Keep Montclair’s Schools in Montclair’s Hands
A state monitor is a gamble not worth taking.
Montclair has the people, leadership, and will to solve this crisis ourselves.
What is a state monitor?
A state monitor is a appointed by the New Jersey Commissioner of Education with veto power over all financial choices in the school district. This person:
Approves or vetos budgets, contracts, and tax levy proposals.
Decides what curriculum, programming, and services (above the state minimum) to keep – and cut.
Stays here until the Commissioner decides the monitor is no longer needed – typically tied to the 10-year timeline to repay the state advance.
Is paid out of the district’s own budget, not by the state.
A state monitor is not inherently “good” or “bad.” However, they are a powerful decision-maker whose priorities, experience, and working style may or may not align with Montclair’s values and leadership.
A state monitor is a gamble.
Superintendent Turner has worked with state monitors before – and has seen both sides:
It can work out well
Superintendent Turner has described having a productive working relationship with a monitor in the past. The monitor was a thought partner and embraced collaboration with Turner and her team.
It can be problematic
Superintendent Turner has also had a negative experience working with a monitor. A situation where the monitor was difficult to work with, made unilateral decisions, and didn’t embrace community feedback.
What could a “problematic” monitor mean for Montclair?
Not a match with our values
Montclair cares deeply about issues such as equity – but programs that support this goal often require investment above state minimum levels.
A monitor may make cuts that don’t align with our values.
No community collaboration
We have an engaged community who wants to not only see detailed budget information, but roll up their sleeves and collaborate on solutions.
There is no guarantee that a monitor will embrace community collaboration and engagement.
No accountability
A monitor reports to Trenton – not our voters. In the event we’re unhappy with the monitor, we have no recourse. There is no way to vote them out.
What’s the financial impact of a monitor?
A No / No vote takes $2.1M per year out of our classrooms.
Repaying the advance from the state reduces the aid we receive each year by $1.96M, over 10 years.
The monitor also is expected to cost somewhere between $150K-200K per year.
In total, that’s roughly $2.1M per year we’re removing from our yearly annual budget.
We can fix this. Together.
Strong local leadership and engaged residents can solve this without putting Trenton in charge of our budget.
We have the tools to fix this.
A Board of Education we can elect.
Strong leadership that embraces transparency, accountability and community engagement.
A community that shows up.
We take pride in Montclair values.
We want our values reflected when we make those hard decisions.
A state monitor has no obligation to consider our values with making tough decisions.
We believe in Montclair. We can work through this together.
YES / YES ensures we can build the school district our students deserve.