Hat's off to Governor Christie. Maybe NOW our local GT school board can give our Gloucester Township teachers an honest effort in contract negotiations.

They certainly didn't waste any time finding a well paid job for their friendly politician buddy. TEACHERS should have come BEFORE the politician.

Best4gt confirmed to be Mayor Dave Mayer - He wants a relationship with Governor Christie so bad, even after trashing the Governor. Here is what Mayor Mayer has to say on his internet site that he and his good buddy Frank Mellace aka ymbdfa created. You spelled Thomas wrong Dave. Tomas Booth Republican Chairman of Camden County severely divided Camden County Republicans when he appointed Thomas Crone to the executive director position in Camden County. Crone has been removed from his seat on county committee in Gloucester Township years back in a power struggle with a long time political combatant Cindy Rau-Hatton. Rau-Hatton went on to become a true leader in the Republican party someone that real Republicans were able to look up to despite differences to know that she was a true Republican. Crone on the other had went into a pity of despair and started to turn to a life of hate postings on bulletin board sites were along with his friend Joshua berry and Darren Gladden they consistently abused democrats and republicans alike especially Cindy Rau-Hatton, with false posts concocted stories and demeaning fabricated stories.

One can only wonder how weak of a leader Thomas Booth is and how desperate he has become to appoint such a polarizing character at a time like this when most Republican organizations are learning that this destructive behavior is destroying the Republican Party not unifying it. In fact the republican Party as a whole still has done everything it can to distance itself from the destructive politics of Mitt Romney and this branch here seems to still be stuck on stupid by turning over the reins of executive leadership to Tom Crone a guy with one of the most destructive pasts in Republican History. It seamed like Chris Christie was finally gaining momentum here in Camden county by doing all the things he could to gain voter confidence not only in Gloucester Township but in all of Camden County for that matter. Then this? Crone by his inner circles was formerly known as the most destructive force present in the Republican Party and although former County Party Boss, Rick DiMichele and GTRMC Boss's

>> “Throughout my time in office I have continuously argued that in order to grow New Jersey’s economy we must invest in education..."

Wait, at $16,000 per student for the Black Horse Pike Regional School District, haven't we been investigating in education all along? Where's the ROI?

Paula, (aka BORING BLOGS) is it investigating or investing. Keep your day job and get a better hobby.......You are boring.

My son's first grade class only gets $100 dollars for the year to purchase materials needed in a room of 23 students. There is never enough tissues, pencils, paper, or glue. My 6th grader is not allowed to bring his text book home to study bc "there is only 25 or so books assigned to each class that stays in the classroom." What makes anyone think, including Christie, that this money is going to be allocated to the kids? By the Tim Bilodeu and his chronies finish putting their hands in the pot, teachers are still not going to have the proper materials needed and our test scores are still going to be bellow average.

More state aide because the Mayor and his friends invited Camden in to the township and they bought lots of kids. The township is a slum thanks to Mayor Mayer $$$$$

Seqestration put an end to this funding as well as alot of Sandy Relief funding. It's gone, maybe some of it will come back following congressional actions but I would not hold my breath.... Education got gutted.......

Here's what I don't understand, and maybe Debbie can help. Government spending has doubled over the past ten, or so, years. So in ten years we went from spending X to spending 2X. Now we're realizing that we can't sustain such spending when we have to borrow or print 40-cents of every dollar we spend so everybody, well, at least most, agree that we need to deal with some of the out-of-control and wasteful spending. The answer, let's reduce our spending by about 2.3%.

The sky is falling...the sky is falling...
We raise spending by 100% and then can't find 2.3% to cut?
Given the numbers I used above I would like to manipulate the formula to get a better understanding. Let's benchmark where we are and go from there in both directions - backwards and forwards. We are currently spending X (that's about 3.5 trillion). Going back ten years we used to spend 0.5X (that's 1.75 trillion) - so we've doubled spending. Time to trim the fat; can we find 0.023X to cut? That's about 80 billion. Is that really going to destroy the country?
President Grant (non-war time) had a staff of three. That grew to 33 under Hoover. Admittedly, things exploded under Roosevelt during the 2nd World War but settled down again after the war. Under Obama, as reported in 2011, the president's staff had grown to 454. Do we really need a Green Job's Czar? Can anyone here justify that position and document what this individual has actually done for us?
I think I know where we can start to find that 0.023X.

You may not like my answer but here we go. We need to trim fat, we need to cur spending, we need to address the deficit. BUT, we need to do it reasonably and smart. Sequestration is a hatchet, not a knife. I won't go into the little cuts that will affect many people in the wrong way. Let's just agree we cannot and should not take a hatchet to defence when we have our kids on the front line. That said, we need to balance cuts with revenues. If one more person grabs thier chest and shouts you cannot raise taxes on the job creators, I'm gonna puke.

Agreed, our POTUS and congress just can't get it right for many reasons. Bottom line, they are both sides equally to blame. The POTUS comes off looking better because he is the POTUS. Elections have consequences. The POTUS gets electred by (I'd love to say the country) but! about 7 states. Memebers of Congress and the Senate only need to pander to thier perspective state constiuents. Since I cannot get rid of John Beonor (sp) or Harry Reed to be fair, the POTUS is the person I will support or question. In 2011 summer? I was behind the POTUS. Sequestration? For me? A republican issue, agreed to under duress to avoid a financial meltdown. I know we won't agree but that's how I see it.
Gotta run, gettin yelled at!!!!

Paul and Debbie I believe we're are on the same page finally on this. School districts are a major part of high taxes. I believe we need to give common sense solutions to the board to bring down the over all spending. I will be honest something needs to be done. I think if everyone gets serious on this issue we can make a difference.

Jersey has loads of wasteful spending and puppets that are to scarred to stand up
Administrators for every grade with a staff. What happened to one principal and one Vice principal Then you have greedy politicians and their home builders and packed section 8 instant federal money. Most of these slumlords are These politicos and part of this broken system. You want that HUD money and let people live like crap for the almighty dollar
Poorly planned throughout the past 20 years and still poorly planned. One track minds.
Camden has moved into gloucester township and they bought the kids to pay the elected and participating slumlords with that federal HUD money. High pay administrators and uneducated councilman getting paid.

Lets not forget PR firms to cover up sex scandals at Triton to save the Mayor and his pathetic township from embarrassment. Money that will remain with wade long and Kennedy and then in the Mayors campaign contribution

Predictable and pathetic.

Reduce school districts yes but what about the overpacked schools. Gloucester township has a lot of kids in this district because of greed and poor planning.

South jersey is backwards. It has always been.

Is that covering Mercados salary

I need more $$ to clean the messy toilets. My "johnny mop" expenses are on the rise!

When are custodians and maintenance going to be shown respect by having their negotiations APART from the teachers and bus drivers? Let's stop comparing apples and oranges. Our jobs are much different than theirs! We work hard 12 months a year.

I have lived in Gloucester Twp for over 50 yrs. First, I would like to say that I chose to have my children attend the Glou. Twp. schools up thru the 8th grade. They all went to a private high school for personal reasons. They have all received a very good education/ inc. college. My youngest daughter was the valedictorian of St. Joseph's University. I am very sad to read the results of the schools' ratings presently in Glou. Twp. I am not blaming the teachers however, they do make a good salary in comparison to many other districts. That being said- everyone Dems and Reps must work on improving our schools to bring them back to where they were and it has nothing to do with who lives where. There are very successful inner city schools in Phila. And I read something about not having enough supplies for the kids- well, my grandchildren attend a private school and the teachers make a lot less money and they buy their own supplies for their classroom. Everyone needs to stop complaining about everyone else (including teachers, parents, administration, politicians) and work together to get our schools back to where they were.
I went to the schools in Glou. Twp. many years ago and I was very proud to have attended Glou. Twp. schools.