Legislature
acts to revamp school spending caps
Lawmakers back off from the strict budget
limits they imposed in June
Friday, January 14, 2005 • BY DUNSTAN McNICHOL •
Star-Ledger Staff
State lawmakers yesterday moved to relax strict spending
caps they imposed on local school boards last June,
conceding that legislation they adopted hastily just six
months ago was flawed.
"It's the hallmark of this house that we listen, we hear
and we act," said Assemblyman Joseph Cryan (D-Union), one of
seven Assembly sponsors of legislation (A-3680) that would
retool spending limits that lawmakers imposed on school
districts during state budget debates last June.
Republican members of the Assembly Education Committee
were less generous in their assessment of the Assembly's
actions to revamp the spending limits that they passed six
months earlier.
"A terrible idea when it started," said Assemblyman Bill
Baroni (R-Mercer). "It's still not perfect."
Advocates for local school officials want to get the
spending limit changes passed by February, when local school
boards are scheduled to begin assembling their new budget
proposals.
Under limits lawmakers approved in June, school boards
would have to spend down much of their budget surpluses, and
would be held to tight limits on budget increases regardless
of increases in enrollment, the opening of new schools or
hikes in nonlocal expenses such as insurance premiums and
utilities.
Many of the same advocates who supported the relief bill
yesterday had argued against the original spending limits
when they first swept to approval in the waning days of the
June legislative session. But lawmakers, who presented the
limits as a trade-off to win support for an income tax hike
on residents earning more than $500,000, adopted the bill
with little public discussion, just three days after it had
been drafted and introduced.
The new bill would allow school districts to claim
credits against their budget caps for expenses such as
utilities, insurance, security and the costs of busing
offered to students who would otherwise have to walk along
dangerous roadways to reach school. The new bill also raises
the amount of surplus school districts can retain after this
school year.
"This strikes a balance to ensure our school kids get
what they need to get the best education, and the need to
ensure our taxpayers don't get taxed out of their homes,"
said Assemblywoman Linda Greenstein (D-Mercer), another
sponsor of the new bill.
Committee members endorsed the bill 7-0.
Only one lawmaker, Assemblyman Robert Morgan
(D-Monmouth) declined to endorse the bill. Morgan abstained,
saying he was still concerned about spending at the local
school level.
"Senior citizens and those on fixed incomes have no cap
on their utility costs," he said. "They just have ever
increasing property taxes."
Backers of the bill now face the challenge of winning a
full Assembly vote on the legislation, and of finding a
sponsor for the measure in the Senate. They must secure
passage before mid-February, when the state Department of
Education typically distributes the computer software used
to assemble local school budget.
"No question timing is of the essence," said Johon
Donahue, lobbyist for the New Jersey Association of School
Business Officials. "It's going to be tough."
Dunstan McNichol covers state government issues. He can
be reached at dmcnichol@starledger.com or (609) 989-0341.
© 2005 The Star-Ledger. Used by NJ.com with
permission.
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