NJ education budget cuts: State aid cuts sharp for Bergen, Passaic districts

[no_hypocrisy]

School district officials who had braced themselves for big state aid cuts lamented Wednesday that the actual cuts are deeper than they had feared.

Passaic County will get $64 million less, an 8.5-percent cut.

“It’s certainly worse than anybody anticipated,” said James Montesano, superintendent of Paramus, which lost 99.8 percent of its aid, or $3.5 million. “It’s a wrecking ball pointed at our district.”

“This is beyond disastrous,” said Wayne school trustee Cindy Simon. Her district faces a $6.4 million cut.

Education Commissioner Bret Schundler acknowledged districts “are facing an extremely difficult time financially” due to the state’s budget crisis, but stressed the Christie administration had done its best to shore up education while slashing other areas even more. Overall, total federal and state dollars for districts will drop 7 percent next year.

Statewide, 60 wealthy districts will get no so-called formula aid next year, including 27 in Bergen. Bergen faces the steepest percentage drop in aid of any county.

http://www.northjersey.com/news/NJ_plans_sharp_cuts_to_most_school_districts_.html#

[rfranklin]

1. Putting Schundler in charge of schools is as responsible as...

putting a known pederast in charge of the Boy Scouts.

[NJGeek]

6. thats ridiculous -schundler is basically a democrat

his hometown is JC, where he was mayor. lets not transpose local politics with national party politics. nj is corrupt. the swamp must be drained.

[RedSpartan]

2. Very bad for Sussex County as well

one of the reddest counties (represented by Scott Garrett) in the state:

http://www.njherald.com/story/news/19SCHOOLFOLLOWUP

Sparta Township school officials are proposing eliminating the district's entire athletic and co-curricular program and at least 30 staff members, including four vice principals, in reaction to Wednesday's state aid cuts.

The cuts will save about $1.4 million, said Sparta Superintendent of Schools Tom Morton, a little less than half of the $2.7 million in state aid the district learned was being axed from its 2010-2011 budget Wednesday.

"We are talking about massive cuts in our school district and we are all one step from tears right now," Morton said Thursday afternoon, during an emotional meeting with several school board members.

Morton declined to release the names of the four vice principals Thursday.

The $2.7 million cut represents a nearly 38 percent reduction in the district's state aid, almost triple the worst case scenario cut they were told to anticipate -- 15 percent, or $1 million.

He said layoffs will be based on level of seniority.

The board of education will vote on the cuts at its meeting Monday.

"The governor's office and the (acting education commissioner, Bret Schundler) said to plan for a 5, 10 or 15 percent cut in our aid deduction," Morton said. "Then they come out with a 5 percent cut in our budget. A 15 percent cut in aid would have represented $1 million, and that would have been devastating."

[RedSpartan]

3. Follow-Up: Teachers, Sports, Extracurriculars Cut

http://www.njherald.com/story/news/23SPARTABOE

SPARTA -- The Board of Education meeting Monday night was more vigil than anything else.

Students begged the board not to cut their favorite non-tenured teachers; parents offered to drive their children to school to avoid busing costs; and there were some wet cheeks in the audience as the full import of the $6 million in cuts needed was realized, just days after Gov. Chris Christie's "day of reckoning" budget speech last week.

The board's new budget plan was described as the "dismantling of the school district" by Superintendent Tom Morton. Cuts include the elimination of all sports teams and extracurriculars, the layoff of 24 teachers and four vice principals, and the firing of all guidance counselors at the middle and elementary schools.

The state cut 38 percent of Sparta schools' state aid -- or about $3 million -- as part of the governor's plan to fix state finances. Board members and administrators said they needed to crunch the numbers -- and wield the axe liberally -- just to bring the budget into line with the new financial reality.

"It was simply a matter of getting to a number," Morton told the crowd.

"The dirty work is falling to your school boards and your local town councils," added Jennifer Dericks, the board's president.

But the Sparta school board meeting -- which has been a vitriolic show in the very recent past -- was instead a show of local solidarity Monday. Parents and children told the board that they understood its tough position, and instead pleaded to save what they could from the budget ax -- including standout teachers. Most volunteered to help out where they could, however they could.

Kate Ryan, a student and daughter of a teacher at Sparta High School, said she had seen teachers spontaneously cry in class, because they know their jobs are at stake with the school district's budget problems. She referred to Christie derisively as "just one man" and said she'd be ready to give up her extracurriculars.

"I'm willing to give up whatever I have to, to protect my teachers," Ryan said.

Several parents described the importance of their children's teachers -- and some even shed tears over the possibility of their loss.

The $62.5 million budget includes a $50 million tax levy -- and still represents an increase over last year's budget, although the district is considering a request to exceed the state-imposed 4 percent cap. Morton said there is a plan in the works to bring $1.2 million back into the budget if the teachers' union and the school principals accept a wage freeze. Even after the crowd left, the school board members weighed the value of cutting programs versus firing teachers late into the night.

"We are doing what we can to save our district," Morton assured the crowd.

The public hearing on the budget is scheduled for March 31.

[NJGeek]

5. these are rich towns - if they want sports, make them pay

why should the entire state be responsible for funding local prerogatives? drain the swamp that is NJ politics

[NJGeek]

4. good

why should all of these districts that rely on the corrupt "home rule" principal get direct aid from the state? let them make local decisions about local problems. if dems in NJ have any chance, they'll come up with better, more efficient ways of running government in NJ - not by being union sycophants