With prospects of a constitutional convention to cure the state’s public education funding woes, an alternative proposed by Assemblyman Louis Manzo appears to be gaining support among state legislators.
For more than three decades, the legislature has struggled to find an equitable way to fund schools after the state Supreme Court ruled that property-tax based funding was unconstitutional.
Since the 1970s, governors, state senators and state assembly members devised a variety of schemes to meet the state Supreme Court’s mandate that would provide students in depressed urban districts with the same “thorough and efficient” education required under the existing state constitution. A series of lawsuits filed over the decades claimed that changes in demographics, loss of jobs from urban centers and the flight of many wealthier families to the suburbs had created a disparity in public education, often giving suburban students more opportunities than those students attending schools in poorer school districts. Many urban school districts also faced social challenges not faced by their suburban counterparts such as a lower family involvement in the education problem, drugs and crime in and around the school, and the need to provide counseling, meal and other programs – all of which cost additional money.
Restricted by the Supreme Court from using property taxes to offset this inequality, legislators came up with numerous alternatives such as property tax rebates and core curriculum standards to meet the letter of the Constitution. The latest effort would have sought to change the Constitution itself in order to get around the Supreme Court rulings.
Last year, Manzo introduced a bill that would shift the burden of school funding from a property-tax based system to one that would base payment on income, not only managing to meet the state Supreme Court’s requirement for equal educational opportunities in public schools, but also avoiding the legal tricks necessary to get around the property tax funding restriction.
Under his plan, property taxes would fall significantly, and yet would not significantly impact most of the state’s income tax payers. Only those with incomes exceeding $300,000 would be taxed, yet the impact would result in a significant drop in property taxes. Under the Manzo proposal, the $5 billion needed to run schools through the state would be generated by an increase of $3.7 billion in income taxes and $1.4 billion from doing away with homeowner rebates. About 67,000 of the state’s wealthiest people will be most impacted by the plan, yet according to Manzo, will also benefit from the drop in property taxes that results.
“While some of the wealthier people in the state may be paying more on one hand, they will get property tax relief as well,” Manzo said.
In Hudson County, Manzo’s plan won a significant boost with the support of state Senator and Bayonne Mayor Joseph Doria.
The plan also won the endorsement of the New Jersey Education Association teachers union.
Funding for ferry service takeover approved
A bill sponsored by Senator Joseph Doria (D-31st Dist.), Senate Majority Leader Bernard F. Kenny Jr. (D-33rd Dist.) and Senator Nicholas J. Sacco (D-32nd Dist.), which would allow the New Jersey Transit Authority to acquire and operate passenger ferries, was signed into law two weeks ago by acting Governor Richard Codey.
“The ferry is a crucial transportation link between Northern New Jersey and New York City, and must be protected for the sake of the thousands of commuters that ride the ferry every day,” said Doria. “New York Waterway’s financial troubles had threatened to jeopardize the integrity of the entire North Jersey transportation infrastructure, but now, New Jersey transit has the tools to turn the ferry’s economic plight around. With new management from an organization that has a history of success with mass transit in New Jersey, the ferry is now in good hands.”
The bill, S-2228, would amend current law to authorize New Jersey Transit to acquire and operate passenger ferry services. The bill would allow the Transit Authority to spend funds on ferry-related capital improvement projects, including ferry terminals, approach roadways, pedestrian accommodation, parking, docks, ramps and other necessary improvements. This bill is designed to address the fiscal crisis surrounding New York Waterway, which has lost $10 million in 2004 and $3.5 million in 2003, and has raised fares twice in the past year and a half.
According to statistics compiled by the Department of Transportation, the New York Waterway ferry serves 32,000 passengers a day. The Senate sponsors argued that without the ferry operating between New Jersey and New York the 32,000 commuters would have to rely on the already crowded trains and roads to get to work.