The number of public school administrators paid $200,000 or more increased nearly eight-fold in the last five years, according to new payroll numbers released by the state Department of Education.

As of October, 91 administrators were in the $200,000 club — all higher than the governor's salary of $175,000. The number is up from 12 five years ago.

Most were school superintendents, assistant superintendents and business administrators, according to an Asbury Park Press review of the five years worth of school salary data from the 2005-06 to 2009-10 school years.

While the number of public school administrators and supervisors has held relatively steady over five years, their salaries have increased 13 percent to $1.1 billion, according to a review of the latest state employment data.

The Hoboken Board of Education released a scathing audit Tuesday that cited more than two dozen irregularities.

The findings included the misuse of candy-sale funds, incorrect approval of overtime, and the payment of administrators out of funds reserved for instructors.

"It was just shocking," said Board of Education trustee Maureen Sullivan.

The audit, conducted by Fair Lawn-based accounting firm Lerch, Vinci, and Higgins, covers from July 1, 2008 to June 30, 2009.

John Paff, a political watchdog from Somerset County, has been fighting for two years to get answers about a meeting that took place in Hoboken in 2006.

CLOSED QUARTERS? According to John Paff, an invitation-only meeting called by Mayor David Roberts in 2006 to discuss the school district was in violation of the Open Public Meetings Act. But there was no governmental body willing to follow through on Paff’s allegation.  

In an area known for its corrupt politicians and - lately - lawsuits over access to public records, governmental openness is very important to taxpayers.

But not all of them have time or money to fight for it.

This is especially true if it's happening in a different town than their own.

The Hoboken school board ended its 2007 calendar year with arguments among the same board factions that have defined meetings since back in April, when three newly elected "reform" candidates took their seats shortly after the district received a new superintendent.

Although Tuesday's meeting began with 15 eighth graders from the Brandt and Demarest schools singing Christmas carols, the goodwill quickly evaporated into heated exchanges between school board members and at times the public.

The most controversial issue of the night was the first reading of the state's new nepotism policy for the schools, which the state Department of Education is requiring all 31 Abbott school districts (urban "special needs" districts receiving special state aid) to adopt.

The measure proved controversial because the policy calls for the "prohibiting [of] any relative of a board member or chief school administrator from being employed in an office or position in that school district."

The policy was created with the intent of avoiding "both the reality and appearance of conflict of interest in employment," according to the resolution.

Several board members were offended by the resolution, arguing that the measure could be discriminatory against future district employees who have good qualifications but are related to a board member or administrator.

The measure would not penalize any current employees who are already related to a board member or administrator.

Several school board members reacted passionately to the resolution, with former Board President James Farina, who is also the longtime city clerk, describing the policy as "unconstitutional" and warning of potential litigation against the district as a result.

HOBOKEN — Board of Education President James J. Farina was re-elected tonight, but the other three incumbents were swept out of office.

With 97 percent of ballots counted and not counting absentee or provisional votes, Farina received 1,260 votes. Challengers Carrie Gilliard had 1,074 and Rose Marie Markle had received 943. They will serve three-year terms.

Tricia Snyder was elected to fill a one-year unexpired term.

New Jersey Superior Court Judge John O'Shaughnessy heard arguments this week in a lawsuit concerning tapes of three closed sessions held by the Hoboken Board of Education in 2005.

Hoboken resident Elizabeth Mason filed suit in November of 2006 in order to have the tapes made public under New Jersey's Open Public Records Act, after her written request to see the minutes was denied by the board earlier last year.

According to Steven Kleinman, the Attorney representing the Board of Education on behalf of the firm Scarinci and Hollenbeck, the judge reserved his decision until a later date.

The Board of Education delayed a decision last week to vote to approve minutes of three closed meetings - from 2005.

The minutes are of two closed executive session meetings held on Aug. 30, 2005, and another one on Sept. 6 of that year.

Board members raised questions about the accuracy of the minutes, particularly after Board Secretary David Anthony said no tape existed for a controversial session in which four members had got up and walked out early - so the minutes were pieced together from the recollections of those who remained.

A new state report has laid out in intricate detail how much it should cost to educate a child in New Jersey, from the price of the average teacher to that of textbooks and supplies.

The 98-page report released yesterday is at the center of Gov. Jon Corzine's plan to revamp the state's school funding formula to better match the needs of individual students, as opposed to those of districts as a whole.

Using data from 2004-05, the report set a total base per-pupil amount of $7,367 for K-8 districts and $8,496 in K-12 district.

HOBOKEN - The former president of the city's Board of Education has been reprimanded by the state for voting to promote his brother and for voting for a contract for Freeholder Maurice Fitzgibbons, whom he serves as an aide.

Carmelo Garcia, who is still on the board, was reprimanded by state Education Commissioner Lucille Davy last week at the recommendation of the state Ethics Commission. It is unclear what, if any, practical consequence the reprimand has.

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) -- New Jersey voters would decide whether the state should create 21 county school districts under a plan considered Wednesday by legislators looking to cut the nation's highest property taxes.

The referendum would ask voters to approve the shift next year, a massive undertaking for a state with 616 school districts spread across 566 municipalities.

If the plan goes through and voters approve, new countywide districts would begin operating on July 1, 2009, and would be led by county school chiefs appointed by the governor.

Hoboken has more than 2,100 children in eight public schools - and now all it needs is a new person to run the district.

Current Superintendent of Schools Patrick Gagliardi is retiring. His contract expires on June 30, 2007. The Board of Education has about nine months to choose a successor.

Baby has no problem eating while mom is meeting
09/13/2006 JJ

With both sides citing tough economic times, many school districts and local unions statewide continue to battle it out at the bargaining table, fighting over salary increases, health care costs and work schedules -- key issues for teachers and taxpayers.

Nearly 115 districts in the state, including about 20 throughout North Jersey, are negotiating contracts as students head back to class this week. Of New Jersey's 593 school districts, 193 required new pacts this fall, according to school officials.

Without any public discussion or the opportunity for members of the public to apply for the position, the Board of Education voted to add Wanda Santana-Alicea to the board on Tuesday night.

 Dear Editor:

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) -- Most of New Jerseyans' sky-high property taxes go to pay for their local schools. The state also helps, sending more than 30 cents of every $1 it spends each year to public schools.

The combination has led to New Jersey having the highest property taxes in the nation, and to increasing scrutiny of how the state pays for education as hefty aid continues to go to city schools compared to those in other districts.

TRENTON

Problems for school board
Consultant Libera quits after saying he couldn't get access
By: Tom Jennemann, Hoboken Reporter  

Former State Commissioner of Education William L. Librera, who was brought into the Hoboken schools as a consultant to help develop a long-term plan for the district, walked away from his $24,000 contract last week.

In a letter to the board, Librera charged that he was not given access to the schools and to the documents needed to complete his study of the district.

Results of the Hoboken Board of Education Race:

1. Minutello -  1673 
2. Romano -    1635
3. Raia -          1631
4. Alicea -        1525
5. Gillard -       1296
6. Tobias -       1228

School Budget

POLITICAL ANALYSIS:

The real winner in this election was Administration backed Frank Raia who survived not only the traditional frontal attack from anti-administration foes, but also had to contend with and overcome the

David Sciarra (Executive Director of the Education Law Center) is a lefty lawyer whose mission in life is to help urban kids get a decent education.  And he's very good at it. For a decade or so, he's been beating the state over the head in court, forcing Trenton to send a flood of money to the poorest school districts, known as Abbotts.

Sciarra now believes that some of the healthier Abbott districts should lighten the state's load by raising their own property taxes. Hoboken, that yuppie haven, is only the most obvious case.

Our bachelor governor, as you may know, has a pad in Hoboken, the mile- square city on the Hudson that is as close to paradise for young, upwardly mobile people as anywhere on Earth.

Hoboken is also a paradise for politicians. That's why it's classified as one of the state's so-called "Abbott" school districts. The Abbotts are also called the "poor" school districts, despite the fact that these days you have to be rich to move into some of them. A garden-variety millionaire could own a million- dollar rowhouse in Hoboken and a $2 million condo in Long Branch and still have a good chunk of his property-tax bill subsidized by the working people of New Jersey. This is the logic, such as it is, of the state Supreme Court's many decisions in the Abbott vs. Burke education-funding case.

Power struggle may stymie Mayor Roberts' proposed 'reform' plan

Mayor Roberts had recently gathered political friends and foes at an invite-only meeting at the Stevens Institute of Technology to discuss how to help Hoboken's steadily improving but long-maligned urban public schools. But Hoboken School Superintendent Patrick Gagliardi, who plans to retire in two years, saw the meeting as "political" and declined to attend. On Monday, he publicly blasted Librera at a Board of Education caucus, calling him a "salesman."

Roberts' education initiative was launched Tuesday night at an invitation-only event for about 40 community leaders who have a stake in the city's educational system.

The meeting, which was closed to the press, was held at the house of Stevens Institute of Technology's President Harold Raveche. Roberts said that the press was not invited to the meeting so that it would not be politicized. According to Roberts, attendees included almost every Hoboken elected official from the City Council and the Board of Education, district administrations, city educators, and local business and civic leaders.

Even though there was more than a quorum of both the City Council and Board of Education, the city's attorney, Joseph Sherman, said that the meeting did not violate the state's Sunshine Law. Sherman said that the event was "a social gathering" where no action was taken, and the focus of the meeting was to allow people to talk in general terms about "education in Hoboken in the 21st century."

Curko set a retirement date. According to an agreement that was struck at a special (and brief) Board of Education meeting Thursday night, Curko will retire as board secretary immediately, and he will stay as business administrator until the end of the school year.

Ethics charges allege that Hoboken School Board President Carmelo Garcia lobbied Superintendent of Schools Patrick Gagliardi to hire his brother for a custodial job; that Garcia then voted on his brother's employment; and that Garcia later tried to get a district employee to alter the meeting minutes to say he had abstained.

You have the right to complain to the School Ethics Commission if you believe a school official, either a school board member or a school administrator, is engaging in activities that put their personal financial interest ahead of their public responsibilities (N.J.S.A. 18A:12-29; 18A:12-24).  For complete information click on the link The Right to Make an Ethics Complaint

HOBOKEN - Schools Superintendent Patrick Gagliardi is on his way out and taxpayers in the Mile Square City will be footing the hefty buyout, even though the Board of Education opted to renew the administrator's contract a little more than a year ago.

In his letter in the Oct. 27 issue, Hoboken's Chief Financial Officer Michael Lenz asks that the we judge the Roberts administration "on what we do". I agree. Let's look at their fiscal record.

Councilman Roberts used to rail against high spending at the Board of Education. Yet in the last election, Mayor Roberts took no position on the budget? How should we view his silence?