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Link to Dept of Education district by district list of federal ‘edujobs’ funds - http://www.state.nj.us/education/news/2010/0920jobslst.pdf
Star Ledger ‘N.J. school officials are cautious of spending federal funds’ “…In Marlboro, which will receive $434,487, Superintendent David Abbott said he’ll wait until next year to rehire some of the 30 teachers laid off this year. Overall, the district laid off 70 staff members and increased class sizes after a $6 million budget cut, he said…(GSCS) districts would have been much more rewarded if aid could have been given out proportionate to the state aid percentages that they lost," said Lynne Strickland, executive director of the Garden State Coalition of Schools, which represents suburban, largely more affluent districts. "They’re grateful, but it’s not going to take care of the aid reduction issue."
Njspotlight.com ‘Q&A: Assessing EduJobs’
Answering questions about how the Christie administration plans to disburse $268 million in supplemental federal school aid… “Q: Does this at least make up for some of the state budget cuts?
A: For some, it’s a huge rebound. Newark is recovering more than half of the $43 million cut from its 2011 aid, and Elizabeth would recover more than two-thirds. And not just for the cities, since Little Egg Harbor and Haledon would recover three-quarters of their respective cuts. But the statewide average is only about 18 percent of the total cuts in aid, and for more than 220 districts, the EduJobs money is less than 10 percent of what they lost in state aid…”
Star Ledger ‘N.J. school officials are cautious of spending federal funds’
Published: Mon, September 20, 2010, 9:30PMUpdated: Tues, September 21, 2010, 6:35 AM
Star-Ledger Staff
TRENTON — School districts across the state today learned how much they would get from $268 million in new federal funding to save education jobs — but several superintendents said they did not expect to go on a hiring spree.
Based on a state formula set in law, large and impovershed districts will receive the most money — such as Newark, slated to get $23.7 million — while a handful of smaller and wealthy districts are looking at a few thousand dollars.
Federal guidelines gave the state a limited choice of how to divide the money, part of $10 billion Congress approved for states in August in the hope of saving teachers’ jobs after massive state budget cuts. New Jersey slashed $820 million in state aid, a cut of about 7 percent.
Schools were cautious about their plans for the money, which could help re-hire teachers laid off over the summer, because it is not guaranteed to be there again next year — a theme Gov. Chris Christie has hammered. The state Department of Education told schools they must use the money by September 2012.
"I don’t want to mislead people or get their hopes up that we’ll be able to bring everybody back," said Greg Nolan, superintendent of Flemington-Raritan Regional schools, which will receive $236,885, the most in Hunterdon County. "This money is once and done. It’s not going to be recurring aid to the district."
Others said they were hampered by the timing of the aid, delivered after the start of the school year.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE:
• Full list of allocation of federal funds
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• N.J. applies for $268M in federal education money
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In Marlboro, which will receive $434,487, Superintendent David Abbott said he’ll wait until next year to rehire some of the 30 teachers laid off this year. Overall, the district laid off 70 staff members and increased class sizes after a $6 million budget cut, he said.
"I’m not going to disturb classes now," Abbott said. "If I would have gotten it Sept. 1, I would have restored some of those that I cut, but I’m not doing it because classes are set. Teachers have already had back-to-school night."
However, Plainfield’s interim superintendent, Anna Belin-Pyles said while she didn’t have specifics, she wants to focus on hiring more teachers to reduce class size. Plainfield got $3.3 million, nearly half of the $7 million budget gap Belin-Pyles had been working to close this summer.
"Obviously we’re going to use it for critical areas and staffing areas that need to be addressed," she said.
Valerie Merrit, spokeswoman for Newark Public Schools, said the district hadn’t decided whether to rehire any of the 300 teachers laid off this year. "No determination has been made as of yet," she said.
Though the money was not required to be spent on teachers’ salaries, an estimate from President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisors said it could pay for 3,900 teachers in New Jersey. The New Jersey Education Association, Christie’s biggest foe this year, has criticized the governor for waiting until the eve of the deadline to apply for the guaranteed money. The governor’s office has said it was waiting for responses from the U.S. Department of Education on how the money could be divided.
The administration considered trying to distribute the money in a way that proportionally rolled back state budget cuts. Christie’s cuts were done in an unconventional fashion he said was aimed at minimizing the impact: No district saw its total budget cut more than 5 percent, but some wealthy towns that received little state aid got nothing.
"My districts would have been much more rewarded if aid could have been given out proportionate to the state aid percentages that they lost," said Lynne Strickland, executive director of the Garden State Coalition of Schools, which represents suburban, largely more affluent districts. "They’re grateful, but it’s not going to take care of the aid reduction issue."
She predicted districts slated to receive only a few hundred dollars might find it won’t pay to even apply for the money.
Long Branch Superintendent Joseph Ferraina lamented that federal guidelines said schools must spend the money on salaries and benefits. Ferraina, who is retiring at the end of the year, said he is considering alternatives, such as increased tutoring hours, to filling positions.
"There’s not an easy fix," he said. "We’re looking at all different kinds of programs that we can implement short-term that will give us the greatest bang for the buck."
Njspotlight.com ‘Q&A: Assessing EduJobs’
Answering questions about how the Christie administration plans to disburse $268 million in supplemental federal school aid… “Q: Does this at least make up for some of the state budget cuts?
A: For some, it’s a huge rebound. Newark is recovering more than half of the $43 million cut from its 2011 aid, and Elizabeth would recover more than two-thirds. And not just for the cities, since Little Egg Harbor and Haledon would recover three-quarters of their respective cuts. But the statewide average is only about 18 percent of the total cuts in aid, and for more than 220 districts, the EduJobs money is less than 10 percent of what they lost in state aid…”
By John Mooney, September 21 in Education |Post a Comment
The Christie administration yesterday released the district-by-district breakdown of the $268 million in extra federal school aid for New Jersey districts, funds meant to help save teaching positions and other jobs lost to state budget cuts. The federal aid program -- known as EduJobs -- had been hotly contested in New Jersey, with Gov. Chris Christie lukewarm about the prospects, and critics saying he wasn’t moving fast enough to even apply. To help explain, here’s a few answers to some of the most common questions raised so far.
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Question: Who gets what?
Answer: Without much explanation, the Christie administration provided a 13-page document breaking down the aid for each district, from $103 to Teterboro – a district with actually no schools – to more than $23 million in Newark.
Q: How did the state decide who gets what?
A: The administration yesterday would not provide its formulation, but it agreed in the application to the federal government that it would follow New Jersey’s funding formula in determining each district’s total. That furnishes some flexibility, given the complexity of the formula, but it appears from the totals that the larger the district and the more low-income students, the more funds were awarded.
Q: Who were the biggest winners?
A: Urban districts appeared the biggest winners in terms of dollars. The top 16 totals were all in urban districts that fell under the Abbott v. Burke school equity rulings, from Newark’s $23 million down to West New York’s $2.6 million. But it wasn’t all in the cities; other large districts also did relatively well, including Hamilton, Toms River and Freehold Regional.
Q: The biggest losers?
A: Every district received at least some money, so there are no outright losers, but the small or wealthy districts appeared to receive the smallest sums. From Avalon to Deal to Essex Fells, 25 districts received less than $10,000, barely enough to pay for a single teacher’s health benefits, let alone salary. More than 170 districts received less than $50,000, the average salary of a New Jersey teacher in 2010.
Q: Does this at least make up for some of the state budget cuts?
A: For some, it’s a huge rebound. Newark is recovering more than half of the $43 million cut from its 2011 aid, and Elizabeth would recover more than two-thirds. And not just for the cities, since Little Egg Harbor and Haledon would recover three-quarters of their respective cuts. But the statewide average is only about 18 percent of the total cuts in aid, and for more than 220 districts, the EduJobs money is less than 10 percent of what they lost in state aid.
Q: So will this at least go to rehiring laid-off teachers?
A: Not exactly. Ostensibly, the money is meant to help rehire an estimated 3,900 lost school jobs in New Jersey. But the law requires only that the money be spent on personnel costs, with no requirement it be spent on specific positions that may have been cut in the last year. The law doesn’t even require it to be for teachers at all. But state officials in their instructions to districts yesterday did suggest the money be spent in ways that would benefit students the most. “It is my hope that this unexpected revenue will be directed to those areas most likely to help our students excel academically, namely classroom activities,” wrote acting Education Commissioner Rochelle Hendricks.
Q: What’s next?
A: Districts need to spend the money this year or commit it for next year by September 2011. Several district leaders have already said that with the year underway, it is more likely that at least some of the money will go to help close next year’s expected budget gap. But one of Christie’s biggest reservations was that the money would only put districts in a deeper hole once it runs out, and Hendricks in her letter urged districts not to overly commit themselves. “It is unwise to assume that there will be additional streams of federal jobs money in planning for the future,” she wrote.
