School board members and administrators in the Garden State may face a difficult challenge when they start to prepare their budgets for the 2005-06 school year. In June, the state Legislature and Gov. James E. McGreevey imposed strict new caps on school spending increases. There are also new limits on how much surplus (savings) a board may keep. Under the provisions of S-1701 and companion bill A-99, the amount of surplus allowed to be kept was reduced from 6 to 3 percent of the budget, and overall spending increases were reduced from 3 percent to 2.5 percent or the inflation rate, whichever is higher.
It’s refreshing to see our leaders in Trenton trying to reform school spending, an issue with enormous potential to backfire politically.
Over the years, critics of school spending have accused school administrators of padding their budgets so that if the budget is rejected by voters and reduced by the local government, there will be enough funding left to run the programs the educators desire. School board members and administrators always deny that they are asking for more money than they really need.
Efforts are already under way to repeal the 2-month-old law, with one Assemblyman saying he would introduce legislation this week to do just that.
It was laudable for the Legislature to consider the taxpayer when setting the new spending limits, but were our political leaders being realistic when they rushed through a bill with little debate? They had to know that the New Jersey School Boards Association would rally its membership and political muscle once the potential impact of the law became apparent.
The way New Jersey funds its public schools is broken and in need of an overhaul that relies less on property taxes to fund our schools. While the state does little to offer additional aid to districts that are continuing to see enrollment growth, our political leaders pass laws “in the dark of the night” as one Assemblyman put it and require school administrators to hold spending increases to a level that will infuriate many residents when they find out what the cost will be in larger class sizes, a reduced curriculum and fewer extracurricular activities.
The Legislature’s was a one-size-fits-all solution that will not work for many growing New Jersey school districts. It was a simple attempt to solve a complex problem for school boards that must contend with a wide range of spending issues. More work is needed if all sides really want to hold the reins on school spending.

