Statement from Senate Education Committee Chairwoman M. Teresa Ruiz on the Budget Impasse

“I am deeply disappointed by where we are today on the state budget. The Legislature’s budget was, in all policy respects, a progressive budget, one that refocused the state’s priorities on fair education funding, special-needs education and programs for the disenfranchised.

“Compromise is part of a negotiation and that is not what the governor did today. We put a millionaire’s tax on the table and he rejected it.

“We were elected to advocate for the citizens of New Jersey, particularly those without loud voices. The Legislature did right by the people of New Jersey; it is time for the governor to do the same.”