I guess it's time for a new thread. Hat tip to 2008anony for this link:
etc.
Here's the interesting quote from the article:
"Republicans said that beginning in February, they submitted open public records requests to 11 school districts statewide. They said Willingboro, Tenafly, and Hoboken never responded. They said Teaneck and Pemberton did not exhibit instances of wasteful spending but they found "numerous examples of highly questionable spending'' in Camden, Newark, Paterson, Cherry Hill and Plainfield."
Hmmmm....
10 comments:
One person's "not wasteful" may well be another's basket full of waste.
In comparison to Newark. Let's roll our eyes a bit.
This is typical of politicians. They are taking aim at easy targets that don't have a real impact on the budget. This is a way of looking like you are fighting for lower taxes without coming off as a bad guy for cutting significant things. This is like presidential candidates talking about balancing the budget by "cutting pork" even though they know that to balance the budget they will have to raise taxes or cut entitlement spending.
If anyone is serious about cutting school costs, whether in a public school or a private school, they HAVE to consider increasing class sizes or cutting teachers salary. That's where the real costs are. Everything else is just for show.
Politicians at both the local and national level need to start making tough decisions. That's what they are paid to do.
It remains the non-teaching personnel that must be targeted.
I am not exactly a card carrying member of the BoE fan club. However, this effort identified examples of waste nuder $200. There was little political incentive for the Republicans to "clear a district." The fact that they "cleared" Teaneck does not mean it is best in class, but it does mean something. We don't have to be the most efficient district in the State - average will do just fine on the spending side of the equation. However, we cannot hope to get to that point as long as compensation is so out of whack with neighboring districts and the rest of the State.
Anon @ 1:46
As I've noted many times before, Teaneck's admin/student ratio is not exceptional for the State. Does that mean that things cannot be run more efficiently - no. However, the real cost savings will come from targeting the areas where Teaneck is an outlier - teacher's compensation and, based on several posts by Alan Sohn, maintenance costs.
Anon 2:12 said it best: There was little political incentive for the Republicans to "clear a district." The fact that they "cleared" Teaneck does not mean it is best in class, but it does mean something. If this article said Teaneck was wasteful Anon 1:30 and Yoni would be singing a different tune.
Fire Department clearing out.
fd- fiscal disaster
Millions in the town's slush fund. If they used it, then there wouldn't be a budget problem. If they use it, then they are admiting that they lied. All council wants to do is gut the FD, keep Broughton out of negotiations so he remains clean, and blame Fehrenbach in the end.
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