N.J. districts rush to adjust budgets

South Jersey school administrators said they planned to hunker down for a working weekend of hard choices as they struggle to rejigger their budgets after last week's announced cuts in state education aid.

Districts across New Jersey have until tomorrow to submit tentative budgets to their executive county superintendents. On Wednesday, many were stunned by the Christie administration's announcement that every district would see reductions in its "formula aid."

The proposed cuts are much deeper than what education officials said they had been led to expect. Districts had been advised to plan for up to a 15 percent decrease in their previous formula aid. But in a surprise move, the administration based its calculation on the districts' total operating budgets. About 10 percent of the state's districts lost the aid entirely.

These reductions "were far in excess of what they were told to anticipate, so there's a lot of angst out there," said Frank Belluscio, spokesman for the New Jersey School Boards Association.

Many districts are still coping with the $475 million in state aid withheld this fiscal year. Districts have until April 3 to finalize their 2010-11 budgets, which will go to voters April 20.

In largely low-income Camden, which is slated for a 5 percent cut of $15.2 million, officials said they might close a school building, lay off staff, and more.

In Collingswood, where a 13.5 percent cut would mean a nearly $1.5 million aid loss, administrators said they were looking at possibly laying off staff, cutting supply purchases and summer programs, adding fees for music lessons and athletics, charging for non-mandated preschool, and eliminating freshman sports.

Haddon Township, which would receive a nearly 17 percent reduction of close to $1.5 million, also is considering an end to freshman sports.

Even if "that were the only thing we were cutting, the entire room would fill" with parents, Superintendent Mark J. Raivetz said.

But the district is thinking of getting rid of more, including vocational courses, high school electives, and a small but successful reading intervention program, Raivetz said.

While many in New Jersey applauded Christie's plan to cut government spending and close an $11 billion budget gap, Raivetz said he had heard from parents and grandparents who were "upset beyond belief."

Like other superintendents who said their districts had worked hard to be frugal, he expressed frustration.

"The governor could have sent the same message without scapegoating public education," he said.

"We've been doing an awful lot with less for a long time," Haddonfield Superintendent Alan Fegley said. In recent years, he said, the top-ranked district has pursued economies such as reducing the number of administrators, conserving energy, and cutting back on new textbooks and computers.

Last week, Haddonfield learned it was one of 59 districts in line to lose all of its state formula aid. The $1.5 million that Haddonfield was to receive in 2009-10 was a small portion of its budget, but the loss will be felt, Fegley said. District officials are considering cuts to sports and extracurricular activities and larger classes.

Christie has been highly critical of the New Jersey Education Association, which represents most of the state's teachers. He has repeatedly said its members received overly generous benefits and raises.

To view the change in formula aid to your school district, go to http://go.philly.com/stateaidEndText