School Districts Promised Increased State Aid

The Gloucester Township and Black Horse Pike Regional school districts will receive more money from the state than was announced in February.

The school funding adjustment announced by Gov. Chris Christie on Tuesday essentially doubles the previously announced increase in state aid to most school district across the state.

For example, Gloucester Township Public Schools (GTPS) initially was told it would see an increase in aid of $954,775 for 2011-12 as compared to 2010-11. It will see an increase of $1,909,549 with the adjustment.

The K-8 district is now slated to receive $48,919,027 from the state for the 2011-12 academic year, up from the $47,964,252 announced earlier this year.

"The early indication is it's good news for the district," GTPS Assistant Superintendent John Bilodeau said.

GTPS officials were still reviewing the adjusted figures and accompanying documents when Patch spoke to Bilodeau on Wednesday.

Black Horse Pike Regional School District (BHPRSD) was told in February it would receive an increase of $634,911 for 2011-12 as compared to 2010-11. It will see an increase of $1,269,822 with the adjustment, bringing its total state aid figure to $31,624,805.

Like his colleague at the K-8 district, Brian Repici, BHPRSD director of curriculum and instruction, said district officials are still reviewing the numbers and making sure there are no "strings attached" to the aid increase.

"We have a responsibility of contacting our Board of Education members and seeing where they would like to allocate those funds," he said. "So, we not only have to wait to see what the governor says about these funds, but also our board."

Repici noted BHPRSD officials, like those at GTPS, are encouraged at the moment by Tuesday's announcement.

"Any time that we can have some more funding allocated to the benefit of our community, it's a good thing," he said.

The Christie administration announced Tuesday afternoon that an additional $600 million in school funding had been added to the state budget—$450 million of which will go to the state's 31 poorest districts, known as Abbott districts.

"This year, New Jersey increased state aid to school districts by (a total of) $850 million over last year, restoring every dollar of the cuts we were forced to make last year and increasing aid by an additional $30 million," Christie said in a statement. "We are keeping faith with our commitment to New Jersey's children and families, spending more money per pupil on New Jersey’s students than almost any other state in the country."

Of course, not everyone sees it the same way as the governor and his supporters.

Assemblyman Paul Moriarty (D-4, Washington Township) issued a statement on Wednesday blasting the 2011-12 education budget. Citing "nonpartisan analysis" of the figures, he claimed BHPRSD will lose $4.6 million under the spending plan following Christie's line-item vetoes.

"We put together a democratic budget that increased aid to every school district throughout this state—suburban, rural and urban. This funding was designed to help mitigate the disastrous impact that the Christie cuts had on classrooms last year," Moriarty said.

"Instead, the governor has decided that the needs of the millionaires in this state are more important than providing an adequate education to the children of working and middle class families," the assemblyman added.