N.J. schools told to spend less next year

New Jersey school districts are putting together their budgets for the next school year and are being told to plan for a significant cut in state aid.
Acting Education Commissioner Bret Schundler says schools should prepare budget plans with the possibility of a 15 percent cut in state funding.

New Jersey school districts are putting together their budgets for the next school year and are being told to plan for a significant cut in state aid. [audio:100218PGED.mp3]

Acting Education Commissioner Bret Schundler says schools should prepare budget plans with the possibility of a 15 percent cut in state funding.

Schundler: That’s not what we’re hoping. We’re working hard to see if we can’t achieve state aid which is flat with this year but we don’t know if that’s going to be possible.

Assembly Education Committee Chairman Pat Diegnan says a 15 percent reduction in education aid would be devastating.

Diegnan: The last place as far as I’m concerned that we should be cutting the budget in the state of New Jersey is education. I just really urge the Governor to rethink this. Let’s look for other ways of dealing with the budget crisis.

State officials say they should have a better idea in about a week on the amount of aid the schools will be getting.