By Charley Falkenburg, Staff Writer
The state recently awarded school districts grant money to help implement their anti-bullying programs, but it appears the amount the Princeton and West Windsor-Plainsboro districts received falls short of their expectations.
In response to a ruling in January that the anti-bullying law that went into effect last fall was an unfunded mandate, Gov. Chris Christie put aside $1 million in grants that was distributed to more than 350 eligible districts. The grant awards aimed to reimburse schools on what they spent on their Harassment Intimidation and Bullying programs from July 1, 2011, to June 30, 2012.
The deadline to apply for the grants was May 11.
Montgomery Township did not apply because the district was ineligible for the grant. Tom Venanzi, the business administrator, said they had no incremental costs and only used existing staff so they were ineligible.
”If we’re going to go the same route next year, which I expect we will, then we still would not be eligible,” said Mr. Venanzi.
The Princeton and West Windsor-Plainsboro districts were awarded $8,714 and $1,162 respectively in an attempt to cover their application requests. Rich Vespucci, a spokesperson for the Department of Education, said districts received 20 percent of what they asked for in their applications.
At the Princeton July 10 Board of Education meeting, Superintendent Judy Wilson said they had documented the costs related to the district’s anti-bullying program such as labor of school staff and leaders, training, material supplements and hourly contractual costs for employees on the after-school safety committee.
Ms. Wilson said they originally requested nearly $200,000, but was whittled down to $35,000 after being required to take out salary costs that existed prior to June 1, 2011.
She said the amount given to them would not cover personnel costs, but would help fund some of the training.
”We’ll do what we can with it,” said Ms. Wilson at the meeting. “But in the end I think it’s only the state’s answer to a legal issue not a true intent to fund the district’s efforts.”
Larry Shanok, the assistant superintendent for finance for West Windsor-Plainsboro, said because the state required schools to be ready to roll out their programs in July 2011, they had spent most of their money on training in June making the majority of their expenditures unqualified for reimbursement.
”We’re being punished for being conscientious about the state’s statement to be prepared by July 1,” said Mr. Shanok. “The grant represents a fraction of the formal training and all the time it takes up internally from other activities, which the state puts no value on at all.”
Mr. Shanok said the amount they received would help offset training costs and the district will continue to do whatever it takes to get everyone ready to comply with the state regulations.
”We never scorn any dollars given to the district because it’s dollars that don’t have to come from the taxpayers,” he added. “But if they are serious that this is important and there are to be no unfunded mandates, they should provide more.”
When asked how the state came up with the $1 million figure, Mr. Vespucci said the unfunded mandate ruling coincided with state budget process, which was nearing adoption.
”The idea was to act quickly in response to the mandate ruling, so $1 million was identified by the governor’s office on what could be included in the budget,” said Mr. Vespucci.
Mr. Vespucci was uncertain whether additional money would be available for the anti-bullying fund next year and that it will be subject to the budget review next spring.
In addition to providing grants, Gov. Christie also created a seven-member task force made up of teachers, parents, board members and school leaders and officials to help identify the districts’ needs and what cost-effective resources are available at both the state and local levels.
Mr. Vespucci said the task force will hold its first meeting in the near future.
Mr. Vespucci said the Department of Education would also offer technical assistance to schools on an as-needed basis through the county offices.
”This law is new so we expect a lot of questions from the districts and we are prepared to help them as we work through a successful implementation,” he said. “Next year we will have another year of experience under our belts in terms of approaches that work best.”
