Friday, March 19, 2010
Governor proposes slashing state aid, interlibrary loan program, databases and technology.
Westfield Memorial Library officials are bracing for the impact of Gov. Chris Christie's decision to slash the state's library budget. Christie's proposal cuts state library aid by 50-percent along with calling for the elimination of all (that's $1.4 million) of the New Jersey Knowledge Initiative, a program administered by the State Library that makes valuable commercial reference databases, like ReferenceUSA, Business Source Premiere and Academic Search Premiere, available to academic and local libraries throughout the state and to the New Jersey business community. The State Library would also lose all (that's almost $4.3 million) in network aid. If so, JerseyCat, the statewide online library catalog would likely cease to exist, putting…
40.6569
-74.34267
Westfield Memorial Library
550 E Broad St
/articles/library-braces-for-impact-of-christie-cuts
9630
/locations/319191
Superintendent says more time is needed to cut the budget in light of governor's cuts to state education aid.
SCHOOLS|5 hours ago
Editor's Note: The following is a press release issued by the Westifeld Public Schools including a letter sent by Schools Superintendent Margaret Dolan to Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean Jr. (R-Westfield), Assemblyman Jon Bramnick (R-Westfield) and Assemblywoman Nancy Munoz (R-Summit). The letter is regarding the cuts made this week by Gov. Chris Christie to state education aid, including the $4.22 million cut Westfield received. 90.4% CUT IN STATE AID A directive from Trenton on March 17 cut Westfield's state aid to schools by 90.4%. This completely contradicted what the Commissioner of Education had told Boards of Education and Superintendents less than a week before. New Jersey's Constitution provides for public education for all. …
40.654507
-74.351978
Westfield Board of Education
302 Elm St
/articles/press-release-dolan-asks-legislators-and-christie-to-delay-school-election
13023
/locations/319352
Committee met Thursday night to discuss budget gap.
The Board of Education finance committee held a long meeting Thursday night and is planning for another long night Monday as the group works to plug a $4.22 million budget hole created by Gov. Chris Christie's decision to cut Westfield's school aid by 90-percent. BOE Vice President Julia Walker, the finance panel's chairwoman, said the group has been working with a series of proposals submitted by teachers, administrators and residents. Schools Superintendent Margaret Dolan has been meeting with administrators and union leaders all week to find budget reductions since Christie made the announcement in his budget speech on Tuesday. "There are lots of ideas on the table," Walker said. The BOE had planning for a potential $750,000 loss in …
40.654507
-74.351978
Westfield Board of Education
302 Elm St
/articles/boe-finance-panel-plans-monday-meeting-on-christie-aid-cuts
13023
/locations/319214
Members of Kindred Souls will play at the Westfield Diner at 9 tonight as part of a 21-county tour to raise money for local food banks.
Twenty one musical performances in 21 different counties in 48 hours, sound crazy? Well, then you call the members of Kindred Souls - a popular local rock band – crazy about raising money for New Jersey's hungry. The six member band will perform their classic rock jams at diners across the state, including at the Westfield Diner, to generate money for the New Jersey Federation of Food Banks. As members of Kindred Souls are performing a 20-minute set, the diners will donate $1 for each check and will ask customers at each table to donate $1. It's called the "Diners Donate Dollars" tour. "That little donation can make a big difference collectively," said Paul Lavenhar, who plays drums in the band. Lavenhar said while people think about …
40.650819
-74.343295
/articles/rock-band-stops-at-westfield-diner-for-charity-tour
/locations/319145
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 some 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 …
40.654507
-74.351978
Westfield Board of Education
302 Elm St
/articles/parent-leaders-outraged-by-christie-education-cuts
13023
/locations/319215
Board of Education candidate discusses budget.
SCHOOLS|12 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 asWestfield's.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/319220
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|Yesterday
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 …
