Schundler said that, if confirmed, he hopes to reward self-sufficient districts with budget flexibility. He said he also hopes to relax rules that bar cost-savings measures such as giving employees incentives to leave the district in lieu of layoffs or requiring swift negotiations between schools and employee bargaining groups..."

N.J. education chief Bret Schundler tells suburban schools to expect more cuts in aid

By Halley Bondy/For The Star-Ledger

March 03, 2010, 6:15PM

SUMMIT -- Addressing about 200 suburban school leaders and parents Tuesday night, Bret Schundler, the governor’s nominee for state education commissioner, said that all districts must prepare for hefty cuts.

“You should be prepared for an array of possible aid scenarios. Be prepared for a 10 percent cut. Be prepared for a 15 percent reduction,” Schundler said. “We still believe that is the prudent thing to do.”

In a Summit middle school auditorium Tuesday night, Schundler, who was nominated by Gov. Chris Christie to serve as the education commissioner and is awaiting confirmation by the state legislature, addressed funding concerns from parents and board members from Union, Morris, Bergen and Essex county districts. Most attendees were members of the Garden State Coalition of Schools, a group of about 100 predominantly suburban school districts.

When pressed for final budget decisions, such as the state’s cap on municipal tax levies, Schundler deferred to Christie’s budget message, to be broadcast on March 16.

Already, Christie cut about $475 million in state aid for this fiscal year to combat a $2.2 billion deficit, forcing about 500 school districts to spend their surpluses. More heavy cuts in aid are expected in the coming year.

“To come up with the money is very difficult. We are cutting every department in the state dramatically,” Schundler said. “It may be impossible to get to our goal of flat funding support from 2010 into 2011.”

Livingston board of education member Sheri Goldberg asked Schundler if the state would follow through on a promise to pay for 40 percent of a $52 million school renovation, which was approved by local referendum months ago.

“We’re in a precarious situation,” Goldberg said. “We don’t know whether to go ahead with this.”

Schundler said it was unclear if the state would be able to fund the project.

“[The renovation] falls into the category of debt service aid, which may be cut...We haven’t made those final decisions,” Schundler said. “It’s possible that we cant fully fund it.”

Chatham parent Michelle Clark asked Schundler if the district could have more spending freedom, arguing that the township uses little state aid but is subject to state allocation rules.

“Ninety-three percent of the funds we use to run our district comes from local property taxes,” Clark said. “Why should the powers that be dictate how we allocate these dollars?”

Schundler said that, if confirmed, he hopes to reward self-sufficient districts with budget flexibility. He said he also hopes to relax rules that bar cost-savings measures such as giving employees incentives to leave the district in lieu of layoffs or requiring swift negotiations between schools and employee bargaining groups.

“We’re not going to try and weigh you down with burdensome regulations that are enormously counterproductive at the end of the day,” Schundler said.

Schundler, the former mayor of Jersey City who now lives in Westfield, was joined on stage by state Sen. Tom Kean, (R-Westfield) Assemblywoman Nancy Munoz (R-Summit), Assemblyman Jon Bramnick (R-Westfield) and Assemblywoman Mila Jasey (D-South Orange). The legislators on the panel expressed their support for him.

“We’ve been reforming the system for a long time and we finally have an administration in place that can go forward and get some changes done,” said Munoz. “We want to call New Jersey a home, and we want our children to be able to stay here.”