The West Windsor-Plainsboro school district will see an increase of more than $1.5 million in state aid for the 2011-’12 school years, state officials announced this month.
The new aid, announced by Governor Chris Christie on July 12, is part of the governor’s education allocation plan, which called for an initial increase of $250 million for all school districts, as well as an additional $450 million for Abbott districts and an additional $150 million for non-Abbot districts.
In 2010-’11, WW-P received $3.1 million in state aid. In the governor’s budget for 2011-’12, the district received $4.64 million, but the increase of $1,514,468 brings the total aid to $6.156 million. By comparison, the Princeton Regional district saw additional aid of $741,409.
According to Larry Shanok, the district’s assistant superintendent for finance, the district originally had $10.7 million in state aid in the 2009-’10 school year — less than half of the state aid called for under the state’s own funding formula. Then in the 2010-’11 year, the district’s state aid was slashed by 71 percent, decreasing to $3.1 million.
During this past budget season, the state allocated slightly more for the district for the 2011-’12 school year — at $4.6 million.Now, the additional $1.5 million brings the total state aid for the 2011-’12 school year to $6.156 million.
So what will the district do with the money? Shanok says there a number of options districts have.
“The state just came out with guidance on it, so everyone will be digesting that,” he said. “They gave districts a number of options and the conditions that had to be followed for the utilization of the money.”
Prior to any official guidance, the state Department of Education commissioner had indicated that the additional aid would be “a unique opportunity for providing tax relief,” said Shanok.
Subsequently, the official guidance was released. “Most of the choices relate to tax relief,” said Shanok.
The big question is which ones will districts choose, and in which fiscal year will the money be applied?
“They gave a whole bunch of conditions for immediate” relief, said Shanok, explaining that in order to apply the money toward immediate relief, the district will have to get the approval of the commissioner, send out an advertisement at least 48 prior to taking action to do so, and notify the appropriate county officials — all by Tuesday, July 19.
“That’s not likely to be a popular choice for an option,” said Shanok. “Maybe it will turn out that it’s not as encompassing or immediate as they say.”
There are other options, including restoring programs in the 2011-’12 year that were cut, which also comes with a certain set of requirements. Districts also have the option of using the money for additional aid amount in the 2012-’12 fiscal year or using it as tax relief for the 2013-’13 year.
Shanok said the options that come with requirements that need to be fulfilled by Tuesday, July 19, are impractical. In his own opinion, “in one form or another, it will go for tax relief, as seems to be suggested by the commissioner’s statement that this was a unique opportunity.”
