Sweeney's childishness manifest with an outbreak of acne. Photo credit APP.com
Three weeks after his profanity laced rant over Governor Chris Christie’s budget cuts, during which he threatened violence towards the Governor, Senate President Steve Sweeney says he’s still too angry to engage in the State’s business and “jokingly” says he hasn’t talked to Christie yet because there might not be enough troopers available to police the eventual face to face they’ll have.
Christie has proposed legislation that would reverse the cuts to “transitional aid” for New Jersey’s distressed urban areas. Sweeny said “people will die” as a result of those cuts, yet he has taken no action on the reversal Christie proposed.
As a State employee, Sweeney has first class health insurance. He should use it and get some anger management treatment.
Sweeney told NJPM that shared services and education reform are next up on the Statehouse agenda, but not before he gets over his issues.
Sweeney also said he’s suspicious of Christie’s budget. He thinks Christie designed a budget that will get New Jersey’s fiscal house in order so that he can lower taxes in the next budget. In other words, Sweeney suspects Christie of working to keep his campaign promises.
In Partnership with Harlem Children’s Zone, Promise Communities Reorganize Services Around Goals of Educating Children, Transforming Communities
Trenton, NJ – Continuing his commitment to pursuing innovative approaches to ensure every New Jersey child is receiving a quality education, Governor Chris Christie today joined with Harlem Children’s Zone (HCZ) Executive Director Geoffrey Canada to announce an expanded Promise Communities initiative and partnership between HCZ and the Christie Administration. This broader initiative builds on and expands to other New Jersey communities the pilot program being developed between New Jersey Community Development Corporation (NJCDC), a nonprofit community organization in the City of Paterson, and HCZ to empower community-based organizations, to help schools advance and operate more efficiently, and to break down the “silos of government,” ensuring a more efficient and coordinated use of resources toward a common goal of positive outcomes for children. Governor Christie and Mr. Canada made their announcement at NJCDC’s Paterson facility today.
“The Harlem Children’s Zone has shown consistently the potential that can be unleashed in our children and communities when we move beyond the confines of government. In doing so, Geoffrey Canada has led HCZ to become a national model of all that can be accomplished when we put the needs of students before the old ways of doing things,” said Governor Christie. “In partnership with HCZ and the Paterson community, we are moving aggressively to recreate the success of HCZ right here in New Jersey by restructuring and organizing programs that reach across the community under a common goal – improving the lives of children and revitalizing the community.”
Through this expanded partnership, the State, through the Office of the Attorney General and Office of the Secretary of Higher Education, will provide assistance to community-based nonprofit organizations in additional cities as part of a Promise Communities initiative. Currently, Harlem Children’s Zone partners with nonprofit community organizations in Newark and Camden to provide technical assistance and guidance in coordinating existing resources among programs inside, outside and across government. The Department of Education is actively working with HCZ to identify opportunities to expand this program to other communities in New Jersey.
“Fundamentally changing the results we are getting in our country’s most distressed communities means taking a completely different approach to how we are educating and providing services to children and their families,” said Geoffrey Canada. “In New Jersey, Governor Christie has shown a serious commitment to transforming urban education in innovative ways that focus on results, not conventions or past practice. I’m pleased to expand our partnership with the Governor and his Administration, work together to identify other communities in New Jersey where transformation can take hold, and help find ways state government can use its resources to get better results for children across the state.”
Building upon core principles of the Harlem Children’s Zone, Promise Communities are designed to create a comprehensive continuum of solutions including educational programs and family and community support systems, with great schools at their center. Utilizing the participation of community partners and stakeholders, including state and local governments, local businesses, higher education institutions, among others, Promise Communities are designed to significantly improve the educational and developmental outcomes of children and youth, from birth through college and onto a career. The Promise Community model emphasizes the need for learning opportunities throughout each day, year, and over the course of a child’s life span, as part of a broader neighborhood revitalization strategy.
In addition, Governor Christie announced that the Administration, via the Office of the Secretary of Higher Education, will further its partnership with the Harlem Children’s Zone at the state government level. Geoffrey Canada and HCZ leadership will convene an Advisory Group, led by Acting Secretary for Higher Education Rochelle Hendricks, to interface directly with the Administration and provide critical analysis, guidance and recommendations to further the goals of improving inter-agency coordination, “breaking down silos” at the state government level, and increasing efficiency and accountability in policies and programs benefiting at-risk children.
Acting Secretary for Higher Education Hendricks will assume leadership for these expanded initiatives with the HCZ initiative on behalf of Governor Christie and will work closely with the Commissioners of other key agencies, including the Departments of Education, Children & Families, Labor & Workforce Development, Community Affairs and the Office of Attorney General.
Currently, New Jersey is the only state that has forged a formal partnership with Harlem Children’s Zone. An initiative is already underway in Paterson using the Harlem Children Zone’s successful model to form extensive partnerships with community organizations to rebuild communities and its schools.
Harlem Children’s Zone’s core mission is positive education outcomes for every child through effective schools and community programs, with the final result of graduation from college. The U.S. Department of Education’s highly-touted Promise Neighborhoods initiative is premised upon the HCZ model and designed to ensure that school reform and neighborhood revitalization are interconnected. HCZ utilizes an integrated approach to community renewal that focuses on comprehensive support for children from birth all the way through college.
Governor Christie’s FY2012 Budget reaffirms his commitment to children and families, building upon a proven record of helping the most vulnerable.
Despite Democrats’ political rhetoric to the contrary, Governor Christie’s FY2012 Budget builds on a record of funding critical budget priorities while protecting the most vulnerable New Jerseyans. Legislative Democrats may find it more convenient to distort the facts for election year political gain, but the numbers are clear – Governor Christie has consistently provided resources to fund services supporting the neediest New Jerseyans.
Early Childhood Intervention Program
Funding for the Early Childhood Intervention Program increased $9.7 million over FY2011, for a total budget of $92.593 million.
o The program supports families with children from birth to age three with developmental delays and disabilities. Services include developmental intervention, speech, physical and occupational therapy and other services necessary to achieve their full potential.
21,292 children received services in FY2010.
Federally Qualified Health Centers
Funding increased $6.4 million to $46.4 million to New Jersey’s network of community health centers, which provide health care to the uninsured, underinsured and Medicaid and Medicare recipients at 100 sites across the state.
Department of Health and Senior Services funding reimburses Federally Qualified Health Centers for the care they provide to the uninsured.
Protected Reimbursement rate at $101 per uninsured visit.
Aid to Hospitals
Funding to hospitals increased by $20 million to $675 million and will be distributed under a new formula to all 72 New Jersey hospitals for the care they provide to the uninsured.
The funding formula was revised to make it more transparent, predictable and equitable for the benefit of New Jersey’s 72 hospitals.
For the first time, the formula was made available to hospitals and the Legislature in February, rather than in June or July. This increased transparency in hospital funding allows hospitals to plan more effectively.
Special Child Health Services Case Management
State and federal funding for Special Child Health Services was protected at $3.3 million.
Counties provide case management services to 12,000 medically fragile children birth through age 21 in need assistance to access comprehensive health services.
Eligible children without insurance get assistance with hearing aids, orthotics, prosthesis and pharmaceuticals to treat asthma and/or cystic fibrosis.
Autism Registry
$500,000 was preserved for the Autism Registry, which makes it easier for families to be connected to the appropriate diagnostic, treatment and support services in their communities.
More than 6,000 children have been registered and it is expected that approximately 1,200 children will be registered each year.
Once registered, families are referred to a county case manager who works with the family and helps them to access available services.
Department of Children and Families
· The FY2012 budget for the Department of Children and Families (DCF) is $1.5 billion, with state resources accounting for $1.058 billion with 70% of state dollars or $743 million allocated for adoption subsidy, foster care board payments and therapeutic and support service for children and families.
· Governor Christie yesterday announced that DCF is providing Wynona Lipman House with $537,000 in federal funds in place of the legislative line item providing state funding in the same amount, thus ensuring no interruption in services. This funding from DCF will preserve the important work of Wynona Lipman House as part of a transition plan for its ongoing operations, as DCF will work closely with the House’s Board of Directors and staff, Essex County government, and other stakeholders to develop a long-term funding model.
· $419 million in funding for the Division of Youth and Services which provides for:
o Over 13,000 youth in permanent adoptive homes;
o Approximately 7,200 youth in out-of-home placement;
o Support services for children in their own homes and in out of home placements;
o Coordinated health care planning for children in out of home placement.
· The FY2012 Budget provides continuation funding for a $100,000 increase for Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) approved by this administration in FY2011.
· The budget also allowed for the re-programming of existing resources for the following initiatives:
o Expanded a summer housing internship program for 30 aging out youth;
o Expanded supervised therapeutic visitation to promote better permanency outcomes.
· $265 million allocated for Division of Child Behavioral Health Services programs which provides for:
o Approximately 40,000 children in our behavioral health system of care;
o Mobile Response and Stabilization Services;
o Community Based Outpatient/Partial Care/Partial Hospitalization services;
o Behavioral Assistance and Intensive In-Home Community services;
o Community Based Residential Services;
o Re-programmed existing resources for the following initiatives:
§ Expanded residential services to support youth with co-occurring needs (Developmentally Disabled Mentally Ill);
§ Support for Youth Suicide Prevention Hotline.
· $58.8 million for Division of Prevention and Community Partnerships:
o Including funding for 37 neighborhood-based Family Success Centers that are serving more than 45,000 families;
o Early Childhood Services with home visiting programs serving approximately 4,000 families;
Transcript of the Governor’s Opening Remarks at the July 18, 2011 Press Conference on the Need to Restore Proper Accountability and Oversight in the Transitional Aid Program.
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie:
Good morning. We’ll talk this morning about Transitional Aid to cities. First, we have been working extraordinarily hard in the Administration to change what had been basically a giveaway to cities that many of which were fraught with fraud, waste, and abuse, to change that program into a program that was a transition for cities to become self-sufficient without state aid being necessary for them to sustain their operations. And so the things that we’ve been doing over the course of the last eighteen months have been to set and enforce conditions for receipt of the aid though memoranda of understanding to have significant oversight from DCA that was regular and meaningful, and to also put a rigorous application process in place to make sure that the money that was being awarded was absolutely needed because given the fiscal condition of this state every dollar that we expend on behalf of the taxpayers needs to be justified and once that money is allocated we need to make sure that there is sufficient oversight in place to make sure that the money is being spent in the manner in which it was intended to be spent.
These are not groundbreaking management theories. These are things that just need to be done and should be done but candidly haven’t been done in the main before we got here. So when I received the budget in a hurried way two Wednesdays ago after the Legislature passed it our review became clear that the Legislature for whatever reason had taken away the funding and language for us to provide oversight to these municipalities who were receiving municipal aid.
Now for those of you who have been following the budget for some time you know that I had limited options available to me once that document was given to me to correct this particular problem, really three, one of which wouldn’t correct the problem, that would be just to sign the budget as it was, allocate the $149M to Transitional Aid and now have no funding and authorization for the appropriate oversight that we just laid out. Second would be to conditionally veto the budget, rewrite in the language and money for oversight, and third would be to line item veto out the money for transitional aid and then look to move forward to try to get restored the funding and the language for oversight.
I determined not to take the first course because that would be ridiculous just to sign the budget the way it was. The second course would have precipitated a potential crisis in closing down the government. I didn’t think that this rose to that level to take the risk of closing the government down over this issue when I had the third option available to me which was to line item veto out all the funding except for that funding which had already been allocated and oversight had been given for the funding that we were providing and then to come back later on to make very clear to the Legislature that we’re not going to be providing aid to cities that have histories of management problems, fraud, and waste and abuse, without the funding and authorization for appropriate oversight.
And so today we’re sending a bill down to the Legislature which contains statutory authorization for both the funding and for the language to have oversight over these municipalities who receive Transitional Aid. Also, a supplemental spending bill to restore the full amount of Transitional Aid that was in my original Budget Message.
Let’s be clear: I always wanted to give this money to the cities that need it. That’s why I put it in my budget in the first place. But I am not going to give this money away without the appropriate funding and oversight mechanisms to make sure that it’s spent in a way that is in conformance with the program and is respectful of the money the taxpayers want to spend. So we’re sending this bill down to the Legislature today. Whenever the Legislature wants to come back and pass this bill they have my commitment that I will sign it as long as we have the appropriate oversight that is included in this bill. I will also sign the supplemental to restore the funding to the level that it was at in my budget as proposed in March.
We made this very clear to the Legislature in the immediate aftermath of their passing of the budget. We’ve made it clear through the press statements that we’ve made to all of you in the aftermath as well that we’re not going to give away money without appropriate oversight. In fact when I announced the line item vetoes one of the things that I talked about that day was the elimination of funding for this oversight capability and that’s why I want it in statute so they don’t play these games any more in the budget. Because as you know through the line item veto I can’t add language and so it put me in the position I was in. If it’s statutory and they put other language in there that goes against the statute I can line item veto that language out to the statute which would provide for oversight, aggressive oversight. I did what the people of the state of New Jersey expect. If we’re going to help cities through struggling times like the ones we’re in but we’re going to do it in a way that’s responsible and that’s going to expend money in a way where there is real oversight from the governmental entity that supplies the money and in this instance that’s the state of New Jersey.
And so the bill is going to be submitted today. Whenever the Legislature wants to come back and pass this legislation they have my assurance that I’ll sign it and then the money will be available for those cities that need it. In the meantime, we’re going to go through the application process as we’ve planned to go through before so this work can be done so we’re not playing catch up on that in anticipation that given how strongly some members of the Legislature feel about this I can’t imagine that they would not provide for appropriate oversight for this type of money. We’re talking about nearly $150M; I think everybody would agree that having both the funding and the legal authority for that type of oversight is not only a reasonable thing to ask for but necessary. That’s why I line item vetoed money out in the first place. It was the only way I could get it done without closing down the government and we submit this legislation now in order to provide for the opportunity for the Legislature to do what it is they say they want to do which is to make sure cities have this funding and if they pass it along with the appropriate authorization, money and authorization for oversight by DCA over these municipalities then they have my assurance that I will sign both those pieces of legislation, both the supplemental and the statutory changes that will prevent us from having to be put in this position again because of the absence of statutory language before.
So that’s what we intend to do on Transitional Aid and I look forward to the Legislature whenever they decide to come back to consider this bill and to pass it. It sounds to me like it’s a matter of urgency to them so I trust they’ll be back to do some other stuff over the course of the summer, they’ll come back and do something that’s important to the cities of our state. I’ll close with one thing. I want to make really clear— I would not have proposed this Transitional Aid in my budget in the first place if I didn’t want to provide it. But I am not going to go back to the old Trenton ways of doing things. And giving away money as we did in Camden, hundreds of millions of dollars in Camden, without any oversight and any results, that’s the old way of doing things. We’re not going to do it that way anymore. If we have the appropriate oversight, we have the ability to enter into these agreements, we’ll do it, if we don’t then that’s up to the Legislature to decide if they want to give away the people’s money in this state without oversight. It’s not going to happen on my watch.
Governor Will Sign Into Law Funding Restoration that Includes Proper Accountability and Oversight in Transitional Aid Program
Trenton, NJ – Continuing his commitment to strengthening New Jersey’s urban cities and distressed municipalities through oversight, guidance and accountability, Governor Christie today committed himself to signing legislation proposed by his Administration that restores Transitional Aid funding and provides permanent, necessary accountability and oversight of the program. Under the Governor’s proposal, changes would be codified in statute to provide the Department of Community Affairs (DCA) with the resources and staff needed to properly oversee the Transitional Aid program.
“When I took office, I pledged to change the culture of Trenton and end the practice of unchecked waste of taxpayer dollars. Legislative Democrats’ efforts to eliminate oversight and accountability for Transitional Aid through the Department of Community Affairs was a misguided effort that would have returned us to the days of Trenton as a free-flowing spigot for taxpayer dollars where no one asked questions,” said Governor Christie. “I stand ready to work with the leadership in the Legislature on Transitional Aid funds, but only under the oversight of a properly resourced DCA. I will sign into law the bill I am proposing today that restores funding in the Transitional Aid program and that provides the resources for DCA to continue its vital work overseeing and enforcing accountability in the program, and serving as a partner with urban cities and distressed municipalities.”
Governor Christie is calling on the Legislature to codify oversight language in statute to ensure it is a permanent, foundational aspect of the Transitional Aid to Localities program, while also restoring funding in the program. Proper levels of oversight and accountability are critical to ensuring that Transitional Aid is indeed temporary as the State government works with recipient municipalities to implement needed reforms and efficiencies. The expenditure of state taxpayer dollars in the program must go hand in hand with proper accountability of those funds. By putting this oversight in statute, oversight and accountability of the aid program will be ongoing and no longer dependent on the whims and product of the annual budget debate and appropriations act.
For twenty-five years, the State’s distressed municipalities have received ever-increasing levels of state taxpayer support, above and beyond that provided by State municipal aid. These programs were provided with little to no State oversight, accountability or guidance. The general result was that distressed municipalities came to rely on these funds in their budgets as an annual appropriation and had no incentive to improve their fiscal management or regain their financial footing.
Upon taking office, Governor Christie has acted on a commitment to aggressively work as a partner with distressed municipalities and to implement responsible management practices, increase accountability and transition toward self-reliance and away from the need for additional state taxpayer funds.
The Christie Administration has aggressively overseen the Transitional Aid to Localities Program through efforts such as:
• Setting and enforcing conditions for the receipt of aid through Memorandums of Understanding;
• Implementing a meaningful, rigorous application process for aid awards where none existed before;
• Requiring regular oversight meetings with DCA and municipal officials to monitor the use of funds and efforts to control costs;
• Utilizing staff to consult with municipalities and assist with professional reviews of municipal operations;
• Advising and consulting with municipal cost-saving initiatives, including police and fire department restructuring to reduce overhead and ensure public safety programs are both efficient and effective;
• Requiring DCA approval for employee hiring;
• Denying non-essential hires, raises, contracts and expenditures and unnecessary travel.
In order for the Transitional Aid program to remain successful, the State must continue to maintain oversight of these transitional funds, and work cooperatively with municipalities in order to guide municipalities in their transition off of state taxpayer subsidies.
A copy of the Governor’s proposed legislation to restore oversight to Transitional Aid can be found here.
Posted: July 18th, 2011 | Author:admin | Filed under:Chris Christie, Press Release | Tags:Chris Christie, Press Release | Comments Off on Governor Christie Affirms Commitment to Strengthening Cities With Proper Oversight and Accountability
The $150 million in increased suburban education funding in Governor Christie’s budget came too late to impact most school budgets for the 2011-2012 school year, according to an article at NJSpotlight.
When the Christie administration announced the final state education funding figures last week they encouraged districts to use the money for property tax relief. A follow up memo later in the week included a deadline of tomorrow if the districts wanted to include the extra money in the coming year’s tax levy. To do so, school boards would have had to publish notices of special meetings on Thursday or Friday of last week and hold those meetings today or tomorrow.
Most school districts will carry the money in surplus accounts in the coming year.
MMM does not refer to state money for suburban education as “aid” as that implies the money is not ours to begin with. “Funding” is a more accurate term.
