Chris Christie's proposed school aid plan would put a huge dent in my property tax bill

Yesterday Chris Christie proposed a statewide school aid plan that's so sensible, so fair, and so simple, it probably has zero chance of passing our rabidly partisan Democrat-controlled legislature.

The plan calls for equalizing state aid per pupil across the board. Every kid in every district gets the same amount. The current court-imposed formula sanctifies 30 "Abbott" districts, giving them the lion's share of state aid while leaving crumbs for the other 534. How this could be considered "fair" is beyond me, but then I'm not a liberal socialist. So expect the Democrats and their NJEA unionista buddies to oppose this plan tooth and nail.

But man-oh-man, if it did pass, I'd see my school tax bill shrink, by a lot.

Because according to this Star-Ledger analysis, Caldwell's state aid would rise from a measly $400.20 to $6,599 per pupil, an increase of 1524%!

Given that the CWCBOE spends about $14,000 per kid, and pretty much all of that comes out of property taxes, I could potentially see my school tax bill go down by about $4,000 a year.

That's almost better than winning the lottery!

Of course I'm only dreaming. Not because the Democrats won't pass Christie's plan. But because even if they did, the spendthrifts on Caldwell's board of education would never surrender that property tax revenue. These guys have a wishlist a mile long and an extra 6 grand per kid in state aid would get vacuumed up into lavish pie-in-the-sky ostensibly "educational" spending projects in a New York minute. The gold-plated water fountains in their Performing Arts Center or the state-of-the-art locker room facilities they're currently building in Met Life Stadium Junior (formerly known as Bonnell Field) would pale in comparison to the stuff they'd throw money at given the chance.

Christie's plan is only half of the solution. The other half is spending control, something that's even more lacking in these parts than state aid. Between the teachers union and the BOE the taxpayers don't have a prayer. And until that situation changes it doesn't matter what Chris Christie or any future governor does, because in the end we're still gonna get hosed.

Posted at 10:42 by Chris Wysocki   [/caldwell]   Comments | Perm Link |
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