Updated: Board President Responds to Christie Cuts

Summit Board of Education President Tom O'Rourke responded Saturday morning to the announcement that Gov. Chris Christie will freeze $87,500 in state aid to Summit.

This move is part of a $475 million state aid freeze statewide which the governor announced to the State Assembly in Trenton Thursday as part of a larger effort to close the current fiscal year's deficit of $1.3 billion.

O'Rourke said that after looking at the numbers released by Christie on Friday and talking with Business Administrator Louis Pepe, Summit should consider itself lucky compared to many neighboring schools who will see state aid freezes ranging from $1 million to $5 million.

"We're going to have to be very close in forecasting our expenses for the rest of the year," he said. "Summit is going to come through this in a more favorable position than many of our neighboring districts."

The money being withheld by Christie, O'Rourke said, wasn't slated for a particular project or expense, but rather would have been used for day-to-day operations in the district.

O'Rourke also said this freeze shouldn't affect budgeting for next year dramatically as the board has been planning for a reduction in aid to begin with.

"If these numbers are accurate we can live with it," O'Rourke said, "and not have it effect our numbers for next year in a substantive way."

Assemblyman Jon Bramnick (R-Westfield), a member of the Assembly's budget committee, said he is in support of the cuts the governor announced Thursday, saying they are needed because of the current fiscal situation in the state.

"I think it's tough medicine for a tough problem," Bramnick said.

Bramnick said the governor made the decision to cut state aid for towns with surpluses in order to not touch the current operating budgets of the school districts.

"This is the way to solve the problem without affecting classrooms," Bramnick said.

Most districts, including the Summit Public Schools, are still working on the details of their 2010-2011 budgets. Operations Committee chair Eleanor Doyle said Tuesday night that the district is waiting to find out how much the state will give them in aid next year.

"It's not the largest percent of our budget," said Superintendent Dr. Nathan Parker on Tuesday of the portion of the district's budget that comes from state aid. "It's not enough to destroy it. But everyone is holding their breath."

Operations Committee chair Doyle said in Summit the budget process has been moving along and they are getting close to a point where they can publish some of the hard numbers.

While Doyle said the district is anticipating a reduction in state aid, she said they should be able to stay within the 4 percent cap in property tax increases while still fully funding a 2 percent surplus.

Doyle also said the district hopes to include the local share of some of the RODS III grant projects in the 2010-2011 budget.

"It looks very promising at this point but we're holding our breath to see what the state has in store for us," she said.

More definite information on exact numbers for state aid should become available after Governor Christie's scheduled budget address to the Assembly on March 16.

Athletic Director Mike Sandor had previously presented his budget requests for next year.

In a presentation to the board Sandor said his department was requesting $1,189,906.50 which included $86,000 for new equipment and $220,170 for transportation costs.

Despite these numbers, the department would still be unable to fund several sports currently being supported through parent organizations, such as boys volleyball and wrestling.

Westfield Patch Editor John Celock contributed to this report.