Schundler Addresses Education Financing at Meeting of Suburban School Boards

State Education Commissioner Bret Schundler spoke at the Garden State Coalition of Schools meeting at Lawton C. Johnson Summit Middle School Tuesday night.

The topic of conversation was the current financial state of education in New Jersey. Many districts represented received notice recently they would not be getting the remainder of the state aid they were expecting. And most are also expecting state aid cuts for the 2010-2011 budget year.

The Westfield Board of Education canceled its regular public session Tuesday in order to attend Schundler's speech. The GSCS is an organization of suburban school districts statewide.

"We all know we're in trouble here–in the state, in the country, in the local districts," said Lynne Strickland, executive director of the GSCS. "Being on the outside and angry doesn't get you very far."

Schundler joined state legislators from the 21st district, including Assemblywoman Nancy Munoz (R-Summit), Assemblyman Jon Bramnick (R-Westfield) and Senate Minority Leader Ton Kean Jr. (R-Westfield), in a panel discussion about state aid cuts, budget caps, and salary negotiations, among other things.

Schundler, a Westfield High School alum and former Jersey City mayor, said while he sees many exciting things going on in education in the state of New Jersey, it is also facing financial hardships.

"Education is not just about money but money is very important," Schundler said. "I want to highlight that this year, this current fiscal year that we're in, and the $475 million that was reserved, I want you to know that wasn't something any of us in Trenton wanted to do. It's something that ultimately we felt we had to do. The state would have run out of money before the end of the fiscal year if we had not cut spending."

The state aid cuts were determined based on the amount of surplus the district had. Schundler and Gov. Chris Christie from the remainder of Westfield's state aid payment for 2010.

Michelle Clark, a parent from Chatham, expressed concern over Chatham having to cut $800,000 in staff last year and asked Schundler if under his administration districts would have more control over their local budgets.

Schundler said yes.

"We're not going to try to overwhelm you with burdensome regulations," he said. "We do want to give you more flexibility at the local level to spend your dollars."

Mark Gleason, South Orange Maplewood Board of Education president, asked what the intent is of the recently passed Senate bill that would require public workers to contribute at least 1.5 percent of their salaries towards medical benefits.

Kean, a member of the Senate education committee, said the intent is to keep the savings in the local communities.

Sheri Goldberg, a board of education member in Livingston, asked what the fate of state funding for referendums is, especially in districts like Livingston where voters already approved the projects.

Schundler said it is still unclear what the aggregate aid available will be and how much will then be allocated to each aid program. So, districts that began projects expecting the state to match 40 percent, may not see all of that funding come through.

But despite the tension around talks of budget cuts and public employees paying into their health benefits, there was positivity around the essence of bipartisanship taking place in Trenton. Bramnick, the Assembly Republican conference leader, is part of a new bipartisan leadership committee in the Assembly.

"It's refreshing to have a governor who says what he means," said Munoz, whose five kids all went through the Summit Public Schools,  "and we believe he's going to do what he says he's going to do. We're here for you even though it may not feel that way tonight."

After the meeting, O'Rourke agreed with Munoz.

"I was greatly encourage," he said. "(Schundler) didn't promise things that were pie to the sky."