The_Nomadic_Nerd t1_iu2ofyc wrote on October 28, 2022 at 2:36 AM

The BOE passed a ridiculous budget with absolutely no transparency, so everyone's property taxes (and as a result, rents) went up considerably. All of this and the JC schools are complete shit. It's just textbook corruption.

Noemi Velazquez is the only one running for reelection this year that voted for the increased budget, so she has to be voted out. She's running with 2 other people in a group called "Education Matters."

However, one of the members up for reelection this year that voted against the budget increase is a guy named Alexander Hamilton (I swear that's his real name). He's running with 2 other people, Doris Toni Ervin and Kenny Reyes, are running in a group called "Change for Children." This very unpopular and corrupt budget passed only 5-4, so if Hamilton, Ervin, and Reyes get put onto the BOE, we can at least be sure that taxes/rents won't go up again in 2023. However, if the corrupt ones continue to hold a majority on the BOE, then we can be sure there will be future increases since they wouldn't have faced any consequences.

In short, Alexander Hamilton, Doris Toni Ervin, and Kennys Reyes of Change for Children are for more transparency and against these unjustified budget increases. Remember those 3 names. That's who we vote for.

BromioKalen t1_iu2waro wrote on October 28, 2022 at 3:42 AM

Thanks for sharing. I don't have kids in the schools, and sorry I don't want my taxes raised again for a deficient organization that cannot get their shit together. Stop throwing money at a problem that just needs brain power. You'd think as educators, they would figure this out.

The_Nomadic_Nerd t1_iu409ek wrote on October 28, 2022 at 11:55 AM

I don’t have kids either and I’d be OK paying higher taxes if the schools were good. The thing is the schools aren’t good and this new budget increase won’t help improve them. This is just textbook corruption.

glasssa251 t1_iu4jjei wrote on October 28, 2022 at 2:30 PM

You don't need to be an educator to be on the board of ed. You just need to know someone with money.

keepseeing444 t1_iu331xx wrote on October 28, 2022 at 4:49 AM

Wanted to add while there are no guarantees that this year’s Change For Children reps will not turncoat like Noemi Velasquez did stabbing the taxpayers in the back last year voting YES to near $1B budget and now flipped to Education Matters slate that is funded by the union aka JCEA, NJEA, Jersey City Together or some variation thereof, rest assured we have a board member who is named after a founding father who has always voted with his heart against the budget increase. In 2020 he was the lone dissent 8-1 vote. In 2021 he was dissent in 6-3 vote. And most recently NO vote in $1B budget. And just as an FYI total enrollment in JC public schools including charters has dropped the last 5 years but BOE increased the budget near 50% in the same timeframe and they have used desperate parents with children in schools without drinkable water and leaky roofs that they willfully ignored for years despite more money being poured in, as marionettes. And when you see the same sheep copy and paste tired old links from well known pro budget and union activist civicparent.org or jcitytimes.com to spread the “underfunded” or “first time in years the schools are fully funded” spin please smack them in the face for being the mouthpiece of very people who want to steal from your hard earned paychecks every pay period.

doglywolf t1_iu4p7oc wrote on October 28, 2022 at 3:08 PM

When i found out the state had been running the BOE for years up till a few years ago and a lot of these people are legacy BOE members who were collecting 6 figure checks for only doing 1/3rd of their actual job i realized they probably all have to go .

You can't give people super easy 6 figure jobs then actually think they do the work after years of not having to do it.

They had to have local BOE members to handle staffing issues , compliance and HR stuff mostly