Steve Lonegan, Executive Director of the New Jersey Chapter of Americans for Prosperity and Governor Chris Christie’s opponent in the 2009 GOP gubernatorial primary, has come out in opposition to Christie’s nominees for the State Supreme Court.
Chatham Mayor Bruce Harris and First Assistant Attorney General Phillip Kwon were nominated by Christie in January. The Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled hearings on their nominations on March 22.
In a press release issue last night, Americans for Prosperity said that they expected to testify against the nominations and that it ” will be mobilizing its army of more than 60,000 citizen activists as part of its efforts to have impartial, originalist justices confirmed to the state’s highest court.”
“After careful review and consideration of these nominees, Americans for Prosperity cannot endorse their confirmation to the state’s highest court and will work to see that they are not confirmed by the state Senate,” Lonegan said.
“The governor was elected on the promise to change the makeup of the court by replacing activist justices with originalists who will interpret the law, not make law from the bench,” continued Lonegan, “and Americans for Prosperity was fully prepared to support him in achieving this goal.
“However, there is nothing in the backgrounds of either of these nominees to assure us that Mayor Harris or Mr. Kwon will practice judicial restraint and put a stop to this court’s endless usurpations of the powers of the other branches of government if seated on the Supreme Court.”
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 tangled with Washington Post columnist Jonathan Capehart over gay marriage, and Christie’s offer to but the issue up for referendum, during the Morning Joe Show yesterday morning on MSNBC.
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.
Assembly Republican Deputy Conference Leader Mary Pat Angelini said she is pleased that Governor Christie’s fiscal 2013 budget proposal includes increased funding for those with mental illness and those who are developmentally disabled.
The governor’s budget will add nearly $25 million for community placements for adults with developmental disabilities which will allow 130 people to move off the Community Services Waiting List.
“Providing increased funding to help those who deal with mental and physical disabilities or addictions shouldn’t be overlooked in the fiscally responsible plan introduced by the governor,” said Angelini. “Meeting our pension obligations and increasing educational aid are certainly important, and so is the responsibility to help those who are most vulnerable. We are not only increasing funding for critical programs, but the structural realignment of government agencies will provide greater efficiencies.”
Angelini, who is a member of both the Assembly Health and Senior Services Committee and Assembly Human Services Committee, pointed out that the increased funding and the reorganization of government departments that will centralize services demonstrates the governor’s commitment to allocate resources wisely and challenge the status quo.
Christie’s new budget proposal creates the Division of Child Integrated System of Care Services and the Division of Aging Services that will specifically handle the needs of people who must deal with several government agencies in order to obtain benefits and services.
“As New Jersey’s chief executive officer, Governor Christie knows that managing government involves more than spending tax dollars,” commented Angelini. “The governor deserves credit for examining how services are delivered and how effective they are in meeting their responsibilities. The creation of these departments will improve operating efficiencies and also reduce the frustration people sometimes experience as they steer their way through multiple agencies.”
The Division of Aging will function within the Department of Human Services and administer community-based services and programs for senior citizens such as the Pharmaceutical Assistance to the Aged and Disabled program (PAAD), Senior Gold and the Lifeline Utility Assistance Program.
The Division of Child Integrated System of Care Services will operate within the Department of Children and Families and serve the needs of families with children with developmental disabilitiesmodule art panels.
Menendez Senate has not passed a budget in over 1000 days
Middletown – February 21… Today, Joe Kyrillos applauded Governor Chris Christie’s third straight balanced budget as a blueprint for America’s future.
“Bob Menendez and his colleagues in the Senate could learn something from the tough choices we’re making to fix New Jersey’s finances,” Senator Joe Kyrillos said.
“It’s been over 1,000 days since the U.S. Senate has passed a budget. And, while we balance our budget here in New Jersey, Washington gives us trillion dollar plus deficits – kicking the can down the road spending money on the backs of our children and grandchildren. That kind of record is unacceptable and it needs to change.”
Governor Christie and his allies, including Senator Kyrillos, have led the fight to cap property taxes, reduce spending and reform New Jersey’s broken pension system – the very same issues that are going unaddressed in Washington and contributing to our growing $15.3 trillion in national debt.
When Governor Christie took office in 2010, the state faced a budget shortfall of over $13 billion – today that shortfall is zero.
Senator Kyrillos continued, “Today is proof positive that the New Jersey comeback has, in fact, begun. A lot of people doubted it could be done, but we did it – we are making the tough decisions that need to be made – and it is long past time we did the same in Washington. It is time for the American comeback.”
“While Bob Menendez is offering more of the same: more spending, more taxes and more debt, I am running on my record of fiscal responsibility and real reforms that have reigned in spending without adding extra burdens to New Jersey families.”
Since Bob Menendez was appointed fill Jon Corzine’s seat in the Senate, the national debt has jumped from $8.1 trillion to $15.3 trillion, the annual deficit has grown from $250 billion to over $1 trillion, and unemployment has risen from 4.7% to 8.3%.
“The status quo isn’t working. It is time for New Jersey to show Washington how real leadership works. It is working in New Jersey. It will work in Washington.”
Senator Joseph M. Kyrillos, Jr., 51, served as chairman of Governor Chris Christie’s 2009 gubernatorial campaign and has played a key leadership role in moving the Governor’s agenda through the legislature. Kyrillos is married to Susan Doctorian Kyrillos and they live in Middletown with their children Max and Georgia. He began serving New Jersey’s 13th Legislative District in 1988 when he was elected to the General Assembly. After spending two terms in the Assembly he was elected to the Senate where he has served since 1993. In addition to his official duties, the Senator is employed as Senior Managing Director of Colliers International, the commercial real estate services firm with offices in New York and Parsippany. He is also an advisor to the Newport Capital Group in Red Bank, NJ.
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
