$25.3 million heading to Trenton area schools - Page 3

The state announced how it expects to distribute $609 million worth of stimulus funding to local schools yesterday, earmarking $25.3 million for special education, at-risk students and preschools in the Trenton area.

Gov. Jon S. Corzine called the stimulus funding a "unique opportunity" in a written statement, urging school districts to "take on the responsibility that every dollar is spent responsibly ... we must accurately measure and track the results."

The figures released by the state Department of Education (listed on nj.gov/education/arra) gave the clearest picture yet of how funding boosts for existing federal education programs will play out on the local level.

The numbers also provided positive news for local schools in the wake of a new analysis showing several area districts are losing out on a total of about $14.6 million in formula-based state aid due to them this year.

Now, it's up to school districts to "begin a local dialogue about the best use of the funds," DOE Commissioner Lucille Davy said.

In the Mercer County area, nine charter schools are eligible for $669,000 as part of $17.3 million in stimulus money for special education programs covered by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

Trenton's public schools will receive up to $5.4 million for at-risk kids under Title 1, part of the No Child Left Behind Act, while six other local school districts could split another $2 million.

"Those are big numbers for us. Absolutely that will benefit the children," said Ronald Bilondi, superintendent of the East Windsor Regional School District. "We're going to look at innovative programs, we're going to look at things that normally we wouldn't have funded."

In a prime example of the recession's diverse impact, Bilondi's district is eligible for $1.57 million in federal stimulus funding and is also projected to receive about $19.5 million in state aid during the 2009-2010 year, but could have received nearly $2 million in additional money had the state not limited its aid program as part of a tight state budget.

The superintendent was not complaining.

"In these economic times I think districts really have to bite the bullet," Bilondi said. "I think we have to suck it up, we don't do that enough."

The purported "loss" of state aid was brought up this week in an analysis from the Education Law Center, which calculated the amount of state money each district would have received if a formula adopted last year was fully funded.

According to the analysis, Hamilton schools would be biggest losers under a 5 percent cap on aid increases proposed by the Corzine administration.

Though the school district is projected to receive a $3.6 million aid boost for a total of $76.3 million, it could have received $8.1 million in additional funding if the formula was funded to its maximum level.

Public schools in Ewing and Robbinsville along with regional districts in West Windsor, East Windsor, and Bordentown will also receive less than they are entitled under the existing formula, the analysis found.

"What's problematic here is the districts that are most affected by this decision (to cap state aid) are the very districts whom this formula was enacted to benefit," said ELC executive director David Sciarra, whose organization is fighting the funding formula in court. "We made a commitment to these kids ... and we're not meeting it."

Sciarra said the funding "losses," break from the spirit of the school formula law, narrowly pushed through the Legislature in early 2008, that was "expressly designed to deal with the unmet needs in moderate and middle income communities."

School officials in Ewing and Hamilton, however, did not share Sciarra's disappointment, instead expressing relief that their state funding was increased at all this year.

"You really have to be thankful in a way," said Hamilton school board member Elric Cicchetti, who sits on the legislative committee of the New Jersey School Boards Association.

"It would be nice to get $1.5 million more," said Dennis Nettleton, Ewing's business administrator. "But we're not unhappy with what we received, not in this economy."

Kathryn Forsyth, spokeswoman for the state Department of Education, noted that Corzine's budget calls for no cuts in aid to public schools and increased aid to about 170 school districts.

"The fact that we were able to give people five percent increases in this very difficult fiscal time, when other states throughout the country are cutting their aid. We're all very fortunate," Forsyth said.

Overall, ELC estimated the state's public school funding, as projected, was short about $303 million for the 2009-2010 school year.

"(Sciarra's group) didn't make any suggestions as to where the state could get the $300 million it needed to fully fund the formula," she said. "(The state aid) distributed according to the formula and the governor put as much money into the formula as he possibly could."

New Jersey did receive about $891 million that could be put toward education under the "state fiscal stabilization" portion of the stimulus package, according to the federal Department of Education.

It was unclear yesterday exactly how much of that money will be dedicated to increased state aid for public schools, but Forsyth said the projected aid figures for the upcoming school year were calculated with the stimulus in mind.

The state school funding debate also became political fodder yesterday, with Rob Calabro and William Harvey, Republican challengers in the 14th district Assembly race, seizing on the ELC numbers and criticizing incumbent Assembly Reps. Linda Greenstein, D-Plainsboro, and Wayne DeAngelo, D-Hamilton, for "falling asleep at the wheel" when it came to state funding.

Greenstein noted that the legislators still had a chance to change the projected numbers as part of the state budget process and would "fight for every penny" for places like Hamilton, even though "in the climate we're in, there are going to be all sorts of things in the budget that we won't like."

DeAngelo agreed, saying "we did the best we have with the revenues that we have."

Meanwhile, local school districts can apply this summer for projects to be implemented between September 2009 and September 2011, though some projects will be eligible for a streamlined application process, according to a news release from Corzine's office.

Contact Ryan Tracy at (609) 989 - 5723 or rtracy@njtimes.com.