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Assemblyman Cryan says it would put 850 New Jerseyans out of work
Assembly Majority Leader Joe Cryan (D-Union) Thursday said the lower house's Democratic majority opposes Gov. Chris Christie's plan to privatize toll collections along the Garden State Parkway and New Jersey Turnpike and bump more than 850 tolltakers from the public payroll.
"We know all too well based upon the failed Republican experiments of the 1990s that privatization doesn't save money and will lead to poor customer service," Cryan said. "The more than 850 people who would lose their job under this scheme are working class New Jerseyans with families who are dedicated to their jobs.
"Their mistake," Cryan said, is "not being millionaires in Chris Christie's New Jersey, where only the rich are living better."
Cryan noted the unions representing the workers have proposed significant savings to Turnpike Authority commissioners who oversee the two toll roads.
"Everyone understands these are tough economic times, and these workers are helping make difficult choices to help the state make ends meet," Cryan said. "The administration would apparently rather stick to a failed conservative ideology that will cost more money, lead to longer lines at the tolls and bring about inadequate customer service, reflecting poorly upon our state."
Christie believes $35 million to $42.5 million could be saved annually by privatizing toll collection. Privatized collectors would make about $12 an hour compared to the $30 an hour current veteran collectors are making.
The Democrats' position also provides more insight for the governor on how they would react to his proposal to change professional standards for public school teachers who are members of the politically-powerful union, the New Jersey Education Association.
— TOM HESTER SR., NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
The NJDOC is putting forth that cutbacks must be forthcoming from the education departments inside the prisons because of financial difficulties. That is simply not the truth. There is wasteful spending inside the NJDOC, but it certainly is not coming from overspending on prison education! The truth is that the NJDOC wants to outsource the prison education system to a private company ,similar to what occurred with CMS and the medical departments years ago. Any reputable financial authority would laugh at the idea that the way to reduce costs in a billion dollar business (NJDOC) would be to " go after" an area of the business ( education ) that only gets budgeted a mere $12 million( 2%). None of this is about cost savings , it is about privatization.
WE ALL KNOW WHERE THE WASTEFUL SPENDING IS OCCURING INSIDE THE DEPARTMENT!
WE ALL KNOW ABOUT THE TENS OF MILLIONS ALONE SPENT ON OVERTIME COSTS THAT DWARF THE EDUCATION BUDGET!
Yet you are led to believe that your small piece of the NJDOC, education, is causing a budget crisis.
Correctional educators provide the only positive service inside the prison system. Correctional educators are the "frontline" in the battle against high recidivism rates. It is true that our primary job is to educate adult and under 21 inmates with the goal of providing them an alternative to a continued life of crime, but we also help with prison management. Despite the fact that we get no credit for doing so, research has shown that inmates are less likely to engage in disruptive and violent incidents when they are actively engaged in a education program instead of being idle. Importantly this can result in improved safety for ALL employees. We alone supervise thousands of inmates each day.
There are some studies that suggest that offering educational services to inmates inside the prison system actually generates NET savings. Inmate education programs are among the most cost-effective correctional strategies for reducing recidivism. A recent Washington State Institute for Public Policy analysis concluded that successful education programs can generate $2 to $3 or more in savings for every dollar invested to implement them.
SO WHAT REALLY IS HAPPENING?
Education staffing is being reduced, not by coincidence, but with a purpose in mind, and that purpose is privatization. We are already at a 15 year low in staffing. The mandates of the Inmate Reentry Laws passed last January call for a 5-year plan to be implemented that should be increasing education programming. However, the laws mandates for the first year have been largely ignored. Even the formation of a Prisoner Reentry Commission, which was mandated to return their recommendations by January 18,2011,to the Governor and the Legislature, has been ignored. The Commission apparently has never even met!
So the privatization plan is simple.
Implement a totally illogical and unworkable 10 month plan that will reduce teacher salaries by 16% by shutting down all prison education for the months of July and August. This would make the NJDOC the ONLY Correctional system in the country that operates for only 10 months.
Run programming into the ground as inmates lose interest in this disjointed system.
Moth ball state of the art vocational and academic teaching areas at South Woods ,that had cost the taxpayers millions to build, in an effort to prove a " lack of interest".
Follow the new Inmate reentry law by then "offering" and signing up inmates for academic and vocational classes.
Let them know they are on lists that are backed up for months in addition to having no school during July and August.
Create a " crisis" due to a lack of needed educational services that the Inmate Reentry laws demand.
Have an " epiphany of concern" which will lead to the " need" to hire an outside company to handle the huge backlog.
Wild Speculation? Conjecture?
Unfortunately not.
As of last Friday the NJDOC was working towards implementing a Title change for every teacher in the Department. The change would be from Teacher 1 /12 months at a Pay Scale of 24 to Teacher 1 /10 months at a Pay Scale of 21. You would leave your job on June 30 and begin again on September 1. This would be similar to a 40 day furlough! The grand total savings to the Department? Maybe $1.9 million. In a $1.1 BILLION budget ,$1.9 million represents les that one half of one percent of the NJDOC budget!
"Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage." -- Dale Carnegie
COMMITTEE FOR PRIVATIZATION HONESTY