The NJEA teacher rally in Trenton held Monday, December 11, could have an effect on the WW-P School district beyond the 150 educators who took personal days to attend the rally.
The rally was held to oppose legislation that is intended to lower property taxes throughout the state but also could affect pensions and benefits for educators, as well as the collective-bargaining rights of their union, NJEA.
At the WW-P School board meeting on Tuesday, December 12, Russell Schumacher, the district’s special assistant for labor relations, described the situation in Trenton to the board, which led to a discussion about the issues affected by the proposed legislation, a discussion which dominated the meeting.
Schumacher said that while the laws, if passed, would lower property taxes, they will affect the amount of state funding given to school districts. Schumacher said this will ultimately lead to taxpayers paying more for their school taxes.
School board president Hemant Marathe formed a committee consisting of vice president Robert Johnson and board members Anjani Gharpure, Stan Katz, and Ellen Walsh for the purpose of creating a plan for informing lawmakers of the school board’s position on the legislation.
“We want to write to legislators and at least get heard. Hopefully they will make changes to all of these bills,” said Marathe.
