METUCHEN — School officials are crossing their fingers in hopes that the state won’t withhold the amount of aid it has threatened to keep from them.
The school district is one of five in New Jersey that filed an appeal last week against Gov. Chris Christie’s plan to withhold school aid and force districts to use their surplus funds instead.
“We are filing an appeal with the state asking that they grab back only $219,131 of previously promised funds,” Board of Education member Devra Golbe said as she presented a PowerPoint presentation on the district’s outlook if it has to dig into its surplus. The presentation was given at the board’s Feb. 23 meeting at Metuchen High School.
The district received just over $1.7 million in state aid for the 2009-10 school year, the same amount it received for the 2008-09 budget year.
Christie has issued an executive order freezing $1.6 billion in unexpended state funds, including $475 million intended as aid to school districts.
Metuchen school officials said this has forced them to cut their reserve balance by 25 percent and use $282,436 in surplus funds within the general fund budget to replace the lost aid. They had intended to use the surplus funds for tax relief in the 2010- 11 budget.
“This is what we get for being responsible,” Golbe said.
She explained that in 2008, the district established reserve accounts for maintenance, capital expenditures and emergencies. School officials had already set aside $217,086 in the reserve accounts to perform repairs including roof replacements at Campbell Elementary School and Moss Primary School, window replacements at Campbell and new doors at Edgar Middle School.
Golbe said that at best, the school district could see state aid cut by 10 percent for next year and a state-imposed cap of 4 percent on the tax levy increase. This scenario would force cuts of about $300,000.
However, she said, the school district will more likely see state aid cut by 15 percent and a cap of 2 percent, which will force the board to make about $900,000 in cuts. This means that the district must look “everywhere” when looking to make reductions, Golbe said.
Officials compiled a first round of potential cuts, including areas such as technology, maintenance, curriculum development, co-curricular activities, athletics, supplies, textbooks and more.
Board President Terry Kohl said officials will have to come up with creative ways to put together a budget that does not “terribly cut programs affecting the children.”
The next Board of Education meeting will be held on March 9.