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| credit: above excerpts courtesy of Hudson County View |
BEEP BEEP BEEP! There goes the Bullshit Detector!
In a letter to Hudson County View , Parents United, the Russo Raia-Romano BoE slate, blamed the BoE's 4% tax increase(s) on "expensive consultants" and "legal fees."
Is that so?
Not only have legal fees steadily declined under the proper fiscal management of the reform majority school board, actual legal costs have declined during the BoE's litigation to stop the expansion of HoLa Charter.
That is correct.
The Business Office is not lying. Parents United and Treasurer Peter Biancamano are.
By the way, the highest legal costs in the past decade was when the district was forced to litigate Anthony Petrosino v the Hoboken Board of Education in 2010 (actual legal cost per pupil $126).
38% of the tax levy increase are rising Charter School Costs.
4-YR. TAX LEVY ANALYSIS
click to read chart
If Charter School costs were removed, the average District Levy would be reduced from 4% to 2.3%.
Since Parents United candidates are Charter School parents aspiring to run the District schools, district parents expect them to understand money will not be pumped from the classroom, teachers will not be laid off, to fund their Charter expansions, rising Charter costs, maintenance costs on aging buildings, and state mandated full-day kindergarten and preschool program, ever-growing in population- that is the unfortunate reality of a tax increase.
Next time Parents United talks about "cutting taxes' let them be specific about which programs to cut, which teachers to lay off, which classroom tools must go. Let's hear specifics: where's the fat?
What continues to shock me is the conduct of Board Trustee Peter Biancamano.
Biancamano, as both School Board Trustee and an officer of the Parents United campaign, in my view, violates NJ-DOE 18A:12-24.1 [Code of Ethics for School Board Members] by partisan political engagement to unseat (3) of his colleagues, disseminating false information about the schools and Board, which harms the reputation of the schools and his board colleagues.
And it's not Biancamano's first time at the 'ethics-rodeo;' Biancamano was brought up on ethics charges for disseminating false statements against his own Hoboken School Disrict in 2013 when he ran for City Council while on the BoE.
Here's the campaign lit that got him in trouble, with the lie: "Hoboken schools spend about $30,000 yearly per student."
click to enlarge
BEEP BEEP BEEP!
The "actual cost per pupil" that year (2013-2014) was $21,142 .
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Of course, Biancamano knew this, he voted on the 2013-2014 proposed budget ($21,171).
Folks, on November 8, please, please vote for the Team that has been doing all the right things for the Hoboken District kids, and advancing educational opportunities in our schools since my own was in kindergarten at Wallace: Sobolov, Evans, Dallara.
Please vote 1-2-4.
One charter school in particular is to blame - the one where one founder got a fat six figure job, another stopped having to pay for private school and half the board are the scum that helped run the BOE into the ground a decade back.
ReplyDeleteElysian Charter?
DeleteNot Elysian Charter, not Hoboken Charter.
DeleteIs it the charter school that a current board member and founding charter school member's wife currently works at?
ReplyDeleteNo. Is it the one where a former BOE member's wife still works and has 2 salaries but he still made decisions that benefitted her financially (and thus him as well)? Which is the same one on the board of which presently sits a former BOE president, responsible for wasted tax dollars while at the BOE through no-show jobs, extravagant meals, etc(read the audit). Hmmm, just smell the hidden discretionary payments. Delicious.
Deleteps - nice try trollisino