New Jersey's Education Budget Crisis and Corruption.

David Giambusso, "PAC Tied to Booker is Cited on Pay-to-Play: Empower Newark Gave Contracts to Donators," in The Star Ledger, April 27, 2010, at p. 9.
Lisa Fleischer, "Schundler Tells Panel School Reform Details Coming Within Weeks," in The Star Ledger, April 27, 2010, at p. 9.
Kristen Alloway & Jeanette Rundquist, "Few Pass Updated HS Exams: Officials Say Results Could be Misleading," in The Star Ledger, April 27, 2010, at p. A1.

"A year after the state revamped its alternate high school graduation exam, just 10 percent of the students who took the language arts portion earlier this year passed, while 34 percent passed the math section, according to preliminary results from the state Department of Education."

This was the so-called "dumbed-down" version of this examination. Testing suggests literacy levels that barely meet the standards for 12 year-olds when I was a high school graduate are now deemed "acceptable" for students entering college.

Many of these bright young people will enter the legal profession, some of the lowest scoring students will become New Jersey Superior Court Judges.

"State education officials said the results are incomplete and cautioned against reading too much into them."

Unfortunately, the students are incapable of "reading too much into anything" as they are incapable of reading at all. Clearly, many are destined for a life in politics. ("Does Senator Menendez Have Mafia Friends?" and "Senator Bob Struggles to Find His Conscience.")

" ... Of the 10,308 students who took the math exam in January, 3,242 passed. On the language arts exam, 438 of the 4,293 students passed."

With the expected cuts in school budgets we can anticipate these wonderful scores to decline even further. This will ensure that our young people will be well prepared to compete with their Japanese and Chinese rivals for economic achievement in decades to come. The nation is secure.

Aside from b.s. qualifications and reservations from typical bureaucrats in the entrails of the N.J. education machine, what this means is that the Garden State's schools (t.v. advertisements of orgasmically blisssful teachers notwithstanding!) are often failing children -- failing expensively. We must do better than this.

"A political action committee with ties to Newark Mayor Cory Booker violated 'in spirit' the mayor's executive order designed to limit pay-to-play influence in the state's largest city, according to an advocacy group that helped to draft it."

"Harry Pozycki, founder of the Citizen's Campaign, has called on Booker to tighten pay-to-play restrictions after it was revealed that the PAC, Empower Newark, has taken donations from numerous city contractors and spent money on political campaigns, including those of school board members." (emphasis added)

Why is this significant? Well, this is one indication of the snug relationship between the schools, teachers' groups, and the traditional as well as HIGHLY CORRUPT Democrat machine in New Jersey. Take another look at those test scores. ("New Jersey's Mafia Culture in Law and Politics" and "Corrupt Law Firms, Senator Bob, and New Jersey Ethics.")

Too many school budgets were seen as cash cows for soldiers of the political machine and their friends, not as means to educate children well or effectively, nor even to reward actual classroom teachers as opposed to administrative flunkeys of the Jersey Boys who were (they often still are) in charge of corrupt municipal schools.

Money should go to teachers in the trenches, merit pay, classroom experience recognition and incentives to work in tough schools should be built into the school budgets, even as money is taken away from political figures and so-called "administrators."

If someone in the school system is going to earn a six-figure plus salary, it should be a teacher in an overcrowded classroom working with problem students and not a school board member and administrator with a state car, state phone, state lap top, who has never set foot in a classroom and would not know what to do if he did step into a classroom. By the way, N.J. politicians should get the message -- by way of a dead fish wrapped in newspaper -- that all hands are off the school pension money. ("Cement is Gold" and "Da Jersey Code.")

"Education Commissioner Bret Schundler's pitch to help schools overcome state aid cuts got a cool reaction yesterday from Assembly Democrats who said the administration hasn't provided sufficient details."

" ... 'The proposals on pension reform that you encourage us to support immediate passage of, we don't have yet,' said Assembly Budget Committee Chairman Louis ["Fingers"] Greenwald (D-Camden).' ... "

What does George E. Norcross, III say, Louis? Did he give you the green light?

"Schundler said proposed legislation would be ready in early May, and may include:"

" -- Requiring teachers to pay for health care into retirement, not just while working."

" -- Cutting back the way pensions are calculated."

" -- Limiting contracts to salary and benefit increases of no more than 2.5 percent."

" ... Gov. Chris Christie's proposed budget cuts $820 MILLION from school funding, reducing the aid to districts to $10.3 BILLION, down from $11 BILLION. ..."

This budget is the result of decades of blatant theft and incompetence in New Jersey's schools, misallocation of funds, thievery from school construction budgets and playing politics with your child's education. These painful steps are essential to the effective functioning of Garden State schools. People stealing or "on the tit" for years are hardly in a position to complain about what must be done now. It is the "end of the line" for the mafia whores in Trenton politics.