(nytimes.com) With an average class size of nine, the tiny Sea Isle City school district on the Jersey Shore is spending $33,805 for each of its 90 students this school year, or nearly three times the statewide average of $12,098 a student, according to figures released this morning by the New Jersey Department of Education.
By contrast, some 140 miles up the coast, the Guttenberg school district in Hudson County is spending an average of $7,426 for each of its 900-plus students, having eliminated most extra-curricular activities because of budget problems.
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At the upper end of the spending range are small, affluent school districts, like Sea Isle or Avalon, a neighboring shore town in Cape May County that spends $29,982 for each student, or the Alpine school district in Bergen County, which spends $21,534.
Many of the state’s Abbott districts also spend far more than the state average. Asbury Park schools, for instance, are spending $19,102 for each student this year, according to the survey, and the Newark schools $17,974 per student.
The bottom end of the range includes the Woodlynne schools in Camden, which will spend $7,660 for each student.
In many school districts, administrators said, the rising cost of teacher salaries and benefits pushed up operating costs even as they sought to reduce spending on other budget items. (more…)
Some may ask “Why do you spend so much time highlighting funding problems in the public school system?” The answer to that is quite simple. The promise of better education is probably one of the greatest hooks that the Democratic party has with the Black community. You will rarely (if at all) hear of anyone in that party talk about fiscal responsibly when it comes to public schools. Why? Because the Democratic party is joined at the hip with powerful teacher lobby groups like the NEA. While they preach to the nation that education is a civil right (which it isn’t), they have proven to be spineless when it comes to confronting the bureaucracy that is sucking the life out of these institutions while many of them send their own kids to private school. Watch the next time when one of these politicians will stand in front of a Black audience declaring how our schools need more money how the crowd goes completely wild with “Amens”. Notice how they will completely avoid mentioning issues such as this article—issues that mainly take place in Democratic-controlled districts.
This is just one issue where either party needs to earn our vote.
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