[BonzoHansen]

Originally Posted by BigAls87Z28

Is there an age requirement?

18

I hate to see sports being cut down, and other extracurricular events.

me too.

Agreed, but thats not gunna be there.

Abbott districts are a total waste of our money. Throwing $$ at schools solves nothing, stats back that up. It's the parents that make the #1 difference. That is why before & after care at schools is money better spent. Keeps at risk kids off the streets and gives them more educational opportunity.

Who was given the choice? Individual teachers, or the unions and districts?

The BOE can ask the local union. Look at Steve's answer.

I was thinking about that, but take a county like monmouth where you range from the Rumson/MidSouth/Holmdel towns to the Asbury/Neputne/Long Brand areas. I dont think that having 21 districts would reduce the number of overhead positions, just restructures them.
I think any BOE that have zero schools should have been eliminated overnight.
How do you value one school over another? How do you value one kid over another? If every school gets the same money per student, how is that fair to schools that have special needs? How about schools like Monmouth County's vocational and specialized high schools like High Tech High, MAST, and Allied?

Its a tough call, but this to me way a hatchet move. I hate when education is cut, and its always cut first.

You have to separate out things like special ed. Special ed can wipe out a district due to state laws. If you have a child in your district with needs that can't be met in district the district has to pay for the child's transportation to whatever school they go to as well as the child's education. One child can run over $50k to even over $100k in one year and the district has to pay. For a child that can never be on their own or be a functional adult (at least in the one $120k case I know about), that sure is a big nickle that state mandates make towns pay for. The state needs to pick up the tabs of things like that - they mandate it, they pay for it. The feds need to do the same with the NCLB nonsense.

The entire process needs to be wiped out and started over. It's a total mess with graft on all sides.

And get down to the brass tax here. The state has to close an $11 BILLION hole by June 30th. Tax revenues are down both at state and local levels. You can't tax more. Our oppressive tax structures chases out small & medium sized business owners. There needs to be cuts everywhere. Over the past 10 years public school enrollment is down yet school spending is up. Overall government jobs are up. Our state & local governments have been pissing away $$ at an alarming rate. Whitman really kicked it off and it only got worse after that. DiFransisco raised nj state pension benefits and did zero to pay for it. Corzine did stuff like cut sweetheart deals with the CWA and basically finished off the job. There is guilt on both sides of the aisle. A note to you card carrying lefties & nighties, the only bi-partisan thing they do is screw us. That is my politically neutral comment.

I've got 2 kids in public school so I have more at stake here than half the people on this board. But the state is broke in more ways than one. You can't pay people with IOUs forever. I feel bad for anyone laid off - but I watched over 15,000 people lose their jobs at my old company. When the inflow of $$ stops, the outflow has to stop too. Fact of life.