PS #5 PTA Advocacy Team:
Fall Email Campaign to #FundOurSchools

The form below will send the note (which you are free to customize) to Mayor Fulop, City Council, and the Board of Education. If you don't want to send to all of those individuals at once, simply copy/paste the note below into your email and send to a subset of representatives. If you don't know your city ward and/or representative - use the map below to find out! All the city officials' and BOE trustees' contact information is provided at the bottom of this page for your reference.

Advocate in the manner you feel most comfortable. Visit the PS #5 PTA Page here.

"Efficiency Eliminations" are NOT the answer...what's the plan to fund our schools?
Read or Edit the Petition

To the Elected Officials and leaders of the city of Jersey City - the Mayor, City Council, Interim Superintendent Walker and Board of Education, Many parents, children, residents, and voters have reached out to the City Council and the Jersey City Board of Education over the last several months to demand local funding for our schools, and we will continue to do so until our schools are the fully-functioning educational institutions our children deserve. As we start this school year, we know that Interim Superintendent Walker and the BOE have rejected financial assistance from the City and asserted that they have a balanced budget. However, that balanced budget is not a *fully funded* budget. The budget has been “balanced” through “efficiency eliminations” which unfortunately do not provide funding to our schools, and only further erode the public education foundation for the future of our children. As a result of these “efficiency eliminations” we start this school year with: > larger class sizes; > schools trying to function without adequate administration staff like principals and vice principals; > schools trying to function without adequate support staff like, security guards, custodians, and nurses; > teacher/ classroom assignments shifting around up until day one; > the loss of inclusion teachers, specialists, and counselors; > continued frustrations with special needs services; > kids waiting hours for their school buses; > roaches crawling around our kids in their classrooms; and > no safe potable drinking water. As we start this school year, we know the City Council previously asserted that it was ready to take immediate action to fund our schools by allocating monies via its 2019 proposed budget. That did not happen. The BOE and the City Council both merely “kicked the can down the road” and left our children with nothing but "efficiency eliminations." As we start this school year, we demand the City Council take full ownership of its obligations due to our children. This means acknowledging that the public schools must start to receive a greater share of property tax dollars going forward. In 2018, 48% of the total tax levy funded city services, 26% funded county services, and only 24% funded public schools. This hoarding of property tax dollars at a time of retracting state aid is propelling our 30,000 public schools students into a collision path for more "efficiency eliminations." In order to transition into a fully funded district, we need the City Council to stop the chronic, willful, neglect of Jersey City Public schools. Based on the state funding formula, our schools remain $100 million locally underfunded, which means our schools are funded “below adequacy.” On top of that, our schools will continue to lose millions due to (a) tens of millions of dollars in foregone school taxes that are NOT being paid by existing abatement properties and (b) scheduled decreases in state adjustment aid. Our schools are losing a cumulative $150 million in state adjustment aid. This year we felt our first $25 million in cuts, next year we will feel a cumulative $50 million in cuts, the year after that we will feel a cumulative $75 million in cuts, the year after that we will feel a cumulative $100 million and so on. The payroll tax was introduced to help mitigate the cuts in state adjustment aid, however it was not meant to be the only funding solution. Additionally, the payroll tax is estimated to bring in about $80 million, so by the 2022/2023 school year, it will not be able to cover the losses in state adjustment aid- then what? We demand funding solutions and initiatives, not the scare tactics and threats of increasing taxes or depleting other city services. By maintaining a public and thoughtful dialog with the BOE, responsible and proactive financial planning, and making the funding of our public schools a priority, the city can responsibly adjust its budget in order to absorb an overall tax increase. To that end, we demand that the BOE and Interim Superintendent Walker press the City, with transparency and consistency, to 1) initiate a long term plan for sustainable local funding, 2) prepare the city budget for an appropriate school tax levy that addresses the financial crisis our schools are facing, and 3) meaningful steps toward full revenue sharing of abatement monies. Anything less is ensuring a continued systematic gutting of our already underfunded and vulnerable schools. As we start this school year, we need the City Council and BOE to finally put politics aside and work appropriately for the dignity and future of our children. We need leadership to initiate big picture funding plans and goals- not eliminations. We need our elected officials to lift up our Jersey City public schools, not continue to kick them while they are down. Jersey City kids deserve fully funded schools. As we start this school year we demand a plan to fund Jersey City public schools. What is your plan to fund our schools? Sincerely,
You can add formatting using markdown syntax - read more

Keep me in the loop on parent-driven schools advocacy in Jersey City

BCC yourself

Share this with your friends:

If you check the "opt-in" box above, you'll be kept in the loop on advocacy updates. Otherwise, your email will not be used.

Share98

Why do the class sizes keep growing?
Why did my child's "special" - art - get cut?
Why aren't there any working fountains with potable water?
Why did the BOE cut my math support teacher?

Because: these are examples of "efficiency eliminations" - what the BOE needs to cut to balance its budget.

"Efficiency Eliminations" are NOT the answer...what's the plan to fund our schools?

PS #5 PTA Advocacy Team:
Fall Email Campaign to #FundOurSchools

"Efficiency Eliminations" are NOT the answer...what's the plan to fund our schools?

PS #5 PTA Email Campaign #1: Tell City Council - Help Fund Our Schools!

PS #5 PTA Email Campaign #2: Tell BOE & City Council - No Pink Slips!

PS #5 PTA Email Campaign #3: Not Good Enough - Better Leadership Needed.

PS #5 Email Campaign #4: The funding crisis is NOT yet resolved - #FundOurSchools!

The latest on the layoffs from NJTV News:

Jersey City's Public School Funding Crisis - A Civic Overview:

Not sure which City Ward applies to your home and/or school?

No problem, we've got you covered! Find your home or your school on this ward map of Jersey City

City Representatives:

Board of Education Trustees:

Additional resources about Jersey City's funding crisis

Learn, educate, advocate

Brigid D'Souza

Related Posts

Why do the class sizes keep growing? Why did my child's "special" - art - get cut? Why aren't there any working fountains with potable water? Why did the BOE cut my math support teacher?

Because: these are examples of "efficiency eliminations" - what the BOE needs to cut to balance its budget.

"Efficiency Eliminations" are NOT the answer...what's the plan to fund our schools?

PS #5 PTA Advocacy Team: Fall Email Campaign to #FundOurSchools

"Efficiency Eliminations" are NOT the answer...what's the plan to fund our schools?

PS #5 PTA Email Campaign #1: Tell City Council - Help Fund Our Schools!

PS #5 PTA Email Campaign #2: Tell BOE & City Council - No Pink Slips!

PS #5 PTA Email Campaign #3: Not Good Enough - Better Leadership Needed.

PS #5 Email Campaign #4: The funding crisis is NOT yet resolved - #FundOurSchools!

The latest on the layoffs from NJTV News:

Jersey City's Public School Funding Crisis - A Civic Overview:

Not sure which City Ward applies to your home and/or school?

No problem, we've got you covered! Find your home or your school on this ward map of Jersey City

City Representatives:

Board of Education Trustees:

Additional resources about Jersey City's funding crisis

Learn, educate, advocate

Share this:

Brigid D'Souza

Related Posts

Why do the class sizes keep growing?
Why did my child's "special" - art - get cut?
Why aren't there any working fountains with potable water?
Why did the BOE cut my math support teacher?

PS #5 PTA Advocacy Team:
Fall Email Campaign to #FundOurSchools