I f New Jersey Senate Republicans get their way, next year’s state budget will pit the urban poor against the suburban, middle-class families in a fight for state health care, affordable housing and educational funding.
And while budget negotiations feverishly continue to pass a balanced budget before Monday’s deadline, policy planners and public advocates across the state are speaking out with loud and determined voices to make sure they – and the disadvantaged ethnic minorities they represent – are not forgotten in Trenton.
Speaking at a press conference Wednesday in front of the Jersey City headquarters of the Puerto Ricans Associated for Community Organization (PACO), Daniel Santo-Pietro, executive director of the Hispanic Directors’ Association of New Jersey (HDANJ), warned residents that Republicans in Trenton are trying to pass a budget that will practically decimate already under-funded and much-needed programs that benefit the area’s Latino community.
Joined by PACO Executive Director Eliu Rivera and Jersey City Assemblywoman Elba Perez-Cinciarelli, Santo-Pietro said the Hispanic community can no longer withstand unfair treatment in the apportioning of state dollars.
“We cannot sit by while decisions are being made that affect not only the quality of life for the 600,000 people we speak for, but also their ability to survive during such hard economic times,” Santo-Pietro said. “We have to make our dissatisfaction known.”
The Republican plan proposes to cut more than $220 million from state programs that directly affect Latinos in the state’s urban communities, including $100 million from poor school districts like Jersey City that are commonly called “Abbott districts.”
One part of the Abbott budget cut involves removing $24.5 million from the Abbott Expansion Fund, which is money set aside to ensure that poor school districts be able to provide their residents with preschool programs. The HDANJ estimates that 20,000 children in Abbott districts statewide remain without preschool facilities.
The other, however, involves reducing the Abbott administrative budget by $95 million. Although the Republicans say the cuts are intended to streamline the administration of the Abbott program, the HDANJ says it will invariably impact quality in the classroom.
The name Abbott refers to the Abbott vs. Burke New Jersey Supreme Court decision that requires the state to ensure that poorer school districts are given the same funding opportunities as the wealthier ones. Both Jersey City and Hoboken are Abbott districts, and figures show that about half the children in those districts statewide are Hispanic.
In addition, the plan reduces by $25 million funding for the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Financing Agency, a state program that finances affordable mortgages for first-time homebuyers, promotes construction and rehabilitation of rental housing and encourages mixed-income, owner-occupied housing growth.
And the cuts to this program would be especially disastrous, PACO’s Rivera said while pointing behind him to Jersey City’s Villa Borinquen, the 300-unit housing complex on Manila Avenue in Downtown Jersey City in which PACO is headquartered. Saying that its construction was made possible through NJHMFA’s assistance, Rivera said cutting funding to housing programs will just further exacerbate a growing lack of available affordable housing.
“There is a 10-year wait to get into affordable housing,” Rivera said. “Our people should not have to suffer the way they are.”
Calling the Republican budget plan a “Punish the Poor Campaign,” the HADNJ says the proposals aim to divide the state along class and racial lines. But Perez-Cinciarelli said the best defense against that strategy is for people across the state to unite and put their priorities in order.
“It’s very important that we all stick together and that everyone, especially Hispanics, call their representatives to let them know how important these cuts are to the community,” Perez-Cinciarelli said. “We will not stand for cuts that hurt our children, our seniors and our schools.”
“The Latino community is growing in size and importance in New Jersey,” Santo-Pietro added. “We need to tell the Republicans to take [these programs] off the block and change your plan. In terms of budget negotiations, we want you to take these off the table.”
Calls seeking comment from a spokesperson for Senate President John O. Bennett, a Republican in the 12th District, were not returned by press time.