Christie’s Top Cuts in Education
- Budget Cuts: Christie cut $7.5 million to family planning centers and $50 million that would have increased a tax credit for the working poor. He also vetoed a bill that would have returned $66 million in energy taxes to cities and towns, which say the money would help offset sky-high property taxes. New Jerseyans pay the highest property taxes in the country, averaging more than $7,700 per household a year. Christie says taxpayers have begun benefiting from a 2 percent property tax cap. [Newsday, 6/29/12]
- Budget Cuts: Christie also cut $20 million for Legal Services, which supplies low-income residents with attorneys, and $7 million to buy technology for nonpublic schools. He vetoed a requirement for heightened oversight of halfway houses as his administration deflects criticism about the facilities since a New York Times investigation found major problems, including violent crimes and escapes, at them. [Newsday, 6/29/12]
- Education Funding: Christie cut a total of $1.3 billion in state aid to education. [Daily Record (Morristown), 12/28/10]
- Special Education Funding: Christie cut more than $300 million in aid for special education programs and services for students with disabilities. [Asbury Park Press, 5/4/10]
- Special Higher Education: Christie cut $27 million from programs that pay for tuition and programs for students with severe disabilities. [Asbury Park Press, 5/4/10]
- School Breakfast Program Funding: Christie eliminated all $3 million in state funding for school breakfast programs. [Star-Ledger, 4/21/10]
- School Lunch Program: Christie cut $2.4 million in state funding for the school lunch program. [Star-Ledger, 4/29/11]
- Higher Education Funding: Christie cut $173 million from higher education - prompting a 4-percent tuition increase for in-state students at Rutgers University. [The Chronicle of Higher Education, 1/2/11]
- Higher Education Funding: Christie cut $9.2 million from the Tuition Aid Grant program. [New Jersey Newsroom, 3/14/11]
- Higher Education Scholarships: Christie cut $2.3 million from the Educational Opportunity Fund. Educational Opportunity Fund scholarships are awarded to students from financially and academically challenged backgrounds and enable them to attend state institutions. [Better Choices for New Jersey, FY 2010 Report Card]
- Higher Education Scholarships: Christie cut $700,000 from the New Jersey Student Tuition Assistance Rewards Scholarship (NJ STARS). This scholarship rewards students who graduate in the top 15 percent of their class with tuition help. [The Press of Atlantic City, 6/23/10]
- After-School Funding: Christie cut funding for New Jersey After 3 by $7.4 million dollars. New Jersey After 3 is a public/private after-school program that serves approximately 12,000 children up to age 13 from predominantly lower- and middle-income families. [Philly.com, 6/22/10]
- Summer Care Programs: Christie cut $5.2 million from a Division of Families and Children program that provides summer care for children of working families. [Better Choices for New Jersey, FY 2010 Report Card]
