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Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Jersey Jazzman: "Unavoidable Costs" Are Avoidable

Jersey Jazzman: "Unavoidable Costs" Are Avoidable:


"Unavoidable Costs" Are Avoidable

Bruce Baker Twitter-points us to a great op-ed about the fiscal disaster taking place in Philadelphia's schools. Read the entire thing to understand that huge inequities are taking place right now in Pennsylvania (a situation Chris Christie aspires to bring to New Jersey).

I agree with nearly everything in the op-ed; however, there is one passage I take issue with:
Has the School District been spending more than it was given? No.
The District ran surpluses of about $30 million a year in 2009, 2010, and 2011.  In 2012, after massive spending cuts to make up for a 15 percent reduction in state and federal funding and unavoidable cost increases in areas like health care, pensions, utilities and charter schools, the District says its 2012 budget is close to balanced. So, the District