BOE Rushing To Finish School Budget After Shortfall Announcement

After learning the school district will receive no state aid for the 2010-11 school year, Springfield's Board of Education is rushing to complete its budget for the state's deadline on Monday, March 22. Today and tomorrow, the Board's finance committee and the administration will be holding emergency meetings to craft the budget.

"We'll do what we have to do," Springfield School Board President Jacqueline Shanes said. "They didn't give us a lot of time to make some very difficult decisions."

The loss of state aid represents a shortfall for the district of just under $1.5 million, or about five percent of the district's overall budget. Springfield and other New Jersey districts had been bracing for aid cuts prior to yesterday's announcement, but the severity of the cut, and the way the cut was formulated, came as a surprise.

"The rumor we were hearing—and granted, they were only rumors—was that they were cutting up to 15 percent of state aid," Springfield School Board President Jacqueline Shanes said.

Instead of cutting a percentage of school aid money, the state based the fraction of what they were cutting on a different denominator: the overall budget of the schools. As a result, Springfield will receive no state aid.

"Thankfully, we didn't have a lot of state aid," Shanes said.

Three years ago, when facing a budget shortfall of about $1.2 million, the district let go of a number of staff and cut several programs. Springfield's teachers union is currently negotiating their contract with the district. The timing, Shanes said, is somewhat of a blessing.

"At least we know what the playing field is," Shanes said.