February 27, 2007 In New Jersey, Districts Find Aid Increases Insufficient By WINNIE HU Nearly half of the increased state aid that Gov. Jon S. Corzine promised for schools in his budget proposal last week will be eaten up by teachers' benefits and school construction, and much of the remaining $300 million is earmarked for literacy and early childhood programs, education officials in New Jersey said yesterday.
"It cannot be used to buy a new snowplow or a new sanding machine," said Lucille E. Davy, the state's education commissioner, who added that districts would have to use that money for those specific programs. With much fanfare, Mr. Corzine unveiled a $33.3 billion spending plan that included $579.1 million more in local school aid the largest increase in more than five years that includes millions of dollars for new programs. But yesterday, when looking at an actual breakdown of the money distribution, some districts learned that they would receive less than they had hoped. For instance, the Glen Ridge school district in Essex County will have a modest 3 percent increase in state aid, or about $29,000 barely enough to make a difference in its current $23 million budget. School officials in the district, which has 1,830 students, said they were disappointed that they would not receive additional money for their full-day kindergarten program, a benefit that will be extended to some lower-income school districts. "This is not the massive relief that the governor was hinting at a few weeks ago," said Elisabeth Ginsburg, the school board president in Glen Ridge. "It's better than nothing, but it's not significant tax relief." Many parents and school officials said they had also hoped to benefit from state lawmakers' efforts in recent months to overhaul the school financing system, which has been accused of spending millions of dollars in the 31 poorest districts in the state, known as Abbott districts, while shortchanging others. Legislators are working on a new formula for dispensing state aid, but it is unlikely that it will affect this year's education budget. Still, Lynne Strickland, executive director of the Garden State Coalition of Schools, which represents more than 150 school districts, said that education officials had taken the first steps toward "course-correcting" what she called the practice of underfinancing school districts. "We hope that this kind of state support will become a trend, with meaningful aid increases going to more districts in the near future," Ms. Strickland said. Education officials have allocated $194 million in additional aid for non-Abbott districts, the largest single increase since the 2000 fiscal year. The average increases range from 3 percent for more affluent districts to 10.3 percent for those not as well off. For the first time, the state aid includes $36 million for preschool and kindergarten programs, and $56 million for 217 districts where at least 15 percent of the students qualify for free and reduced lunches. Those districts will receive from $250 to $500 in additional aid for each poor student. The money would have to be used mainly for literacy and preschool and kindergarten programs intended to address the achievement gap for poor students. In the Cliffside Park school district, in Bergen County, where just under half of the 2,600 students qualify for free and reduced lunches, the additional state aid for those students will amount to $600,000 more a year. Michael Romagnino, the acting superintendent in Cliffside Park, said the money could be used to supplement test preparation for the students and hire additional teachers to shrink class sizes. "There's a lot of places that money could be used," Mr. Romagnino said. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> See what's inside the new Yahoo! Groups email. http://us.click.yahoo.com/0It09A/bOaOAA/yQLSAA/Y2tolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AsburyPark/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AsburyPark/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
