Yesterday in a stunning shift, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that a new formula for school funding, which on a yearly basis has been challenged by mostly suburban communities, as well as the Republican party, felt the State should not be fund school districts such as Plainfield.
I am happy that the court has supported this decision. This ruling makes it very clear that the funding the Plainfield School District receives will not be eliminated for political reasons. Students who need this kind of funding do not deserve the way politicians are trying to use this issue as a political football. Therefore, the $100 million in aid the Plainfield School District receives will not be compromised. There are additional funds the City qualifies for, but the City needs to show their needs for these funds.
With that stimulus money coming in from Washington, Plainfield is on a solid foundation with the ability to educate our children, without the worrying of political climate changes that may occur one way or the other.
I have been criticized by some Plainfield School Board members, like Christian Estevez, as well as Cory Storch, and Adrian Mapp, persons who do not have a clue about the funding formula, and would rather see the City’s School District loose $100 million a year, rather than support me on this issue.
Just recently, while working with the State, there was a commitment to give the City of Plainfield $65 million in school construction money. However, because the Plainfield School Board’s leadership was more concerned with giving Mr. Estevez’s wife a $40,000 raise in one year, I was able to ascertain $17million, but could have received $65 million if the Board was more concerned about the welfare of our students, rather than their personal agendas.
Last night’s meeting with the water company was very impressive; the knowledge of the different entities that have a relationship with the PMUA was deep. They were able to provide some alternatives that this City qualifies. I am hoping to use these types of meetings to educate the community in the future, community meetings addressing the direct needs of the public.
I was criticized by a handful of ‘haters’ yet again, who are simply are clueless regarding this issue. They are quite comedic, such as an energetic headless chicken. One, there are options available to the taxpayers: one option offers a new meter, and the other offers a 1-time service charge of $2,800, which is a lot of money, which is why I am supporting special legislation in Trenton that may be able to free this set amount of money for taxpayers who prefer this service.
The budget crisis in the State is the reason why this issue has yet to move forward. This issue is very important however because it not only saves money for the taxpayers, but it also conserves water, a feat we need to accomplish due to recent water shortages.
Another option is that the water bill can be based upon the winter-metered reading of water consumption, rather than a year-round reading. This option certainly is a savings.
So working with the Mayor and Council President, I plan to hold these sorts of forums in the future to educate the community so that we do not have to depend on different agencies that get out of control and feel they need not answer to anyone. I am prepared to continue to take the issues and concerns of the public, and share them with the entire community.
Ps
I reached out to the Mayor’s Office, as well as the Council President, and the Friends of Sleepy Hollow to participate in this event. The complaints from the ‘haters-as-usual’ about no one being notifying is incorrect. The crowd who showed up knew about it somehow.
Unfortunately, Bernice printed that I made a mistake in citing the acronym for the PMUA. This is the same woman who repeatedly makes grammatical errors and spelling mistakes, but I was told you never win beating up on a senior, a practice I will not begin. I do not see how Mr. Mapp and Mr. Storch can sleep at night while they use seniors, such as Bernice and the other woman who wrote the opinion piece in the Courier inferring I am some sort of a ‘gangster’, to do their dirty work, and are not men enough to say these things themselves.
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