|
Even extra statewide schools money forgets our classrooms
Both the township budget and the proposed school district spending plan will
have little change due to Gov.
Jon Corzine's proposed state budget, released
Tuesday.
While Corzine's proposal takes a hacksaw to
property tax rebates and
deductions for state income taxes, it does not substantially change state
aid to Maplewood
or the school district.
"They told us on Monday it would be about a 2% cut, it is something we could
live
with," Mayor Vic De Luca said Wednesday. "It is not dramatically
different than what we had expected."
De Luca said the decrease will mean about $40,000 less in state aid, a
minimal change to the proposed $35.5 million
budget put forth this week. The
Township Committee will formally consider it on Tuesday.
"I think he
is trying to be fair and balanced," De Luca said about Corzine's
budget plan, which also hikes taxes on the
rich and adds a booze and
cigarette tax. "It is not going to affect anything we do or necessitate any
more
layoffs."
So far, the township budget plan has included a 17-person layoff
announcement last month, followed
this week with word that three
firefighters and three police would be let go. A summer furlough plan in
which all
township employees will take unpaid Fridays off is also included.
De Luca said expected federal stimulus money
could be used to hire back some
of the laid off public safety employees. "At the moment, we are introducing
a
budget on March 17 that includes those layoffs."
At the South Orange Maplewood School District, meanwhile,
the Corzine budget
plan offers the exact same state aid as last year, according to the state Web
site figures.
Those are below:
Projected 2009-10 State School Aid Excluding Debt Service, Pre-School Aid,
Extraordinary Aid, and Charter School Aid
District: SOUTH ORANGE-MAPLEWOOD
County: ESSEX State
Aid 2008-09:
$6,486,960 Equalization Aid: $930,079
Education Adequacy Aid: $0
Choice Aid:
$0
Transportation
Aid: $1,320,243
Special Education Categorical Aid:
$3,567,633
Security Aid: $669,005
Adjustment Aid: $0
Total State Aid
2009-10: $6,486,960 Aid Difference: $0
Percentage Aid Change: 0%
Aid Per
Pupil: $1,046
District Spending for Cap Determination 2008-09:
$96,306,331
Adequacy Budget for Cap Determination 2009-10:
$85,767,601
Budget Difference: $-10,538,730
School Board President Mark Gleason said he had expected as
much. "I was
encouraged that the governor is putting more money into classroom
education," he said, noting
the overall state budget increase. But for our
schools, nothing more, nothing less.
|
