About a fifth of New Jersey school districts have reported staff wage freezes or reductions in their budget plans for the coming school year, the Christie administration announced Tuesday.
The vast majority were made to administrators' pay, with support staff coming in second. Teachers in 11 districts accepted wage freezes, while in five districts they have accepted wage reductions.
Of 116 districts statewide freezing or reducing wages, 23 were in Burlington and Camden Counties, according to state data. Gloucester County data were not available Tuesday.
Of the local districts, Florence in Burlington County and Woodstown-Pilesgrove in Salem County were the only ones mentioned for teachers' taking voluntary wage freezes. Moorestown did not budget for raises for any employees other than principals and supervisors under contract.
Last week, Gov. Christie reiterated his call for school district employees to freeze their wages to help spare jobs and programs. Districts that did, he said, would get some additional aid from Social Security and Medicare payroll-tax savings.
On Tuesday, Christie slammed teachers and their unions as failing to respond to his challenge.
"Unfortunately, these figures illustrate the obvious: that the teachers' unions overwhelmingly believe everyone else should share in the sacrifice, but they alone should be held harmless in the middle of this fiscal crisis," Christie
When David M. Rodriguez was a senior at West Chester Henderson High School, one of his teachers wrote in a recommendation letter for West Point: "He has trouble responding to authority in school. But if you can break him of that, he will be an outstanding leader."
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