According to Daniel Jackovino in his Essex News Daily
article of March 27, 2013, the 2013 -- 2014 Bloomfield Board of Education budget
will raise taxes on an average-assessed Bloomfield home by $281 and out-source
the district's child-study teams, cutting 17 jobs. Before this final budget was
approved, there was discussion about the need to lay off from 80 to 100
teachers, some administrative staff and a proposal to place a question on the
November ballot to raise additional tax money to maintain funding for extra-curricular
activities and parts of the sports schedule.
While the teacher layoffs and ballot question was not included in the approved
budget, the public criticized the Board of Education for taking them on an
emotional roller coaster ride.
Bloomfield is certainly not alone in its budgetary
"roller coaster ride," whether it be for education or the ability to provide
other vital public services. Towns and cities all over the country are facing
budget shortfalls and finding it difficult to maintain the level of services
their residents have come to expect. In
March, because the U.S. Congress could not agree on sensible budget cuts,
automatic budget cuts of 10% across the board, or sequestration, took effect,
making it even more challenging for local governments to provide services to
their residents.
It is astonishing that on June 6th, the
House Armed Services Committee passed its Defense Authorization or $638 billion
in defense spending, including a $5.1 billion increase for the war in
Afghanistan above the Pentagon's request and $52.2 billion more than the budget
caps set by sequestration. This budget amount represents almost 57% of all the
funds the U.S. Congress can decide how to spend. Only about 6% of the total
2014 budget will be allocated toward education.
On June 21 -- 22, at their Annual Meeting in Las
Vegas, the U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM), the nonpartisan association of
U.S. cities with populations over 30,000, will be considering a ground-breaking
resolution calling for U.S. leadership in global elimination of nuclear weapons
and redirection of military spending to domestic needs, also supported
by Mayors for Peace. Mayors for Peace was founded in 1982 by the mayors of
Hiroshima and Nagasaki with a mission of promoting peace through gradual
nuclear disarmament. Membership now exceeds 5,600 member cities in 156 countries,
including 197 U.S. cities, with 6 in New Jersey: Hoboken, Hope, Irvington, Jersey City,
Montclair and Perth Amboy.
The resolution's lead sponsor is Mayor Donald
Plusquellic of Akron, Ohio, a past President of the USCM. Mayor Plusquellic is
also a Vice-President of Mayors for Peace. As of June 19th, there were 19 additional co-sponsors. Mayor Plusquellic writes in a letter to all mayors in
Mayors for Peace, "As we mayors know all too well, the budget sequester enacted
in March is impeding the economic recovery in cities by making deep cuts to
vital federal programs. In contrast, Pentagon spending has grown by 50% in real
dollars in the last 12 years, not including war spending"I believe that our
nation's deep economic crisis can only be addressed by adopting new priorities
to create a sustainable economy in the 21st century."
Mayor Plusquellic's letter continues, "To that end,
the resolution calls on the President and Congress to terminate funding for
nuclear weapons modernization, and to properly balance military spending with
spending to reinvest in programs to provide basic human services, create jobs,
rebuild infrastructure and meet the needs of America's cities."
The resolution specifically opposes the B61 nuclear
bomb life extension program, a program the military admits has no military
purpose. If approved, 400 B61 bombs, the oldest bombs in the U.S. arsenal, will
be "modernized" for $10.4 billion.
An additional $1 billion would be
allocated to the Air Force to "increase the accuracy of the bomb" and more than
$336 billion would be allocated for developing
a new F-35 joint strike fighter to carry these bombs.
New Jersey Peace Action (NJPA) urges residents to
contact Rep. Frelinghuysen at 973-984-0711 to express opposition to this
wasteful spending.
NJPA also urges Bloomfield Mayor Raymond McCarthy to
co-sponsor the USCM resolution before June 20th, vote to support it at
the Annual Meeting and then issue a public statement after the convention. Last
year's resolution "Calling on Congress to Redirect Military Spending to
Domestic Needs" passed overwhelmingly, so this year's should pass as well.
Support for this well-documented resolution will
underscore the mayor's support for moving the money from nuclear weapons
construction and upgrades and wars to local governments for use in funding
education, health care, jobs creation, infrastructure repair and more.
Genuine security begins with adequately funded
communities. Instead of continuing to argue over how to spend the relatively
small amounts of money relegated to programs other than the military, it's time
to advocate for change!