Trenton excels at creating problems and then offering “solutions” which perpetuate the cycle of failure. It’s a decent business model for maintaining the majority party’s vice grip on power, Save Jerseyans, especially since many people don’t take the time to examine causation, but it’s hardly a winning formula for saving New Jersey…
Perhaps no other legislator embodies this classic Trenton Democrat trait quite like Andrea Katz (D-8) who also happens to be one of Election 2025’s most vulnerable incumbents.
Long before she joined the Assembly, Katz was a Leftist activist demanding that Trenton throw more tax dollars at a broken school funding system. She celebrated Trenton’s insane system as a Chesterfield BOE member but, facing a tough reelection battle this fall, wants her constituents to believe it’s Trenton’s fault (!) for permitting towns to raise taxes to compensate for school aid inequities (!!).
Hearing is, as ever, believing:
The @NewJerseyDOE’s decision to allow school districts to dramatically increase their taxes was infuriating. It’s hard enough to get by as it is and this makes it even harder for property taxpayers. I’m encouraging everyone to call @GovMurphy at (609) 292-6000 to tell him. pic.twitter.com/lN8mCLdWeu
— Assemblywoman Andrea Katz (@AswAndreaKatz) August 15, 2025
I’ll give her this much: it takes Olympic-level gall to gaslight like this.
To appreciate the full extent of Katz’s hypocrisy, you really need to read up on the history of the “School Funding Reform Act” (SFRA) and its 2018 amendment, S-2, which Katz supported as an activist. And to be clear, she was a LEAD supporter. Katz was communications director for the Fair Funding Action Committee allied with then-Senate President Steve Sweeney!
What are Democrats saying about S-2 several years post-adoption?
“The partial restoration of aid to eligible schools will provide districts some cushion as we continue our transition under the school funding reform act known as S-2,” said Democrat Senator Vin Gopal, Chairman of the Senate Education Committee, in 2024. “We have heard testimony from teachers, students, and parents of these cuts’ devastating impact on their districts for months. This move will give additional support and sustain our standard of delivering high-quality public education.”
It’s awfully nice of Vin to admit this after the fact. But here’s the rub: both Gopal AND Katz also sponsored the 2024 bill which allows municipalities to circumvent the cap WITHOUT submitting the proposed tax levy to the voters! See A4161 which passed both houses last May.
Unlike some of these increases, Save Jerseyans, Katz will get an up-or-down vote in the 8th Legislative District in November.
Do you think someone this dishonest deserves to keep her job? If you’re unsure, go check out your latest property tax bill and get back to me.
