Friday, March 19, 2010
Parents urge lobbying of Kean, Bramnick and Munoz to reverse $4.22 million in state school aid cut.
Gov. Chris Christie's decision to slash Westfield's state education aid by $4.22 million, or 90-percent, has caused anger amongst parent leaders in the community. During a budget briefing from Schools Superintendent Margaret Dolan at Thursday's meeting of the Parent Teacher Council, parent leaders continued to express anger at Christie, state Education Commissioner Bret Schundler and legislative leaders for the cuts. During the briefing, Dolan said that one worst case scenario that could close the current $3.5 million budget gap caused by Christie's actions would be to layoff between 50 and 60 BOE staffers. The $4.22 million equals five percent of the total BOE budget for the current fiscal year. Parents showed support for the position …
40.654507
-74.351978
Westfield Board of Education
302 Elm St
/articles/parent-leaders-outraged-by-christie-education-cuts
13023
/locations/319130
Board of Education candidate discusses budget.
OPINION|5 hours ago
To the Editor, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." The grim reality of Governor Christie's slashing of our town's education budgetfor 2010-2011 is obviously upsetting news to all taxpayers and moreimportantly potentially to our childrens' future. But we are aresilient bunch- made up of world class educators, administrators, andresidents that when pushed into a corner- can come together to findsolutions to make the hard choices to defend a school system as great asWestfields.Over the next two weeks the current Board of Education andSuperintendent Dolan have a very difficult (and unfair in many ways)task of dramatically altering a budget that they had already handed inafter months of impressive, yet hard labor. …
40.654507
-74.351978
Westfield Board of Education
302 Elm St
/articles/letter-to-the-editor-slater-discusses-christie-education-cuts
13023
/locations/318562
Mayor to meet with town officials to discuss cuts today.
The town's slightly over $3 million state aid payment is roughly $670,000 less than what was expected. The town will be receiving a cut in overall state aid of $941,470 from last year's payment, based on cuts Gov. Chris Christie announced earlier this week. Mayor Andy Skibitsky said the town had been expected a lower decrease before the aid payments were announced Thursday by state officials. The increased cuts to town aid are similar to the situation with state education aid, where Board of Education officials are grappling with the Christie administration's decision to increase the aid cut from $750,000 to $4.22 million. Skibitsky said layoffs are possible as town officials try to figure out how to cut the additional $670,000 from the …
40.654398
-74.345433
Westfield Municipal Building
425 E Broad St
/articles/state-aid-cut-670k-more-than-expected
10221
/locations/318983
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Christie cuts funds for aid to local government.
Westfield's town government is slated for a $941,470 cut in state aid, under figures announced by the state Thursday afternoon. The state Department of Community Affairs is slated to award Westfield a total of $3,073,326 in municipal aid for the coming fiscal year. This will include $529,527 in consolidated municipal property tax relief and $2,543,799 in energy tax receipts. This marks a roughly 25-percent decrease from last year's $4,014,796 state aid payment to Westfield. The announcement comes as part of Gov. Chris Christie's state budget announcement, which has proposed steep cuts to aid program across the board. Earlier this week, the Board of Education received news that the schools would receive a $4.22 million state aid cut. The …
40.654398
-74.345433
Westfield Municipal Building
425 E Broad St
/articles/westfield-loses-991k-in-municipal-aid-from-state
10221
/locations/318481
Christie cuts lead to e-mail exchanges.
Board of Education members from suburban districts in Union, Essex and Morris Counties have been having casual conversations regarding shared services in light of Gov. Chris Christie's cut to state education aid. Westfield Board of Education President Ginny Leiz announced at Thursday morning's Parent Teacher Council meeting that there has been discussion among members of the Tri County School Boards group regarding how various districts are planning to make budget cuts in the aftermath of Christie's larger than expected state aid cuts. School districts had expected a cut of no more than 15-percent in last year's state aid payment and Christie announced Tuesday that the cuts would equal five percent of the previous year's budget. In …
40.654507
-74.351978
Westfield Board of Education
302 Elm St
/articles/casual-shared-services-discussions-occuring-between-boes
13023
/locations/318343
BOE Veep discusses state education aid cuts.
OPINION|23 hours ago
To the Editor, Governor Chris Christie gave his budget speech to the legislature on Tuesday. The Governor cut $4.2 million from the Westfield school budget. That is dramatically different than the news two weeks ago: Westfield should plan on a $750,000 cut. The Governor's cut amounts to a 92% reduction in state aid. There was no advance warning about the Governor's intention to cut 5% of the whole budget. To understand what that means, the school board would have to eliminate about 50 positions to save $4.2 million. The State of New Jersey has told Westfield that we must operate under their rules without their money. There are approximately 6250 students and 800 employees in Westfield. The Board of Education will do its very best …
Dolan outlines worst case scenarios.
Schools Superintendent Margaret Dolan said one worst case scenario to tackle the Gov. Chris Christie's decision to cut $4.22 million in state aid from Westfield could be laying off between 50 and 60 Board of Education staffers. In a briefing to parents at Thursday morning's Parent Teacher Council meeting, Dolan discussed the process being used to identify cuts based on the figure announced by the Christie Administration on Wednesday. Dolan and BOE budget officials have been working with the knowledge of more massive cuts than originally planned since word leaked of the governor's proposed budget on Tuesday morning. A budget has to be presented to the county schools superintendent on Tuesday, with final adoption on March 30. Dolan, who …
40.654507
-74.351978
Westfield Board of Education
302 Elm St
/articles/christie-education-cuts-could-cost-50-60-boe-positions
13023
/locations/318256
Code review committee has active agenda.
Tuesday's Town Council code review committee report was a catch all of policy proposals surrounding several areas of town operations. Councilman Jim Foerst, the committee chairman, uesd the report to touch on several areas of town policy. The committee handles a variety of town issues from land use to laws to government operations. Foerst brought forward legislation amending the town's compliance with the state Open Public Records Act. The amendments cover concerns raised by Town Clerk Claire Gray regarding what she sees as individuals using information about members of the public to make money. The Gray amendment will allow the clerk's office to withhold information not in the public interest to disclose. A vote is likely next week. The …
40.654398
-74.345433
Westfield Municipal Building
425 E Broad St
/articles/foerst-presents-multiple-ideas-to-council
10221
/locations/317597
Assemblyman said legislature will review governor's proposed budget.
Assemblyman Jon Bramnick (D-Westfield) challenged Assembly Democrats to help develop a plan that could ward off the drastic cuts to state aid proposed by Gov. Chris Christie. Christie's proposed budget, which includes calling for cuts to municipal aid and school aid, now heads to the legislature. The budget committees of both chambers will start conducting hearings. Bramnick, the Assembly Republicans' second in command and a budget committee member, said he is expecting the majority party Democrats to help develop a plan regarding Christie's budget cuts. "I think we know that there is tough medicine needed," Bramnick said about the governor's budget proposal. "There will be further discussion by the legislature. It is up to the Democrats …
40.6503
-74.34721
/articles/bramnick-challenges-legislative-democrats-to-find-ways-to-save-christie-school-cuts
/locations/318219
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Schundler defends cuts, saying they will help control property taxes, won't hurt education.
The state Department of Education announced Wednesday that Westfield will lose just over $4.22 million in state education aid for the coming fiscal year. The numbers, posted late Wednesday afternoon on the department's Web site, call for a 90-percent decrease in state aid from the current budget. State aid will decrease by $4,222,169 in the coming year, a figure which represents 4.99-percent of the Board of Education's current $88 million budget. State aid for next year will be $448,345. This figure excludes over $7 million in specialized state aid used for debt service, Social Security payroll taxes, etc. Wednesday's figures added specifics to Gov. Chris Christie's announcement Tuesday of broad cuts in state aid for local school districts…
40.654507
-74.351978
Westfield Board of Education
302 Elm St
/articles/westfield-loses-422-million-in-state-education-aid
13023
/locations/317534
How can we see the budget? Is there a copy available for review? That is the only way to really see how to make educated suggestions for cost savings. more ›