97x: You seem a bit all over the place; the mayor in NYC will cause NJ to have an influx. And somehow those folks with higher paying jobs are going to make our schools go tilt, tax wise? Even Independence? That's a rich one. Especially since the topic was our property taxes, GMRSD, and the various tax kickbacks for oldsters.

Then you listed the school budget election with the GMSRD approval and expect surprise that other people vote down school budgets? Come on, it’s America. Americans love to dump on school budgets, makes them feel powerful, in the know, and making a difference.

Not sure Indy can run up a deficit for the state give the balanced budget requirement, not sure what you are talking about. Not sure what you are assuming?

The state gets money from taxes. That's what I think. I'd like to say we get it from the FED too, but you know, to give is better than to receive. Tis a blessing. Gee, I thought everyone knew that. All kinds of taxes we pay to the state. My point is it’s time to scrap it all, and bring it back with a better load balancing that lowers the property load to make NJ more competitive with the rest of America. Think you and I agree, school funding may need to extend beyond property if we do that.

And to those who feel we spend too much and could even have better results for less, great!!! Be careful since NJ ranks 3rd or 4th in per pupil spending and NJ ranks 2nd or 3rd in overall school performance. Personally, that seems a pretty good deal and something not to muck with unless you are really sure for a better bang for the buck. PS: FL is a good place to start, they DO get a better bang for the buck for some reason. And personally, I would rather overspend for our kid’s education. I think it supports our nation’s defense better than bombs. After all, need brains to build bombs and today, need big brains to drop em.

Property tax wise where you seem to feel gouged: Indy in 2018, dropped PT by .27%, that’s right, we went negative, go figure. Did you buy them a dinner? In 2019/+1.34%, 2020/.36%, 2021/2.71%, 2022/1.11%, 2023/2.45%, 2024/2.2%. We set the NJ property cap at 2% because we are stupid, we can’t manage money well, and we vote for people worse than us. So whether needed or not, schools will shoot for around 2% every year, needed or not. The additional beyond the decimal is voter approved, I think, but not sure why exactly. While a cap curbs the spending, a cap is like handing out free money too. Always 2%. And now our representatives don't have to think, just add 2% and see what you can spend it on. Now, as I said, there are other tricks to beat the cap, I think fixed assets may be one, another is “banked” taxes (that might explain 2018. Point is --- give me a break on being gouged every year. You voted for 2% and that’s what you get. FYI: when it comes to NJ highest taxes, INDY is like 130 out of 500 so seems our taxes are higher than average across the entire state, but not that much.

Just google “independence nj property tax rarte by year” and the entire state unfolds.

Because schools are under local control, us locals pay big attention to this thing we know little about. Personally, I hate local control and would make it county-wide so we could afford more centralized resources to help guide and plan our future. Us locals stink at it.

Hope that helps you find a way to make education better for the kids and not just consistently advocate for less spending. Especially when it appears that we don't spend that much, compared to top ranked public educational systems OR even over 125 local jurisdictions in NJ.