New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy Announces Education Investments
hello everybody i want to welcome you all to the city of champions the city of garfield today we have a champion here right now to talk about schools the emerging project program the sda without further ado let's bring our city a champion our champion our governor governor murphy round of applause everybody i love that rich thank you man that was quite an introduction i wasn't ready hello everybody by the way this is not why we're here today i was in atlantic city yesterday dedicating a new supermarket first supermarket in atlantic city in 15 years it was 75 degrees today i've got 18 layers of clothing on a little bit of a different weather pattern rich thank you man mr mayor by the way not only a mayor but principal to garfield middle school right so this is a guy who knows why we're the very the reasons why we're here today but thank you for always welcoming me and all of us so graciously to garfield city of champions home of the boilermakers to you and members of council i also want to give anna uh ciaca a shout out our superintendent here and honored to be with you uh who we're also going to hear from shortly and through you to your entire leadership team board of education thank you for your commitment to excellence in public education we're at the back this is the christopher columbus right so the to the team here the educators the staff the kids uh honored to be here today to each and every one of you we got a great team today we got acting education commissioner dr angelica alan mcmillan uh great to be with you we got the um the guy who runs the ceo of the new jersey schools development authority a great leader as well manny de silva manny great to have you with us just pulled up dear friend great leader senator nelly poe was in the house i'm told steve tennelly might be here steve are you here i don't see him or gordon johnson i know they were trying to make it give them a shout out i also want to give a shout out to the brothers and sisters in organized labor cesar camillo and the bergen county building trades vp is al also operating engineer 825. uh great to have you here cesar is i didn't see is raywood all here is ray you here i know ray was trying to come here where are you ray you're in the back nice to see you man thank you for everything great to see you uh operating um ray's ironworkers local 11 is also on the state building trades council lots of important folks here today i'm honored to be with you um not the reason why we're here but just to reiterate i don't have the fully baked covid numbers for today but it's it what is happening is exactly what we had expected to happen we're all starting to get back in indoors living this being an exception obviously uh dr lamont replied is here by the way president of kane university lamont great to be with you so we're all living our lives back inside and as we do we expected that the numbers are going to go back up so they've bounced up a hundred or or more hospitalizations over the course of the past week so we just got to remind folks the number one thing we can do is to get vaccinated if you're eligible for a booster get boosted we're going to have more news on that on monday at our coveted press conference if you've got a kid who's from 5 to 11 those are now authorized to go please go out and and and get your these are safe and effective the the faster we get ourselves protected the faster we can get to better days and and lifting mass mandates in schools and other stuff that are driving people crazy including yours truly so i just want to make sure i give that commercial up please stay at it folks and if you're inside and you're not sure of people's status when in doubt throw a mask on so we all share a few common goals all of us gathered today first and foremost we share an unwavering commitment to our kids and their families and to our educational communities we share a commitment to not only maintaining our state's place as home of the top-ranked system of public education in the country but ensuring that every child and every community has a place under that banner and that includes safe and modern schools and we share a commitment to keeping our communities affordable for working families and seniors and today is a day where all of these guiding principles converge i'm proud to announce that the the department of education and the sda working together are today releasing to our schools a total of 75 million dollars to help defray the costs of capital maintenance in emergent infrastructure projects since i signed the state budget in june the department of education and sda have been working together on creating an equitable formula for distributing these funds with 50 million of that 75 being directed to sda districts including garfield which is receiving an excess of 850.000 and 20 yeah and 25 million dollars for all regular operating school districts now these aren't just critical funds for making sure our schools remain safe and welcoming spaces for our kids and educators yes every dollar is going to be put to work on projects large and small to ensure our school buildings can meet the needs of the future but what's more is that every single dollar of these funds is a dollar of property tax relief every single dollar being distributed is a dollar that school boards do not have to ask from local property taxpayers and moreover as these dollars are put to work to meet immediate needs they will in turn put men and women across the building trades to work in our administration's first four years we increased overall investment in public education by more than three billion dollars over what the previous administration did in their last four years three billion dollars and no no other state in america has done that and by the way it's taken multiple forms direct classroom aid pre-k expansion aid transportation aid debt service relief among many others and every single one of these three billion dollars is one that property taxpayers could keep in their pockets this is how we make new jersey more affordable by partnering with our communities in this case our educational communities to help them meet the needs of today without having to ask property taxpayers for another dollar tomorrow and through this partnership and through these investments we are making our communities more attractive and welcoming for new families to set their roots while also making sure long-term residents don't have to pull up their roots we are protecting the value of the investment residents make in their communities especially in their homes from funds to that help purchase the books being used in our classrooms to funds that actually keep the walls standing in that classroom all of our efforts together has a deep impact these efforts have re-established our state as i said as the nation's benchmark for public education these efforts are going to establish us as a state where young families and seniors can both afford to live side by side and take pride in their community together and a strong public school can be the point of commonality from which that pride spreads again i'm proud to announce this investment today they're going to pay dividends many times over for our tomorrow thank you again rich and everybody here in town for having me and welcoming me so graciously always it is now my pleasure to hand things over to the acting commissioner of the department of education dr angelica allen mcmillan thank you governor murphy and good morning to you senator po executive officer da silva superintendent siaka other honored guests including mayor riggs our county commissioner who was mentioned earlier mr tinelli garfield board members what a pleasure to meet you earlier and our local and county elected officials and everyone in attendance i am ecstatic to be here today and applaud governor murphy's 75 million dollar investment which will continue to provide students across the great state of new jersey with access to facilities commiserate with the high quality education they deserve thank you to the legislature for affirming a budget that directly invests in the school development authority and subsequently education excellence emergent and capital facility maintenance of our school buildings ensures the infrastructure of our education system mirrors that of the education quality transpiring within those facilities regardless of the location of the student or facility equity of high quality education is necessary for outcomes that support pre-kindergarten through post-secondary success in september i was fortunate to join mr da silva in camden where the school development authority ushered forward the life-changing project camden high school camden high campus actually the energy was palpable as educators students and caregivers fill the halls of the transformative learning environment on a guided tour the continued investment in the school development authority will continue the trajectory of deserved and profound change across the state specifically in the wake of the pandemic the department of education commits to our current and future partnership with the school development authority to enhance physical environments conducive to learning that undoubtedly forward the future of education by removing and mitigating facility costs compromising outcomes thank you once again governor murphy for your continued commitment to the students of new jersey [Applause] thank you angelica for that and for your leadership deeply appreciated it is now my honor to bring up the guy who runs the school development authority please help me welcome another great leader manny da silva manny [Applause] good morning thank you governor murphy it is my pleasure to be back in garfield today where the sda opened the new james madison elementary school just a few years ago thank you superintendent ciaca mayor riggs and the sun and i'm sorry for welcoming us today and thank you to senator pro assemblyman wimberley and assemblywoman sumter for your partnership we all know that significant school facilities needs exist here and in garfield and in districts throughout new jersey special thanks to governor murphy and the legislature for the inclusion of 75 million dollars allocation in this year's budget much needed funds will be directed towards improvement projects that will support safe and healthy learning environments new jersey has the best public schools and educators in the nation sca shares with in the governor's goal to ensure that the educational facilities in the state best support the needs of the educators so that students can focus on learning we are fortunate to share a productive partnership with acting commissioner mcmillan and her team at the doe together we have worked closely to roll out this program and get funds in the hands of school districts as soon as possible we will work with both regular operating districts and sva school districts to provide grants that address emerging and capital maintenance projects needs the funding announced today is available to offset district costs so that they can make important necessary improvements to their school facilities this is a state investment that will result in improvements of schools throughout new jersey and therefore is an investment in the education of our state's next generation of leaders in addition in addition to benefiting our schools and communities school construction projects big and small remain an economic driver for the state's vital construction industry and our partners in the trades many of the projects that will come from this funding have potential to specifically benefit new jersey small businesses the smv or smw vobs that's a mild full sorry through important initiatives such as this this administration is helping to modernize and improve the educational infrastructure of our state to provide the best possible learning environment for our students now and in years to come thank you for this opportunity and thank you governor murphy thank you manny well said and well done you know a budget two comments about the monies here today um number one this is another good example where we had a little bit more financial latitude and instead of having to bond for this money we were able to literally take it right straight off the budget 75 million dollars again 50 of that 75 for sda districts and 25 for the other operating districts um that's not something that happens often in this state uh and and and that was the prudent right thing to do secondly and most importantly budgets just don't materialize on my desk you need great legislative leaders who pound away and forge these budgets in many times and often times in discussions and negotiations but we enjoy an extremely strong and productive relationship in both chambers uh in the state and we have now for several years and we've got a lot done as a result including exactly why we're here today and with that speaking on behalf of the legislature and outstanding senator chair please help me welcome dear friend nelly poe [Applause] thank you governor thank you so very much for those uh kind words um good morning to everyone i am absolutely so incredibly pleased and happy to be here today uh it's so wonderful to see so many of you um doc uh president uh ripplet nice to see you again it's been a while so i'm so happy to see it but thank you governor thank you to all of the elected officials and public officials who are present here today to our acting commissioner dr mcmillan to so many of my friends and colleagues in government as well as school administrators staff and public officials let me just say good morning to our great mayor mayor it's so wonderful to see you also to our superintendent thank you so very much um you know we're here for a very important reason and we're here as a as a state of as we recommit new funding to build and maintain sound stable and state-of-the-art facilities for our schools and our students as it's already been mentioned who will clearly need every single extra advantage that they can get to succeed in the 21st century world let me just point out that as a state legislator and i've been a a member of the legislature for quite some time school construction has always been a priority of mine i've always been supported i was very happy governor to be supportive of the particular funding in this year's budget that you talked about it cannot be more nothing can be more important than being able to provide the best possible education for our students and the only way that you can do that is to ensure that we have facilities that are providing the learning environment that they indeed need to have in order to do that and as many of our aging buildings as i recall not too long ago a couple of years ago mayor you may recall how we tour several of the schools right here in the city of garfier garfield where in fact many of them who were some of which were 100 years old or so um a time you'll remember that day we we actually had an opportunity governor to see what the need was right here in the city of garfield so to be able to come back and to be able to be here to be able to be here with so many of you that join us that day to be able to say we finally have the opportunity to put that into motion to be able to uh say here not only did we identify what the problem was not only were we able to demonstrate that not only did the school construction and school development authority was able to recognize that but working closely with the commissioner of education today we are able to say that we're so very happy that these fundings that we're talking about is really going to make a difference it's going to make a difference in terms of what we can do for our students you know school as i've mentioned school construction it plays a very important part in everything that we do as a native of patterson many of you all of which you know i can still i can tell you that we still have students going to class in schools that were built in the late 18th and early 19th century some of these schools are sound structurally speaking that is but they need to be upgraded to compete in this digitized world our students even those from low uh low income and working class neighborhood deserve the same opportunities facilities and first class first class classrooms that the more affluent districts take for granted our parents need to be able not to worry about whether their child is getting an equal opportunity to achieve as their peers in and as their peers in other parts of the state and in these days in particular our students are just getting used to coming going back coming back to the schools right to the actual classroom seeing their teachers standing at the front of the class teaching them on a one-on-one and smaller groups after the learning loss that was a result of the kovic pandemic both educators and our school children need to have all need to have access to all the physical technical and digital of advances that we can afford to give them and certainly indeed the maintenance and where needed construction of new school buildings classrooms chemistry labs band rooms audio visual studios athletic facilities should be the same for every child in new jersey in order that we would we as a state live up to the letter and spirit of the words and the promise in our state constitution that say we are required to provide for the maintenance and support of a thorough and efficient education for all students for every single child in our state so with that governor let me just say thank you once again for selecting our great city of garfield to make this important announcement as we ensured that we are going to be providing the maintenance the capital maintenance and for making sure that we have those emerging projects are properly being taken care of all across the state what a wonderful day it is for us today and i look forward to seeing more of this thank you everyone thank you so very much thank you governor [Applause] thank you thank you nelly as always for your leadership um and deep appreciation for everything you do and the education and far more broadly in the in the broader front uh patterson by the way is is a beneficiary of this today which is great but it's a it's probably a fraction of what it needs right it's at the end of the day we need to stay at this last but not least i do with the superintendent and the principal tell me what to do please help me welcome the superintendent of garfield public schools anna ciaca great to have you thank you so much good morning everyone on behalf of the garfield board of education the administration our staff students families the entire garfield community we welcome governor murphy to our district governor it is an honor and a privilege to have you here in garfield this morning as you are officially part of the boilermaker family your long-awaited announcement today to expand funding for capital maintenance and emergent projects for schools is one that brings great joy hope and optimism to the garfield community it is fair to say that our district like some others throughout the state is plagued with issues that relate to aging schools since six out of seven elementary schools in garfield are over 100 years old but despite the deteriorating physical conditions of our schools our biggest challenge is overcrowdedness and insufficient space for instruction the promise that you bring today represents just the beginning we are hopeful that funding will increase and we will see the day when our students are out of the trailers and basement classrooms and learning in bright and well-designed learning spaces that facilitate creativity critical thinking collaboration and communication although we are not getting that type of funding today we are very grateful for what we do receive and please know that we will put that money to great use we still are dreaming about the day that new schools can offer our students the expansion and future development of our great programs introduction of new and exciting courses in our curriculum that will support the new jersey learning standards student expression through the arts the integration of state of the art technology and so much more but most importantly we look to the day when our students will attend schools that instill pride and confidence in them as we prepare them with the skills and knowledge needed to succeed in the 21st century workplace since garfield is known as the city of champions our district vision statement is appropriately called the vision of champions to encourage inspire and support every individual to achieve more although we strive to do this each and every day everything that you do to support us and give us the tools and resources we need keep us meeting that vision closer and closer and make it a greater reality for more and more students every single day i want to conclude today by acknowledging the garfield board of education members and thanking them for their continuous support and commitment to garfield public schools president charles new sephora vice president jack mazzola trustees anthony barquette carmen briante rich derrick allen folcarino everett garnto dame leo and kathy muniz i also want to recognize the bergen county superintendent of schools louis d'alessio who is always there to answer the calls from garfield thank you mr delicio and a quick shout out to my friend and colleague business administrator and board secretary giovanni cosmano who works every day to balance this budget and help us meet our district goals and objectives thank you again governor murphy for making good on the promise of equity and giving to our students what they truly deserve please accept this invitation to come back and visit our schools and classrooms anytime we welcome you back wholeheartedly thank you so much everyone thank you for being in garfield today have a great day thank you governor well done thank you well done thank you anna that was terrific um so we're going to go for our members of the press we're going to do a little something unusual today instead of doing any q a rich and anna and i are going to challenge you all to a hopscotch face-off so we're going to clear out the chairs uh nelly has committed and agreed to referee the competition nellie thank you for that but seriously on behalf of all of us uh first of all to team garfield rich thank you for always graciously hosting anna to you and the whole board team the educators the staff the kids and the moms and the dads in this great community members of council obviously angelica and your team at the department of education manny yours at the sda nelly you and your colleagues in the legislature to the brothers and sisters in organized labor uh who will benefit mightily from this and any more funding we can get on the street from the sda to all the distinguished guests who are here today deep appreciation for your hosting us and see you soon stay safe get vaccinated get boosted thank you all
2021-11-21 07:49
