Community
News, September 22, 2016
Lodi uses state aid poorly
Regarding
"No cuts in state school aid" (Page L-1, Feb. 20, 2016) :
Lodi
will receive $14,508,710 in state aid, the second most in Bergen County behind
Garfield, which was an Abbott district.
Compared with two neighboring towns, Lodi will receive about $13 million more than both Saddle Brook and Hasbrouck Heights.
Compared
with two larger urban districts, Lodi will receive about $1.5 million more than
Hackensack and $3.6 million more than Bergenfield.
With
the infusion of all this state aid, Lodi politicians still manage to give Lodi
one of the highest tax rates in Bergen County and a district performing at the
bottom.
Why
is there no accountability coming from the state after it disburses almost $15
million in state aid to Lodi? Is the state aware that the Lodi Board of
Education is spending $7.5 million on a lavish office building for about 24 employees?
Governor
Christie ran as a reformer and has turned out to be anything but. He is part of
the status quo, enabling Lodi politicians to waste millions of state tax
dollars.
Ryan
Curioni
Lodi,
Feb. 23
Capping pay of superintendents
Regarding
"School districts want to lift salary limits" (Page A-1, Feb. 9, 2015):
The superintendent's pay cap did not go far enough because it's not a real cap. Nowhere in the article was there mention of "merit bonuses." Superintendents can receive up to 15 percent more than the maximum pay through a merit-pay bonus.
In 2011, Lodi's superintendent was being paid $198,690. The cap set his maximum salary at $167,000. Every year since the cap went into effect, he has gotten the bonus. Lodi never saw a real savings. And many would argue that $167,000 is too much for the job being done.
The merit criteria being used by Lodi are absurd. From what I can tell, they are not tied to academic performance. They are not tied to college preparedness, SAT scores or other standardized testing. Some of the criteria that have been used for the annual merit bonus of about $25,000 include more "walkthroughs" of the schools and purchasing more smart boards.
The Record reported that New Jersey property taxes increased by a little more than 2 percent last year. That is understandable, because the reforms that Governor Christie touted in 2010 have too many exceptions and too many loopholes and are not enforced properly. The superintendent pay cap is just one example.
I encourage residents of Bergen County to look into the merit bonuses being approved by school boards and the county superintendent. They will be surprised.
Ryan Curioni
The superintendent's pay cap did not go far enough because it's not a real cap. Nowhere in the article was there mention of "merit bonuses." Superintendents can receive up to 15 percent more than the maximum pay through a merit-pay bonus.
In 2011, Lodi's superintendent was being paid $198,690. The cap set his maximum salary at $167,000. Every year since the cap went into effect, he has gotten the bonus. Lodi never saw a real savings. And many would argue that $167,000 is too much for the job being done.
The merit criteria being used by Lodi are absurd. From what I can tell, they are not tied to academic performance. They are not tied to college preparedness, SAT scores or other standardized testing. Some of the criteria that have been used for the annual merit bonus of about $25,000 include more "walkthroughs" of the schools and purchasing more smart boards.
The Record reported that New Jersey property taxes increased by a little more than 2 percent last year. That is understandable, because the reforms that Governor Christie touted in 2010 have too many exceptions and too many loopholes and are not enforced properly. The superintendent pay cap is just one example.
I encourage residents of Bergen County to look into the merit bonuses being approved by school boards and the county superintendent. They will be surprised.
Ryan Curioni
Lodi,
Feb. 9
Regarding "School official to
retire, son hired" (Page L-3, July 29, 2012):
The
"handing of the reins over to his son Marc Capizzi" was nothing more
than a power play by Lodi school administrator
Joseph Capizzi to preserve the political patronage system that he has become
famous for. The father will collect the pension, the son will collect the
salary, and together they can continue handing out the jobs and the contracts.
The
article stated that school superintendent, Frank Quatrone, only interviewed one
candidate for the position Joseph Capizzi was going to vacate. Quatrone
apparently sees nothing wrong with this because he was hired as superintendent
in the same manner: Lodi was told that he was
the only candidate at the time he was retained.
Board
of Education President Joseph Licata should disclose his conflicts of interest
when commenting on administration. His mother is a teacher in the district. If
the board did not invoke "doctrine of necessity," Licata would have
been bared from voting on all administration and collective bargaining
agreements with the teachers union.
The
board votes unanimously on everything, not because its policies are working,
but because almost the entire board has immediate family members employed in
our schools.
The
Lodi politicians can
scream all they like that their relatives are "qualified." The
numbers show what they are doing isn't working and nepotism hurts the children.
Lodi collects $38.1 million in taxes for its schools and receives $14.2 million
in state aid, second-highest amount of state aid in Bergen County. Yet our high school is ranked second
to last in the county according to NJ Monthly Magazine.
These
conditions represent failures of the Christie administration for not monitoring
how the state's millions are being spent, the Bergen County superintendent for
rubber-stamping Lodi's bad behavior and
Lodi for its apathy.
Ryan
Curioni
Lodi, July 29
