Schools

Updated: Christie Freezes $167K in State Aid to Scotch Plains-Fanwood School District

The announcement is in light of the governor's attempt to slash $1.5 billion from the state budget.

The Scotch Plains-Fanwood School District is likely to suffer a $167,667 cut in state aid for the remainder of this fiscal year, the governor's office has announced.

The move is part of Gov. Chris Christie's plan to slash $1.5 billion from the current state budget, $475 million of which will be cuts to school aid. The governor made the announcement on Thursday as part of an address to the state legislature, during which he declared a fiscal "state of emergency."

In addition the cuts to local school districts, Christie also froze funding to higher education, hospitals and NJ Transit.

Find out what's happening in Scotch Plains-Fanwoodwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The cuts to Scotch Plains-Fanwood are significantly less than what most New Jersey school districts are facing, thanks in large part to the district's zero dollars in excess surplus. The state is factoring in the amount of excess surplus school districts have and reducing their state aid in many cases by at least that much.

Districts like the one in South Orange-Maplewood, for instance, will suffer a more than $2.2 million reduction in state aid.

Find out what's happening in Scotch Plains-Fanwoodwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"Our reduction is a reflection of two reserves we have in the amount of $246,485, so some part of that is being taken away in the manner of state aid," said Scotch Plains-Fanwood's business administrator, Anthony Del Sordi.

Del Sordi said the school district had set up those reserves with the hopes of using those funds over the summer for capital projects.

"Now we have to re-evaluate our ability to use the funds for that purpose," he said.

Because the amount cut from SP-F was relatively small, the district is not seeking to freeze any of its current projects. Del Sordi said the district will continue to monitor its financial status over the next couple of months until April, when they're better able to make a determination.

The Scotch Plains-Fanwood district was slated to receive a remaining $1,550,290 in state aid for the rest of the fiscal year before the Christie cuts. The total state aid for this fiscal year, which ends June 30, was to be $4,555,726.

The projected state aid amounts for local school districts for the next fiscal year are expected to be released by state education officials in mid March. The projections are due out when Christie details his spending plan for the next fiscal year.

A document released by the governor's office shows that Scotch Plains-Fanwood has $246,485 in its capital, maintenance and emergency reserve. The document also reveals that the district's projected fund balance for June 30 is $1,411,392.

Del Sordi also spoke to the impact the recent snow days have had on the school district, noting that while the district has had to spend a lot on overtime the past few days, it had the money allocated and thus will not have a major impact on the budget.

Del Sordi said that should another major snowstorm strike the area this winter, the school district feels it has sufficient supplies and money in overtime to deal with it.


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