For one thing, on the "love" side of the equation: I am interested in the topic; it fascinates me. I love the fact that we have a democracy, and we are allowed - encouraged - to have an opinion and to participate in the process. That's what makes this country so great. And believe me, I have a lot of opinions.
I also see that there are SO MANY variables involved in any given situation - it's very frustrating, but I don't see ANYTHING as "black and white", but it's all shades of gray, and that makes it hard to argue my point with the same kind of fervor that others can reach. (I don't like arguing, anyway, but I do like a friendly debate now and then!) Plus, I have a hard time finding all the facts in my head in the middle of a debate. Later, I'm always kicking myself, saying, "Ohh, I shoulda said this, or I shoulda said that!"
And finally - also on the "hate" side of the equation: Considering that I hate arguing with people, it's kinda bad that my opinions are almost always on the "unpopular" side. No matter what issue is being debated, it seems I'm always on the OTHER side. I hate that.
Well, even so, I'm not going to avoid talking about this topic. I want to share this web site, and you can do what you want with the information. Do you agree with it? Disagree with it? Whatever.
Because, like I said, the one thing that makes America truly great, is that we can all disagree with each other, but still get along.
From the web site SchoolFundingNJ.com :(Which is a Democratic Party web site, to be very clear!)
(There has been a lot of discussion lately) in press releases, public events, and even in paid advertisements about how the new state budget restores the cuts made to our public schools over the past eighteen months.
While they are correct that the budget does increase total aid to schools by $850 million over the Governor’s first budget, the vast majority of school districts have not been made whole and will receive much less than they did just two years ago.
In the coming academic year, State aid to New Jersey’s public schools will total $7,680,212,682 – a marked improvement from last year’s $6,848,783,991.
However, before Gov. Christie took office, our schools received a total of $7,920,936,202. And if the state’s constitutional school funding formula had been followed to the letter, our schools would be receiving $8,542,054,255.
So, while the governor can claim to be increasing school aid by $850 million over his previous year’s budget, he is still providing a total of $240 million less than was provided before he took office -- and, he’s underfunding our schools by more than $860 million.
Of New Jersey’s roughly 590 public school districts, only 54 can claim to be made whole under the governor’s budget. The 31 former-Abbott districts – by order of the state Supreme Court – will receive roughly $450 million to bring them back to what they received in the 2009-2010 school year. And 23 additional districts, most located in wealthy suburban communities, will actually receive more in aid than they would have through the state’s school funding formula.
For the remaining 536 districts, they are still being shorted a combined $294,632,210.
I guess the next question is this. What exactly IS the 2008 school funding formula? What does it cover, and do we really need to spend that much money on our school system?
I don't really know. I'm going to look into that, and try to get back to you.
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