Districts "are going to be very worried about being able to provide programs and the potential of cutting staff," said Lynne Strickland, executive director of the Garden State Coalition of Schools, which represents 100 suburban New Jersey districts..."

Gov. Christie is expected to address N.J. budget, declare state of emergency

By Statehouse Bureau Staff

February 10, 2010, 9:03PM

TRENTON -- Shrugging off a nasty snowstorm that threatened to keep some lawmakers home, Gov. Chris Christie is expected to deliver his first major speech on the state budget Thursday, laying out a wide array of cuts across hundreds of state programs and declaring a state of emergency so he can freeze aid to about 500 school districts, according to people familiar with his plans.

With some Democrats challenging his dire revenue predictions and questioning the wisdom of calling the Legislature to Trenton after a blizzard, Christie will lay out more than $1 billion in cuts to balance the budget that runs through June 30, the officials said.

The Republican governor is foregoing some options used by former Gov. Jon Corzine, including unpaid furloughs of state workers, and will not touch municipal aid. But Christie will announce an expanded version of Corzine's plan to force school districts to spend their stored surplus so the state can withhold more than $400 million in aid payments, according to three officials familiar with his plans.

The officials spoke to The Star-Ledger on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to divulge details in advance.

That plan, targeted to about 500 of the state’s nearly 600 districts, was carefully crafted so it would not jeopardize federal stimulus funding and will not require an act of the Legislature, the officials said. But education advocates said it could hit the classroom.

Districts "are going to be very worried about being able to provide programs and the potential of cutting staff," said Lynne Strickland, executive director of the Garden State Coalition of Schools, which represents 100 suburban New Jersey districts.

A spokesman for the governor, Michael Drewniak, declined comment last night. Christie is scheduled to address both houses of the Democratic-controlled Legislature at 10:30 a.m. at the Statehouse, but weather and vacation plans may make for lighter-than-usual attendance.

The budget was $29 billion when Corzine signed it into law last June, but opened a gap of about $2.17 billion due to falling revenues and growing expenses. Corzine took some steps to patch it, leaving a hole of about $1.3 billion, according to the Christie administration.

Christie will use his address to provide solutions to that deficit and begin to lay the rhetorical groundwork for the next fiscal year, when the shortfall could reach $11 billion.

"We are hemorrhaging all over, and we have to apply a couple of tourniquets," said State Sen. Kevin O’Toole (R-Essex), a Republican who sits on the budget committee. Assemblyman Joseph Malone (R-Burlington) said aid to schools is "where the money is" and "the only choice" this far into the fiscal year. Schools have gotten 11 of 20 annual payments from the state.

But Senate budget chairman Paul Sarlo (D-Bergen) and Assembly budget chairman Lou Greenwald (D-Camden) both said if Christie goes too far with school aid cuts, residents could wind up paying more in property taxes. "We’re not really balancing our budget if we’re passing on our problems to someone else," Greenwald said.

By Claire Heininger and Lisa Fleisher/Statehouse Bureau

Kristen Alloway and Chris Megerian contributed to this report.