From the Record:
Home prices in region up 6.7%, biggest rise since 2006
Home prices in the region rose 6.7 percent in the year ending in January, the biggest jump since the housing-boom year of 2006, the Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller home price index said Tuesday.
Nationally, home prices were up by 13.2 percent year over year, pushed up by big gains in California, as well as in Sun Belt cities such as Las Vegas, where values collapsed during the housing bust. But month-to-month gains have begun slowing down, possibly indicating that home values will not rise as quickly this year. Northern areas showed especially weak month-to-month results in January, possibly because of the harsh winter.
“The housing recovery may have taken a breather due to the cold weather,” said David M. Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices.
Even with last year’s strong gains, home values both nationwide and in the region are about 20 percent below their peaks of mid-2006, and back to the levels of mid-2004.
January’s numbers continued a pattern of home values in the region rising less than the national averages. One reason is that they did not drop as much as in other areas of the country during the housing bust, so they have less lost ground to make up. In addition, New Jersey still has a large overhang of distressed properties in the foreclosure pipeline, and job growth has been slow in the state.
After last year’s 11.3 percent rise in home prices nationwide — the biggest jump since 2005 — “the housing market is showing signs of moving forward with more normal price increases,” Blitzer said.
From Bloomberg:
Home Prices in 20 U.S. Cities Rose 13.2% in Year to January
Residential real-estate prices climbed at a slower pace in the year through January than a month earlier, indicating momentum in the housing market may be cooling.
The S&P/Case-Shiller index of property values in 20 cities increased 13.2 percent from January 2013, the smallest gain since August, after rising 13.4 percent in the 12 months through December, the group said today in New York. The median projection of 30 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for a 13.3 percent advance. Compared with the prior month, prices rose 0.8 percent.
Price appreciation on a year-over-year basis has eased in recent months as higher mortgage rates and unusually severe winter weather slowed demand for properties. Smaller increases in asking prices will help improve affordability, providing support for the residential real-estate market, which has been a source of strength for the economy.
“Prices are rising, even though we should see those gains moderating,” said Scott Brown, chief economist at Raymond James & Associates Inc., who correctly forecast the year-over-year gain. “You’re still talking about double-digit percentage increases, which aren’t going to be sustainable over the long term.”
CS January Tiered HPI for NY Metro
Low Tier (Under $283604) – Up 6.8% YOY
Mid Tier ($283604 – $452896) – Up 6.6% YOY
High Tier (Over $452896) – Up 6.5% YOY
Aggregate – Up 6.7% YOY
Also, January unadjusted numbers bucked the seasonal trend of price declines between December and January for both the Middle and High Tier. The last time we bucked the trend was in 2004.
All the numbers will be rendered meaningless in the next collapse.
All will claim they couldn’t see it coming.
I didn’t see this coming… Clearly, the solution to this problem is to spend more money. From the APP:
Half of Asbury Park’s seniors won’t graduate this year, after taxpayers spent $1M to educate them
It costs $30,485 to educate one child in Asbury Park — more than it costs to send a student to Rutgers — making it the most expensive K-12 school district in the state, according to 2011-12 data from the state Department of Education.
But last year, only 51 percent of the 68 high school seniors graduated. That left 33 students without the skills needed for a diploma. And their failure cost state taxpayers $1 million for the school year.
Let’s take a look at the Asbury Park Starting Lineup.
Denise Lowe – Superintendant – $195,700
Antonio Lewis – Middle School Pricipal – $140,777
William Shannon – Director Guidance – $138,545
Roberta Beauford – Director Special Projects – $137,673
Elford Rawls-Dill – Director Curriculum – $125,000
Kelly Gayle – Assistant Principal – $124,728
Geoffrey Hastings – School Business Administrator – $123,000 (only 7 years experience, not bad)
Walter Barrett – Assistant Principal – $122,215
James Parham – Assistant Principal – $122,215
Reginald Mirthil – Principal – $119,564
Gavin McGrath – Assistant Principal – $118,954
Kathy Baumgardiner – Elementary Principal – $117,203
Mark Gerbino – Elementary Principal – $116,031
Colleen White – Assistant Director – $111,180
Andread Bates – Assistant Director – $111,180
Tavia Robinson – Assistant Director – $109,000
Thea Jackson – Assistant Principal – $102,430
Ernest Whitaker – Assistant Principal – $98,940
Anyone noticing a problem here? Median teacher salary in the district – $59,390 (this may be up to $65k according to the story). Does a school district of only 2000 kids need so many administrators and principals?
In an amazing strike of irony – in 2011 the state ordered the Barack H. Obama Elementary School to be closed due to lack of enrollment.
I have a suggestion, how about you fire everyone for their collective gross incompetence.
@BillMoyersHQ: Your tax dollars at work …. teaching kids creationism and science denial? http://t.co/eQOm9smN8Q
“School choice” is an appealing label, but in today’s Politico, Stephanie Simon reports that deep-pocketed advocacy groups — both religious and secular, including the Koch brothers’ Americans for Prosperity — are pushing to direct more tax dollars to private schools that aren’t subject to the same science curriculum standards as their public counterparts.
Simon writes:
Taxpayers in 14 states will bankroll nearly $1 billion this year in tuition for private schools, including hundreds of religious schools that teach Earth is less than 10,000 years old, Adam and Eve strolled the garden with dinosaurs, and much of modern biology, geology and cosmology is a web of lies.”
5. Teachers are treated like children in the school system. Administrators are the adults apparently.
It is quite evident that failing school systems require more money. Anything less is a lack of compassion. High earners need to pay their fair share. After all, it’s for the children.
At least double the money, clearly the current spending is not yielding the appropriate results. Hmm, you know what, maybe we should triple it. If we have a per child cost equivalent to a Harvard undergraduate, imagine what we might accomplish … and raises for the administrative staff too, clearly we are in need of more motivation.
It’s money in the way that teaching as a profession will not attract top tier thinkers and performers at it’s current salary levels.
Remember that those salaries are only the tip of the iceberg….you have to view them on a full loaded basis……
grim says:
March 26, 2014 at 7:05 am
Anyone noticing a problem here? Median teacher salary in the district – $59,390 (this may be up to $65k according to the story). Does a school district of only 2000 kids need so many administrators and principals?
I have a suggestion, how about you fire everyone for their collective gross incompetence.
[10] essex
I know little about the profession but it seems to be that simply being intelligent is not valued nearly as much as it used to be. There is much more to know about the administration of teaching and the science of it, and if you show competency in those realms, you need not have native intelligence.
As I’ve pointed out before, we have teachers teaching “language arts” who cannot properly conjugate verbs, and teachers teaching math who make very clear mathematical errors.
From time to time, I consider teaching and people close to me say I’d be good at it. But it would never be at the HS level or below as you need the right credentials and, near as I can tell, multiple undergrad and law degrees and bar memberships are not substitutes for passing the teacher’s exam. Which, by all appearances, doesn’t seem to require mastery of actual subject matter.
I find it a bit ironic that I would be considered well-qualified to teach writing to first year law students but not qualified to teach writing to high school freshmen.
I fell through another contract. I will never find a farking house in north NJ…
Family owns land in rural New Mexico, and rural Colorado, gonna go take a flight out there and see if I can find a new life away from this shithole.
This last owner spends $1500/month for taxes/utilities and wouldn’t lower price by 15k, house has been vacant for 7 months already and I put in the only solid offer in the 7 months. WTF?! I can’t catch a break.
Found a great utility this week, FEMA/ NFIP flood maps in google earth, without having to do a full login into other systems with more complicated options I generally don’t use.
https://hazards.fema.gov/femaportal/wps/portal/NFHLWMSkmzdownload#Stay Dry
“Stay Dry” is a focused application that provides basic flood hazard map information from FEMA’s National Flood Hazard Layer for an address. It allows you to view flood hazard zones and Flood Insurance Rate Map numbers and boundaries.
Regarding public schools in NJ, the number one enemy of the children of this state are the Teaching Degrees Administrators/Professors at the state’s public/private colleges/universities. Until there is a radical disassembly of the aggregated power/influence of this lobby the state’s future teachers and children will continue to be held hostage.
#13 NW,
He obviously does not want to sell. I had same type of fool back in fall who just relisted at same price. He only painted walls. House sat for 5 mos. and he would not budge. There are plenty of bag holders around. Patience is key – more today than ever. You need to strike quickly at a decent deal though. I say decent bc generally all housing is way overpriced and eats too much income relative to historical norms. People continue to stretch to show off their “success”. A fools game.
NWJerseyHighlander,
Send the guy a note and tell him to shove the f.ucking joint up his @ss.
OT – Suicide by Train in New Brunswick?
http://newjersey.news12.com/news/1-dead-4-hurt-in-new-brunswick-train-station-incident-1.7502068
http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/03/25/man-will-drink-just-beer-no-solid-food-for-the-40-days-of-lent/
I would be surprised if his agent wasn’t recommending that he wait until the spring market to get his price, especially if his agent made promises (or strong suggestions) regarding estimated closing price.
If he wasn’t under contract 5 months ago, he missed the market.
I find it a bit ironic that I would be considered well-qualified to teach writing to first year law students but not qualified to teach writing to high school freshmen.
I’ve taught both college and high school. It’s not ironic at all. Your first year law students, you lecture, they listen, they go home and read, and if they don’t get it, they get their act together or they fail out. They are also probably paying through the nose to be there. Also, they all clearly want to be lawyers, so you have a common interest in class.
You have a number of challenges to overcome in teaching kids.
1. Selling yourself to them
2. Getting them to behave and listen
3. Getting them motivated or keeping them motivated
4. Getting them to learn for the first time
5. Getting them to retain what they learned
It requires an entirely different skill set than teaching at the college level. I’m an outsider that just jumped into teaching. They’ll all try to tell you that its not easy, and its not. But its also not that hard either. Some people have it. Others don’t. It’s a sink or swim profession and I haven’t seen anyone turn themselves from an awful teacher into a good one….ever. Plenty of smart people come in trying to enter the profession and fall flat on their face. Others hit it out of the park.
NWJerseyHighlander
The seller is probably up to his eyes in dept and has no cash to go to closing, underwater homes really have no business being on the market anyway. Under the current system however, If nobody wants to over pay the seller then it will sit, as another nuisense on the market, problem is sellers have no skin in the transaction. Realtors do not make sellers pay any fee’s until closing, There would be substantially fewer homes on the market and prices would be more realistic, maybe even go higher, if sellers were simply made to pay small fee say $500-$750 refundable at closing to list and have to renew every 6 months. This way if they wish to grossly overprice their home They can pay a grand Plus a year to the listing agents for there idiocy. Its a general statement of course there are many details to be worked out but it would help get alot of unrealistic sellers out of the market.
“That left 33 students without the skills needed for a diploma”
The skills needed for a diploma are a joke anyway.
I was going to say something along these lines, but you captured it masterfully….
Ben says:
March 26, 2014 at 10:33 am
I find it a bit ironic that I would be considered well-qualified to teach writing to first year law students but not qualified to teach writing to high school freshmen.
I’ve taught both college and high school. It’s not ironic at all. Your first year law students, you lecture, they listen, they go home and read, and if they don’t get it, they get their act together or they fail out. They are also probably paying through the nose to be there. Also, they all clearly want to be lawyers, so you have a common interest in class.
You have a number of challenges to overcome in teaching kids.
1. Selling yourself to them
2. Getting them to behave and listen
3. Getting them motivated or keeping them motivated
4. Getting them to learn for the first time
5. Getting them to retain what they learned
It requires an entirely different skill set than teaching at the college level. I’m an outsider that just jumped into teaching. They’ll all try to tell you that its not easy, and its not. But its also not that hard either. Some people have it. Others don’t. It’s a sink or swim profession and I haven’t seen anyone turn themselves from an awful teacher into a good one….ever. Plenty of smart people come in trying to enter the profession and fall flat on their face. Others hit it out of the park.
21
funnelclowd,
At first glance, I love that idea.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVFrdWIs2LI&feature=youtu.be
The sound of one hand clapping
Funnel [21]; Joyce [24];
I said a long time ago that realtors had the power and were the ‘least cost avoiders’ to impose discipline on sellers; but refuse to do so.
#24 Joyce
Just a simple idea but I do think it would take alot of the junk & unrealistic people out of the market, 6 months seems adequate if a home is priced right to get a contract, it would give a seller time to feel the market, start a little higher move down as needed, A seller should be protected and not have to pay a renewal fee if the home falls out of contract because a buyer can’t get a mortgage or somthing causes a deal to go bust. What I would like to see stopped is the the guy who demands a listing of $450k for a house thats worth $375K because he’s underwater on the home or wants to pay off other debt. 200, 300, 400 days on market is ridiculus. It would make them think before overpricing a listing or entering the market or with being so non negotiable once a contract is struck & buyer has money committed during the inspection process. Seems like almost all sales become “As Is” once the buyer has inspection money involved.
You are forgetting ,not all sellers are desperate. I have neighbors in SJ that had their homes listed for sale at least 6 years. Will not go lower more than they owe.Most of them are on zillow today after 2 years with an agent. They would rather stop paying the mortgage and live free for 2 or more years than take a hair cut and bring savings $ to the closing table. Will not you?
[20] ben,
That sums up my sense of things but it is just a sense. I know that there are barriers to entry but I could not begin to fathom what they are right now. It would just be easier to be an adjunct at a law school, and it would be more for fun as those jobs pay crap.
#19 Grim,
I think the agent wanted to sell. I offered 10% below asking cash. He did not move even 2% off. His profession? Real estate appraiser. That is issue. His pride plus home has 1/2 bath that Kate Moss would struggle to get in. He has comp 100k below his ask around block. His house has 0 expandibilty – no basement or full attic. He is a fool, looking for a fool.
#27 fw,
I truly believe that valuation model is f-ed. Realtors and sellers cherry pick homes that they believe are comps and no where near then shocked when 5 mos goes by. It is never the price, it is the “market”.
2000 bucks to teach bio 101 at university is what I was offered. When I netted out the hours against the pay i would have been making less than minimum wage. Would have been for fun anyway but still a joke.
much like the local school systems most of the money goes to the administrative staff.
What does desperation have to do with the idea of trying to keep homes that are not really for sale off the market?
And to answer your question “They would rather stop paying the mortgage and live free for 2 or more years than take a hair cut and bring savings $ to the closing table. Will not you?” If you’re saying that they’ve stopped paying caues they’re incredibly underwater, then yes that is the right move given the current environment.
28.yome says:
March 26, 2014 at 11:52 am
You are forgetting ,not all sellers are desperate. I have neighbors in SJ that had their homes listed for sale at least 6 years. Will not go lower more than they owe.Most of them are on zillow today after 2 years with an agent. They would rather stop paying the mortgage and live free for 2 or more years than take a hair cut and bring savings $ to the closing table. Will not you?
Interesting but, I’m going to reserve judgement and wait for the snopes article on that one. I was fooled already once when this video circulated:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1C_NWMRs8Q
In it, Obama appears to be offering his hand, and no one is shaking it. However, he was in fact introducing Russian President Medvedev to AMERICAN officials, who in turn shook his hand. The gestures Obama makes are him pointing out officials from the US for Mr. Medvedev.
I’m no fan of Obama but context is important. The power of suggestion easily fools…
25.joyce says:
March 26, 2014 at 11:29 am
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVFrdWIs2LI&feature=youtu.be
The sound of one hand clapping
I agree, Brian.
His body language and that of the other person at the podium is a bit awkward as if they were expecting an applause. But said, if it’s wrong, whatever.
(tounge in cheek) Followup to my comment yesterday about climate change. Hat Tip to Ottoman for bringing up global warming yesterday…
Raise a Glass of Scottish Wine to Global Climate Changes
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-26/raise-a-glass-of-scottish-wine-to-global-climate-changes.html
Nom,
There is a huge advantage to teaching college kids rather than high schoolers. You’ll figure it out what it is once you get there.
Joyce,
“What does desperation have to do with the idea of trying to keep homes that are not really for sale off the market?”
A. Looking for a sucker. First of all, the agent took the listing in hope it will sell at the price.It does not matter if it was my asking price or his appraisal value.” He took the listing” Asking me to pay $X.xx for the agent to list my house and turn around 6 months later force me to sell at the lower price because it did not sell. Does not seem right to me.He should have not taken the listing.He is the Professional. If I was DESPERATE and have the money to bring at closing,I might sell.If my house did not sell after 6 months the agent has the option of dropping me and me finding another agent or FSBO.
Homes that are not really for sale off the market because the house cant find a buyer- They become noise. You move on to the next one.
“And to answer your question “They would rather stop paying the mortgage and live free for 2 or more years than take a hair cut and bring savings $ to the closing table. Will not you?” If you’re saying that they’ve stopped paying caues they’re incredibly underwater, then yes that is the right move given the current environment.”
A. They are current on their mortgage,Stop paying is an option rather than bring $ to the closing table.
I know someone that built a new home in 2006 put over $200K in options and now the home is appraised same price as the neighbor that did minimal in options. He is over $200k underwater but still paying his mortgage. I dont know when he will give it up and just give the keys to the bank.
Lib yeah if your not married or a scumbag you can sleep with the coeds
Actually, they made the skills needed to graduate so difficult, that inner city schools have no chance (It’s called common core or something like that). I think that’s the whole point. They raise the standards so high, that they are not realistic or attainable, all for the sake of guaranteeing that the school test scores demonstrate that this school is failing. This way they can break the union’s power, and replace the teacher workforce with low pay teachers, all in the name that school is failing. I don’t know, that’s the way it seems to me. It’s like einstein said, test a fish on how to climb a tree, and that fish will think it’s stupid for the rest of its’ life. That’s what our tests do. The test itself is the problem.
Give a first grade class a test for 5th graders, and then claim the teacher and the school are failing when almost all of the students fail. Once, the general public hears how bad that school did on the test, the mobs come out in full force for a witch hunt. That’s exactly what it is, a witch hunt, based on results from a test that nobody know’s nothing about. It’s like the SAT’s, who really cares what you score on that, what the hell does it really show?
Also, who cares about national testing in general. Based on the results, this is the conclusion I come away with, rich kids pass, and poor kids fail. That’s the only commonality in the testing results. So we are sitting here wasting billions on testing, making these test companies loads of money off the tax payer, all because some bs test results. Too backwards, it’s just crazy.
Best part, the new movement for kids in kindergarten and early elementary school is just straight up cruel. Give kids 3 hours of hw, take away playtime, and force them to learn based on a test. WTF? Kids only get one shot to be a kid, stop making them into got damn machines. This whole movement makes me sick. There is nothing wrong with our education system, it’s fine. If newspapers keep claiming our education system is failing based on bs test results and propaganda, eventually everyone starts to believe it. What a joke, our education system is fine, it isn’t broken just because a bunch of fools are trying to get you to think that it is, all so they could take out the teacher’s union, move in, and start taking the money all for themselves. That’s exactly what you are doing with those national tests, giving a huge amount of money from the education budget to some corporate leach.
“joyce says:
March 26, 2014 at 11:01 am
“That left 33 students without the skills needed for a diploma”
The skills needed for a diploma are a joke anyway.”
37
I was in no way advocating to force this idea onto real estate transactions, with legislation for example. Just commenting on the OP’s suggestion. Obviously, it would take widespread practice among the top agencies for it to gain acceptance.
I tried my best to follow your response. I’m not sure where you got the idea from that the agent would force the seller to sell for lower, ever. That was never part of the conversation.
“Asking me to pay $X.xx for the agent to list my house and turn around 6 months later force me to sell at the lower price because it did not sell.”
Also, we’re not thinking of desperation the same way. If someone can afford the monthly payment and/or has money to bring to closing, then they are not entirely desperate. They’re desperate to find a sucker to bail them out but that’s it. A person hanging on by a thread, neglecting other bills, with no savings… they’re deperate. But that said, both examples of people still have the option to squat for 3-5 years.
misinformation + lack of understanding + Michael + sprinkle of diahrrea of the keyboard = Comment #40
That sums up my sense of things but it is just a sense. I know that there are barriers to entry but I could not begin to fathom what they are right now. It would just be easier to be an adjunct at a law school, and it would be more for fun as those jobs pay crap.
I wouldn’t call them barriers. More like speed bumps. Most subjects, you need 30 credits in that area and you have to pass the praxis (complete joke) to get your CE and start as an alternate route teacher. If you go traditional, you have to take the courses in teaching to get your cert.
Michael, common core is a joke. All standards are written by education hacks that have never taught and their standards are completely pathetic. It would be analagous to a situation in which JP Morgan decides all tellers need to be able to add. Then, if they can do 2 + 2 = 4, they have met the standard. If a school can’t meet common core, those students stand to learn more watching Sesame Street.
42
You made it past his first sentence? I couldn’t…
People are irrational. I am the treasurer of the condo I bought which is interesting as you see all the juicy details. We have a few folks who stopped paying maint. Let me run you through the nuttiness on a case by case basis.
Unit 1) Bought in January 2003 in a LLC with a tenant in unit right up to when lower unit was distroyed in Sandy. Then for some reason pay the maint for next 12 months on unit then stop. LLC has no real address. Since building redid HVAC and water heater and demo’d and sheetrocked it would have only cost maybe 30K to completely remodel unit and market rent is 2k a month. Why they did not renovate who knows, either way liens going on unit and building will eventually foreclose.
Unit 2) Stopped paying maint four years ago. Unit distroyed in Sandy and empty and owner died of old age a few months before Sandy. They are trying to do a short sale or something with bank.
Unit 3) Guy bought it at peak, then pulled another 100K out of it. So unit is 300K underwater and has always been a rental, guy owns another rental too also bought at peak and a business too. All three places wrecked in Sandy. Pre Sandy he stopped paying maint and mortgage on both properties. Guy is in early thirties and lives at home. Why he decided to leverage this out who knows. He declared personal bk a few weeks ago. Bank will soon foreclose and we have a lien.
Unit 4 owned by a rich women who rents it out. 8 months ago out of blue stopped paying maint. Has a ton of equity in unit. Rented for full market price.
Unit 5. Guy owned unit 30 years, four years ago out of blue stopped paying maint then two years ago passed it to sister who started paying maint but nevert the back maint. Building is doing a lien. lady drives a 70K car and got unit for free when brother passed.
Unit 6. Was a summer place owned originally by a couple. Women was in nursing home when Sandy hit. Unit distroyed in Sandy, but lady had her own flood policy and a check for 40K sent to estate. Three daughters inherited property. Never fixed it and out of blue five months ago stopped paying maint. A lien is being placed that will complicate estate. No clue what is going on. They could fix place for 30K pay the 5k back maint and get a 2k a month tenant in.
Interesting 3 out of four of the units are listed with realtors at insane high prices. Even more odd all the units are current on property taxes.
Sandy plus housing market collaspe and liens piling up are forcing folks out. But funny part is if all the folks paid their back maint and fixed their units it would greatly increase prices in complex and all six could sell at market value or make a profit.
They are all irrational. One unit refused to let me fill out the NYS grant application to pay for the renvoation 100%.
I stopped trying to figure out why real estate “investors” do what they do. Good news is in last five months no a single person has joined these folks. In the long run all six folks only hurt themselves. Eventually they will be out and building will be back at full market price. Younger, hipper folks will buy units and we shall grieve taxes based on low resales. By 2017 this will all be a funny story to the new folks.
A child’s education or lackthereof starts and ends in the home. Next!
Joyce and Ben- Do you think everyone is a scholar, or better yet, do you think everyone is capable of being a scholar?
Why do we carry standards that are based on people being able to do college level work? College should be for 30% of the population, not everyone. The faster we get this as a nation, the quicker we stop wasting money on trying to make the entire population made up of scholars. It’s impossible to achieve.
Obama was right when he said the following.
Obama tried to say this during a speech at GE and it backfired on him, but his point was still the same.
“You can make a really good living and have a great career without getting a four-year college education, as long as you get the skills and training that you need.”
http://wchbnewsdetroit.com/3094227/obama-apologizes-for-off-the-cuff-art-history-remarks-video/
48- You guys agree with trying to get an entire ghetto to write persuasive essays and 10 page research papers? You know how crazy that sounds? You are not in touch with reality if you believe this. I’m fine with knowing that a ghetto school will graduate only 50% of its’ population, why, because it’s realistic. That’s a good figure when it comes to a ghetto population. You are saving 1 out ever 2 kids. To get mad at ghetto schools for not graduating 100% of it’s students with the skills needed to do well at harvard is wrong in every way possible.
You are just blaming schools for society’s problems, like educators have some magic wand to fix the problems associated with poverty. For those who don’t agree, go work in a ghetto school, and let’s see you perform miracles like you are jesus christ. Would love to see this. It’s so easy to kick the bottom of society down. Open up your eyes and stop being so cruel. It’s not the schools fault, it’s society’s fault. We have an economic system that holds a part of the population down. Someone has to be at the bottom in a capitalist society, something you guys just don’t get.
education is an opportunity….since when did it become mandatory that every poor person be educated? As long as you provide the opportunity, why should every ghetto school be provided with the impossible task of creating a 100% educated poor class.
People are so stupid
No one blames the ghetto schools for having a low graduation rate. They blame them because they all swallow up hundreds of millions of the dollars that just seems to disappear into thin air. It goes into the pockets of admins and politically connected companies. It’s just routed through the school systems. The very notion of cutting the funding off yields screams that we are going to hurt the kids.
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TRENTON — A fight over renewing a law crucial to holding back an increase in property taxes is nowhere near resolved, a Republican lawmaker who has led the fight for retaining it said today.
Although the Democrat-led Legislature last week began advancing a compromise measure to temporarily extend the law, which expires April 1, Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon (R-Monmouth) said today he did not think Gov. Chris Christie would sign the bill.
O’Scanlon, who was on a task force that studied the law, said the current bill was so watered down that it would destroy the 2 percent cap on property tax growth it was intended to support.
“If they really believe this drivel and this is what they’re going to stick to, then there’s nowhere to go and they’ve virtually destroyed all of the major reforms,” said O’Scanlon. “I can’t imagine any scenario in which he would sign this legislation as is.”
The law deals with an arcane process called interest arbitration. Since 2010, third party arbitrators, who are brought in when towns and their police and fire unions reach an impasse in contract negotiations, have been limited to awarding raises of an average of 2 percent a year, which includes salary and some forms of compensation.
The state League of Municipalities has called the law one of the most effective ways in which towns have reduced the growth of property taxes in recent years. It averaged 1.7 percent in 2013.
Spokesmen for Christie and the bill’s sponsors – Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto (D-Hudson) and Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester) — could not immediately be reached for comment.
The bill (A3067), which is up for votes in the full Assembly and Senate on Thursday, extends a limit on how much compensation third-party negotiators, or arbitrators, can award police and firefighters who have reached an impasse with their towns until the end of 2017.
The measure would loosen the cap, however. The cap would be raised to 3 percent for any town that saved money through cutbacks in health benefits or a reduction in the number of police and firefighters. And towns that negotiated contracts with raises of less than 2 percent over the last four years would be exempt from it going forward — though at least one of the bill’s sponsors said that’s no different than what’s already in the current alw.
“It’s probably between 80 percent and 85 percent of contracts would not have any cap on them at all going forward,” O’Scanlon said, adding that for “virtually all” of the other towns, the cap would be increased to 3 percent.
Mayors have warned that if they can’t control police and fire costs, they’ll be forced to cut services and make layoffs to keep their taxes under the overall 2 percent cap on property taxes, which will remain unchanged.
“This will destroy the property tax cap,” O’Scanlon said. “It is a backdoor way, a poison pill to destroy it. That is the motivation of the people who support this bill, who devised it. And it’s the same people who claim they want to lower property taxes.”
But Republicans are not opposed to the Democrats’ extension across the board, and state Sen. Michael Doherty (R-Warren) has signed on as a sponsor.
Doherty said that allowing towns out of the cap if they’ve already negotiated under it — referred to as “one bite at the apple” — is no different than the current law.
“The current law is one bite at the apple. The new law is going to be one bite at the apple. So what the heck changed?” Doherty said. “What the heck is he talking about? You can’t just make bombastic statements not based on anything.”
Added Doherty: “It’s not a perfect bill, but the alternative is no cap whatsoever… The reality is that this is the legislation that’s moving, so I would like to see some form of cap as opposed to no cap. If no action is taken, the current law is going to sunset by April 1. So this is the best bill that’s moving… Perhaps the governor can negotiate through a conditional veto to make it better.”
It’s so obvious. Everyone who looks at it knows it’s a problem. Yet there is very little political will to deal with it.
51.Ben says:
March 26, 2014 at 2:56 pm
No one blames the ghetto schools for having a low graduation rate. They blame them because they all swallow up hundreds of millions of the dollars that just seems to disappear into thin air. It goes into the pockets of admins and politically connected companies. It’s just routed through the school systems. The very notion of cutting the funding off yields screams that we are going to hurt the kids.
We’re just going to jack yer property taxes you ungrateful fukkker! What do you mean taxes are too high? Why do you hate kids?
http://www.state.nj.us/education/archive/abbotts/chrono/
Slap on the Wrist for LIRR pension fraud —
No jail time, pay back $350,000 at $400 a month. That’s less than a car payment. It will take the 60-year old 72 years to repay what he stole.
http://www.newsday.com/long-island/judge-sentences-lirr-retiree-to-community-work-but-no-jail-time-in-disability-fraud-1.7499096
Moose,
How did you not choose to include this part in your tidbit “His lawyer, Kevin Kearon, said Maher also agreed to give up 15 percent of his LIRR pension.”
Note they chose not to say “…also agreed to keep 85 percent of his LRR pension.”
Chicagofinance,
I hope this story outrages you, at least a little bit.
http://freedomoutpost.com/2014/03/iced-tea-drinker-arrested-urged-take-deal-prosecutors/#uBl1G46FLJqLrGB7.99
Joyce [57];
As I read it, 15% IS $400/mo. They should have taken it all until its paid off; leave him with SS.
Since you guys thing education is failing our poorest kids, I offer you this. Put the poorest kids in our country vs the poorest kids in any other country, and I guarantee our kids will beat them out.
It’s easy to blame the school or teachers for a so called “failing school”, but I ask you this, name one failing school in a rich neighborhood? Just one, please! Why can’t you? I’m waiting. Still waiting. Oh that’s right, it’s impossible. You see, it’s not the teachers or the school, it’s unrealistic expectations placed on the school and teachers for fixing society’s problems. That’s crazy to blame the very people trying to fix the problem, as the source of the problem.
I tip my hat to these educators of the poor. You actually have some poor schools with extremely good results. Of course, your opinion on whether they are good results depends on your view of what the goals are. If you want a 90% or higher graduation rate, you will claim these schools are garbage, based on your unrealistic goals. If you understand the problems facing these schools, and in turn, have a realistic goal, you will be satisfied with the results.
That’s our problem with education, we want equal results across all schools, no matter what the economic background of this school is. Asking all poor kids to compete academically and be on par with all suburban kids is wishful thinking. Some poor kids can do it, but they are special. For the majority of poor kids, there are too many obstacles for them to overcome to compete with the kids with the good life.
58- wow, that def is messed up beyond belief. Take the deal…..What a joke
I would give all the scumbags involved the death penalty. Of course, we would rather throw someone in jail for life for selling weed. Stealing insane amounts of money through fraud I guess is not a crime. I guess anything to do with fraud is not a crime.
This is more evidence of how the common worker’s pension is just a piggy bank for the people with no morals to steal from
“Anon E. Moose says:
March 26, 2014 at 3:38 pm
Slap on the Wrist for LIRR pension fraud –
No jail time, pay back $350,000 at $400 a month. That’s less than a car payment. It will take the 60-year old 72 years to repay what he stole.
http://www.newsday.com/long-island/judge-sentences-lirr-retiree-to-community-work-but-no-jail-time-in-disability-fraud-1.7499096“
Perhaps the USA needs to rethink it’s desire to becomes entirely a “services economy” – because in a “services economy” – if you can’t hack it in high school, or college, your “service” will be retail and food service, or more likely no service at all.
Whenever someone was making up this cockamamie “transitioning to a service economy” bullshit, they forgot to consider the 50% of Americans that don’t, or won’t ever, have the skills to succeed in it, regardless of how much we desire to push them into 13th grade.
Oh no, now I did it.
63- exactly grim!!!!! That’s what I’m trying to get people to realize.
This lady is rather brilliant.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xCq5Qwdh80w
Uploaded on Oct 9, 2013Diane Ravitch is a historian of education, an educational policy analyst, and a research professor at New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development.
In her new book, “Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America’s Public Schools”, Ravitch argues that the crisis in American education is not a crisis of academic achievement but a concerted effort to destroy public schools in this country.
http://dianeravitch.com/
Moose,
Maybe I misread, but I thought it was $400 a month restitution payment in, basically, perpetuity… and also 15% forfeit of pension benefit. if I’m wrong, this story is just that much worse. The article was scant on details not to mention it explicitly stated that he worked 1,000 hours of OT in his final year and they refused to release what was his exact pension amount.
There it is folks. If you have been bashing schools in the past 5 years, you have been manipulated by big biz, the same people Christie and booker work for. You guys cried about public schools ripping off the taxpayer, wait till these guys get their greedy hands all over it. Keep cheering for charters!
“Public education is becoming big business as bankers, hedge-fund managers and private-equity investors are entering what they consider to be an “emerging market.” As Rupert Murdoch put it after purchasing an education technology company, “When it comes to K through 12 education, we see a $500 billion sector in the US alone.””
There it is folks. If you have been bashing schools in the past 5 years, you have been manipulated by big biz, the same people Christie and booker work for. You guys cried about public schools ripping off the taxpayer, wait till these guys get their greedy hands all over it. Keep cheering for charters!
“Public education is becoming big business as bankers, hedge-fund managers and private-equity investors are entering what they consider to be an “emerging market.” As Rupert Murdoch put it after purchasing an education technology company, “When it comes to K through 12 education, we see a $500 billion sector in the US alone.””
http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2014/03/preview-public-schools-for-sale-moyers.html
Lol been searching up info on this woman and getting a lot of info on the stuff I have been talking about with schools. Wish I would have found this woman a while back when I was getting ripped for seeing the charter school movement for what it really was….a scam
Comrade – You see the teaching profession is more a system like other government entities. Once you are ‘in’ you are in, but it is very tough to break in.
68. It’s been tried before. See Edison Schools.
The law locks up the man or woman,
Who steals the goose from off the common.
But leaves the greater villain loose,
Who steals the common from off the goose.
Go to 11 minute mark for evidence that no child left behind is not attainable goals. Go to 13 minute mark for exactly what I stated earlier, that our schools are not failing, they only raised the goals to unrealistic levels that lead you to believe schools are failing. This lady has numerous points that will slam most of your beliefs about the education system.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xCq5Qwdh80w
Uploaded on Oct 9, 2013Diane Ravitch is a historian of education, an educational policy analyst, and a research professor at New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development.
In her new book, “Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America’s Public Schools”, Ravitch argues that the crisis in American education is not a crisis of academic achievement but a concerted effort to destroy public schools in this country.
http://dianeravitch.com/
73- on that same video at the 15:15 mark…international ranking of the u.s….dead last 12 out of 12. I wonder why the reformers never bring that up when they say u.s. Education is going down the drain? You guys really should check this video out.
74- I left out the best part and the main idea…that dead last ranking was from the 1960’s.
plume (12)-
It makes perfect sense when you take into account that the goal of edumacation in the US is to turn out fat, lazy, stupid and obedient drones.
“I find it a bit ironic that I would be considered well-qualified to teach writing to first year law students but not qualified to teach writing to high school freshmen.”
bystander (30)-
The biggest fool in RE is an appraiser, trying to sell his own house.
Most appraisers are failed agents to begin with.
Privatization fears in the k-12 arena are really just people being hysterical. At the end of the day, most people want their children to be at the school nearby around the corner. Vouchers would be a good system to allow schools to compete for students and outside money. I would love to attract more top notch students into my classroom from nearby towns.
Ben (78)-
Obviously, you haven’t gotten the memo that institutionalized graft and pie-in-the-sky liberal hokum trump common sense and free market principles.
All for the children, you know…
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