Funding Alert

Hundreds of New Jersey residents presented testimony on Governor Christie's proposed FY2011 State Budget before the Senate and Assembly Budget Committees in March, April and May. Public hearings on the budget are common spring occurrences. But this year, in response to the massive cuts outlined in the governor's budget, the number of people at the public hearings and the intensity of their remarks reached new levels.

Public education supporters were out in full force. On April 19, before the Assembly Budget Committee at a public hearing at the State House in Trenton, representatives of a number of local and statewide education organizations pressed legislators to challenge Governor Christie's budget and restore cuts in state aid to schools.

Several speakers urged legislators to follow the school funding formula (School Funding Reform Act, or SFRA) and provide state aid at levels required by law and counted on by school districts. Rosie Grant, Project Director for the Paterson Education Fund (PEF) and a founding member of Our Children/Our Schools, attached a copy of the OC/OS petition, "Fund the Formula in FY2011," to the hard copy of her testimony submitted to the Assembly Budget Committee. For more on the petition, see OC/OS "Fund the Formula in FY2011" Campaign in Full Swing.

Members of the Statewide Education Organizing Committee (SEOC), in addition to presenting testimony, rallied outside the State House during the April 19 public hearing. With chants and signs, SEOC organizers and parents expressed their outrage at the governor's proposed budget and had the opportunity to talk to press and passers-by about the devastating impact of cutting hundreds of millions of dollars from state aid to schools.

In addition to PEF and SEOC, additional OC/OS members and friends and other public education advocates testified on April 19, including the Association for Children of NJ (ACNJ), the Statewide Parent Advocacy Network (SPAN), Dollar$ and Sense Education Advocacy, Communities in Schools of NJ, Education Law Center (ELC), the Coalition for Special Education Funding Reform, and the Garden State Coalition of Schools (GSCS), among others.

Below is a brief sampling of testimony on education and the state budget. To read more testimony, click here.

In order for our teachers and students to be successful and reach the level of graduating every student, we need resources. Governor Christie's proposed state aid cuts take away much-needed resources and make it much harder to reach our goals.

LueElla McFadden, President of Parents and Communities United for Education (PCUE), the Jersey City Chapter of the Statewide Education organizing Committee (SEOC)

These cuts are unacceptable and will only further marginalize urban schools and help perpetuate an unjust and unequal education system within NJ's urban areas.

Todd Stoner, volunteer community organizer with the Statewide Education Organizing Committee (SEOC) and the Asbury Park Parent Listening Project (APPLP)

Governor Christie's plan to cut state aid to school budgets hits those who can least afford the cuts the hardest ... If these trends are allowed to continue New Jersey will quickly return to a past of grossly unequal expenditures between school districts and, consequently, an ever growing achievement gap between rich and poor students.