32.15 billion budget for fiscal 2013 on Feb. 21. The
budget remains structurally unbalanced, is built on what Standard & Poor’s
Ratings Services regards as optimistic economic projections to close the
budget gap, and increases New Jersey’s (AA-/Stable) reliance on nonrecurring
revenues.
Christie’s budget projects revenue growth of 7.3% to $31.86 billion. Based upon the state’s projections, revenue would have increased 9%, if not for Christie’s proposed income tax reduction. While S&P concurs that revenue could increase significantly in a strong economy given New Jersey’s high income and progressive income tax structure, the agency doesn’t see a strong economy on the horizon in New Jersey until 2015.
“Due to New Jersey’s high incomes and the state’s progressive income tax
structure, we believe revenues could rebound significantly in a strong
economy,” said Mr. Sugden-Castillo. “However, in our view, the economic
assumptions that underpin the state’s revenue forecast appear to be optimistic based on current and projected economic conditions at the state and national levels,” he added. Through the first half of fiscal 2012, New Jersey revenues grew 3.2% from fiscal 2011, but are still falling 3.2% below budgeted amounts. According to IHS Global Insight Inc., the state will register 1.3% growth in 2012- 16th among all states. Unemployment in the state was 9% as of December 2011. IHS Global Insight projects employment will not return to pre-recession levels until 2015 and projects unemployment to remain above 8% through 2014.
Assemblyman Declan O’Scalon, the Republican Budget Officer in the lower house, said that S&P’s report is so flawed that it resembles a political hit piece more than an objective credit analysis.
“S&P, and other critics, are relying on the year to date short fall in our current revenues compared to budget in order to give their criticism of our new budget credibility,” said O’Scanlon, “They are all ignoring the well known fact that the lion’s share of state revenue comes in during the first quarter of the calendar year.”
O’Scanlon said that New Jersey’s revenue receipts will be right on budget at the end of February and that S&P should have known that.
“I’m holding my breath waiting for S&P to revise their report,” said O’Scanlon, “For two years, the Christie administration’s revenue projections have been spot on. I’m confident they will be this year too.”
Regarding the reliance of non-recurring revenues O’Scanlon said, “13% of Jon Corzine’s last budget relied on so-called one shot gimmicks. The Christie administration reduced that to 4% in the current budget and it’s only 5% in the proposed budget. There are always going to be non-recurring items. We (the Republicans) have brought them down to prudent levels. S&P should be praising that part of our budget, not criticising it.”
S&P also criticized the Christie administration for underfunding the state pension system:
Slightly more than half of the increase ($587 million) in
total spending is tied to pension funding cost increases. Total funding for
defined benefit pensions grows to $1.1 billion in fiscal 2013 from $484
million in fiscal 2012. Defined Benefit Pension funding accounts for 3.33%of
spending in the proposed budget. Despite this significant increase, New Jersey
is only funding 28.6%, or 2/7ths, of its statutorily determined actuarial
recommended contribution, which is different from ARC as defined by GASB.
According to the state, the ARC as calculated by GASB is normally higher than
the statutorily determined actuarial recommended contribution. The
underfunding of the ARC results in continued pressure on its pension system.
“To treat what the Christie administration has done with the pension system as news and a negative ignores recent history and raises suspicions of political motivation on the part of S&P,” O’Scanlon charged, “The Governor’s proposed budget makes the largest pension contribution in New Jersey history and is right on track with the pension reforms and benefit reforms passed last year.”
O’Scanlon defended the 3.7% increase in spending under the proposed budget. “What should be cut? The increased spending on education and municipal aid holds down property taxes. The other increases are for pensions and higher education, which has been neglected for decades. Our educated and sophisticated workforce is our most important asset.”
John Sugden-Castillo, S&P’s primary credit analyst for the report, has not responded to an email asking for comment.
Incorporates Common Sense Measures to Make Every Education Dollar Count
Trenton, NJ – Governor Chris Christie today released aid figures for New Jersey school districts based on the Fiscal Year 2013 Budget proposal which is the largest appropriation of state education dollars in New Jersey history. This includes $7.8 billion in K-12 formula aid, an increase of $135 million over last year and part of $213 million in additional state funding for education over Fiscal Year 2012. The Department of Education also made public the “Education Funding Report,” which outlines a series of common sense measures to make every dollar count and to help close the state’s persistent achievement gap – including turning around failing schools and ensuring that every child has an effective teacher in the classroom.
“Since taking office, one of my greatest priorities has been working to ensure that every child in the state receives a high quality education that will prepare them for the demands of the 21st century,” said Governor Christie. “In addition to increasing overall spending on education to the highest levels in state history, we can and will go further to implement common sense ways that will make every education dollar count. If we truly want to ensure that all students, regardless of zip code, graduate from high school ready for college and career, the money needs to follow the child.”
The Governor’s budget not only increases education aid for the second year in a row, but also pairs common sense changes to the School Funding Reform Act (SFRA) with bold education reforms to make sure resources are used in a way that will close the achievement gap and better serve those children who need them most. These changes were based on the findings of the “Education Funding Report” prepared by Acting Education Commissioner Chris Cerf. The findings of the “Education Funding Report” can be found at http://www.nj.gov/education/stateaid/1213/report.pdf
Making several common sense modifications to the SFRA will finally make it possible to truly fund districts based on the number and needs of students, while at the same time laying out a schedule that adds additional funds in each future year and will fully fund the SFRA over the next five years. This will increase stability and predictability for districts and fund districts based both on the number of students served and the needs of those students.
Common Sense Measures to Make Every Dollar Count:
Bringing New Jersey In Line With Other States and Funding Districts Based on How Many Students are Actually Attending School. Encourage school attendance by basing the enrollment count on actual attendance throughout the year rather than the current law which bases enrollment on a single day (October 15).Basing funding on average daily attendance will incentivize districts to focus on and improve attendance rates leading to more time in the classroom for children.Statewide, among large high schools, a mere one percentage point increase in attendance would result in nearly 4.2 million hours of additional instructional time per year.
Only 10 states in the nation, including New Jersey, use a single-day count to measure student enrollment. 40 others states use more accurate and meaningful measures of student enrollment, including average daily attendance measures or multiple days over the course of the school year.
STATES THAT USE A SINGLE DAY MEASURE FOR STUDENT COUNT METHODS
COLORADO
Single Count
CONNECTICUT
Single Count
IOWA
Single Count
KANSAS
Single Count
MARYLAND
Single Count
MASSCHUSETTS
Single Count
NEVADA
Single Count
NEW JERSEY
Single Count
SOUTH DAKOTA
Single Count
WEST VIRGINIA
Single Count
TOTAL: 10 STATES
Making Adjustment AidTruly Adjustment Aid. Adjustment aid should actually be a tool to help districts that are below adequacy, instead of what it currently is – political currency that provides additional funds to districts regardless of their current enrollment and spending levels. This is a symbol of the old Trenton, when funding decisions were made as political giveaways regardless of the implications. The plan calls for a return to common sense – for districts that are spending above the level of their adequacy budgets, phase out, over five years, adjustment aid by 50% of the amount they are spending over their adequacy budgets.
Rooting Out Fraud and Abuse. The Christie Administration will convene a task force to recommend a new measure for “at-risk” students in place of participation in the Free and Reduced Price Lunch Program, which has shown to be inaccurate and subject to fraud.There will be no change for this year.
Returning to Originally Proposed School Funding Reform Levels. New Jersey is one of the most generous state funders of “at-risk” and Limited English Proficiency (LEP) students in the country.Under the proposal, even when returning to the originally proposed reform levels, New Jersey will still provide funding for these students at some of the highest levels in the country. These levels were recommended after a three year process including multiple panels of experts before they were artificially inflated.
New Jersey Funding as Compared to Other States
At-Risk
LEP
New Jersey (as amended)
42%-46%
47%
Maine
20%
30%-60%
Vermont
25%
20%
Texas
25%
10%
90% of Districts Receiving Additional Aid On A Per Pupil Basis
New Jersey currently ranks 3rd in the country in school expenditures per student, spending more than 60 percent above the national average. Nearly 60 percent of state aid goes to the 31 former Abbott districts, where spending has tripled since 1972. Former Abbott districts now spend $3,200 per pupil more than the state average (excluding the former Abbotts) and $3,100 per pupil more than the state’s wealthiest districts.
With a $135 million increase in K-12 formula aid, an increase of 1.8%, and the proposed modifications to the SFRA funding formula, 90% of districts will receive additional state aid on a per pupil basis this year. On average, state aid is increasing 2.1% or $121 per pupil across the state. Because these measures follow the principle that districts should be funded on the actual number of students they serve, 35 of the 97 districts that will receive less state aid will do so because of an enrollment decrease rather than a decrease in per-pupil aid.
As the following demonstrates, Abbotts receive almost three times the state average in state aid per pupil. Overall, the former Abbott districts are receiving 0.55% less state aid than last year, yet still remain funded at a significantly higher level than non-Abbott districts and the statewide school district average. The overwhelming amount of total per pupil education spending in the former Abbott districts has, and will continue in Fiscal Year 2013, to come from direct state support. Even with formula revisions, state aid will comprise 3 of every 4 dollars spent on education per pupil in the former Abbott districts.
Average Spending Per Pupil in New Jersey:
Statewide Average & All Former Abbott Districts
State Average: $17,836
Non-Abbotts: $17,051
Former Abbotts: $20,859
*Note that this includes all funding sources
Average State Aid Per Pupil
In the Fiscal Year 2013 Budget
State Average: $5,809
Non-Abbotts: $3,223
Former Abbotts: $15,415
*Note that this does not include local or federal contributions, which make up the rest of total per pupil spending in districts.
The past 40 years have demonstrated that just spending more money alone will not close the achievement gap, and that it matters not only “how much” money is spent but “how well” it is spent. Despite funding levels that consistently rate among the highest in the nation on a per pupil basis, New Jersey continues to have one of the largest achievement gaps in the country. Funding alone will not meet New Jersey’s obligation to give a great education to every child. Changing the way money is spent is by far the most important means of actually changing the behavior of schools and the school systems.
New Jersey has the second highest achievement gap in 8th grade reading according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) exam, and the sixth highest achievement gap in 8th grade math. Since 2005, the gaps for economically disadvantaged, African American, and Hispanic students have widened in Language arts literacy on the NJ ASK.
“We have closed the spending gap between Abbotts and non-Abbotts in New Jersey since 1972, but our disadvantaged children are still performing at significantly lower levels than their peers. Closing that gap was the explicit goal of the courts and legislature over the past 40 years, but money alone has not gotten us there. While money certainly matters, there is no evidence that money alone will close the achievement gap,” said Acting Commissioner Chris Cerf. “Over the last 40 years, we’ve talked a lot about equalizing funding, but we need to change the conversation to focus on whether students are learning the same everywhere, rather than simply whether we are spending the same everywhere.”
New Jersey’s current system funds all districts in the same way, regardless of their performance or the reforms they have in place to address persistent achievement problems. In addition to these significant and overdue changes to the funding formula, the “Education Funding Report” proposes a $50 million Innovation Fund to encourage and reward districts to both improve performance and to implement reforms targeted to specific achievement deficiencies. The fund would reward districts that show high growth and strong performance in student achievement, and fund reforms at the local level that are improving performance for students. The Department of Education would monitor the implementation and impact of these reforms, ultimately identifying and bringing the most successful to scale statewide.
In order to have a meaningful and lasting influence on student learning, we need to set new policy priorities, change laws and regulations, alter classroom practices and district contracts, and start pushing a slate of bold reforms that finally move us away from the belief that the funding formula alone will close the achievement gap. Among many others, that includes:
Develop policies that enable districts to recruit, prepare, evaluate, compensate, develop, retain and recognize outstanding educators, and eliminate legal and contractual restrictions that impede schools from assuring a highly effective teacher in every classroom;
Provide educators with the tools they need to be successful by setting high standards for what students should know and be able to do, developing model curriculum to support educators as they teach those standards, and providing real time feedback through formative assessments so teachers can modify their work and differentiate instruction in real time;
Provide rich data reports to identify how well schools are meeting their mission of improving student outcomes, to identify specific areas for improvement, and to trigger differentiated interventions at the State level such as mandated curriculum and human capital practices; and
Intervene in schools that do not create an environment conducive to high-quality teaching and learning by providing support through Regional Achievement Centers, requiring targeted turnaround strategies, and aggressively using existing authority to close or replace schools with new management and teachers if they do not improve within two academic cycles.
Lieutenant Governor, Mr. President, Madam Speaker, members of the Legislature, distinguished guests, former Governors, and citizens of the State of New Jersey:
It is my pleasure, and my duty, to present to you my budget for the year ending June 30, 2013.
Two years ago, when I entered this chamber for the first time, the fiscal condition of our state was as dire as it had been for decades. Hope was low. Pessimism seemed like a permanent state of mind. My thoughts wandered back to my inaugural – to why I wanted this job in the first place. On Inauguration Day, I said, “I asked to serve, because I believe we can do it.”
I did believe, even in those difficult days, that real leadership could turn New Jersey around. In those darker days of recession, we began our journey together toward the New Jersey Comeback with some hard choices, some very hard choices. We took those first steps together – we knew what we had to do.
We had to get our budget under control, and so we cut spending – not spending growth, but the actual dollars spent by state government – two years in a row. We were able to preserve and fund essential priorities, but it was the first time in decades that real spending had actually been cut two years in a row.
As you know, we took other steps as well – reforming pensions and health benefits and capping the growth of property taxes and the interest arbitration awards that drive them.
There was one more thing we needed to begin the turnaround of the state we love. We had to feel good about ourselves again. We had to believe in each other again. We had to dig down deep into our well of Jersey strength and restore our confidence. To do this for our state and for each other, there were two indispensible elements – leadership and truth.
Both require courage. Both must come from what we feel from within. Both could lead us to better days. For those of you in this chamber, and you know who you are, who gave both to our state and its citizens – I say thank you. To the millions of New Jerseyans who gave both to our state – I am in your debt. To those who have yet to give, there is good news. It is not too late – because the New Jersey Comeback has just begun. Resolve today to join us in the tough choices which leadership and truth inexorably lead us to and join us now. End the nay saying – join us to accelerate the New Jersey Comeback this year.
I said at the time that these tough choices would pave the way for better ones in the future.
You see, because our previous tough choices have indeed made a difference. Those budgets for Fiscal Year ‘10 and Fiscal Year ’11 were balanced – without raising taxes. Since I took office, we as a state have added nearly 60,000 private-sector jobs. And 2011 was the best year of job growth since the year 2000 and places New Jersey in the top third among the states.
In these last two years, we have begun to move our unemployment rate in the right direction – down, from 10.1% when I was sworn in to 9% today.
Today, it is time to continue making those better choices. Today, we will both maintain our fiscal discipline, and drive New Jersey into a new era of growth. Today, it is time to put the New Jersey Comeback into high gear.
Posted: February 21st, 2012 | Author:admin | Filed under:Chris Christie | Tags:Budget Address, Chris Christie | Comments Off on Governor Chris Christie’s Fiscal Year 2013 Budget Address As Prepared for Delivery
