Questions Reporters Need to Ask

Following is an email I sent to the AP reporter in Trenton. My goal is to plant the salient questions reporters should be asking about this so-called education funding reform.

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As you report on this, here are a couple of questions to keep in mind.

1. The governor talks about adjusting funding to accommodate those who “live in the wrong zip code.” That could be taken a number of ways. Does it mean that state aid to schools will be based on each individual child’s household income? If yes, it is just one more implicit admission that education funding ought to be based on income and not property taxes. And, if so, how will this affect a district like Middletown Twp? We get aid from Trenton of about fifteen to sixteen percent. That is because we are a so-called rich district due to some very wealthy sections of the township. Will Middletown begin to get substantial aid increases? I doubt it very much.

2. As you might know. Middletown borders Keansburg, an Abbott district. The part of Middletown adjacent to Keansburg is of the same socio-economic strata. Keansburg gets aid of what, 80%? 85%? I am not sure of the exact figure. But the point is that a person living on one side of the street with an identical house and income to their neighbor across the street in the other town has either an imputed greater or lesser ability to pay property tax based which side of the border of they live. Is this fair? How will Corzine’s plan address that huge inequity.

3. Lastly, assuming Middletown will reap some sort of increase in aid, how much and how meaningful will it be? Corzine indicated there may be around a $500 million increase in education spending? Middletown’s education budget is somewhere over $110 million a year (I don’t know exactly, I have given up wasting my time paying attention other than always voting no on the budget). The taxpayer covers well over $80 million of it. (trying to be conservative with figure so I am not accused of exaggerating).

In Middletown, around 65% of the property tax bill goes to education. That means of the typical $6,300 tax bill, over $4100 is for the schools. What would constitute substantial tax relief? A $1,000 reduction? That, it seems to me, is the bare minimum. To do that it would take an additional $20 million from Trenton to achieve that number. With only $500 million available and 600 districts vying for the money, it is doubtful that level of aid would or could ever happen.

Furthermore, even if it did happen, how would it affect the taxpayers bottom line? The 25% decrease in their education portion of the tax bill will only translate into a little more than 15% overall property tax reduction. This is peanuts. This would only be returning people to where they were two or three years ago. And, keep in mind, this is a fantasy, best case scenario.

So, I hope you keep these points in mind as you question Lilo [former Gannett reporter and the governor's press spokesman] as well as legislators. These are the real bottom line questions. Don’t let them gloss over the reality with zip code distractions.