Gov. Chris Christie today seized on historic school budget results as evidence that voters support his broader reform agenda.
Christie, who played a prominent role in the defeat of a majority of school budgets statewide, said New Jerseyans sent “an extraordinarily clear signal” that they will not tolerate excessive government spending or tax increases, even for the K-12 schools they have long supported. He called the unofficial 58 percent rejection rate “a seismic change that reflects, I believe, a changed attitude in New Jersey.”
“They’ve had enough. They want real, fundamental change,” Christie said at a noon press conference. “We didn’t lead in that regard. We merely gave voice to what the people of New Jersey were already feeling.”
The freshman Republican governor slashed aid to local school districts by $820 million in his proposed budget, but urged them not to hike property taxes to make up the difference. Christie advised voters to reject budgets in districts where teachers did not agree to take a one-year wage freeze and contribute at least 1.5 percent of their salary to their health benefits.
Today, he said both the wage freeze issue and fury at rising property taxes resonated with voters. He rejected a nonpartisan analysis, cited by the New Jersey Education Association, which said districts would still face a big shortfall even if all teachers took the freeze. Christie said it’s still possible for districts to do other “belt-tightening” and have minimal property tax increases.
“It can be done and it should be done, and I believe it will be done in a lot of districts across New Jersey,” Christie said.
(Source: NJ Star Ledger)
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No shortage of teachers. Well paid job for 185 day
a year job and they want an automatic increase every year.One questions is everybody who is paying taxes get an automatic pay increase. Let the teachers get real with the rest of society. I was a teacher when the pay was terrible; it is not like that today. Teachers need to be paid well; however everybody needs to cut back becauses of the ills of the economy INCLUDING TEACHERS.