Schools

Ocean City Schools See Slight Increase in State Aid

The additional funding could reduce a proposed tax increase by a small amount.

The Ocean City School District will get $386,501 more in state aid for the 2011-12 fiscal year under Gov. Chris Christie's proposed budget than it received for 2010-11.

Christie promised in his budget address Tuesday every district in the state would see an aid increase—part of a $250 million boost to education aid overall. 

The governor cut aid to schools last year, and some saw their state aid eliminated entirely. 

Find out what's happening in Ocean Citywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"I agonized over making cuts to education aid last year," the governor said in his budget address. "They were the very last cuts I approved. It was not a decision I took lightly. It was not something I wanted to do. However, in a year where shared sacrifice was required from everyone, it was a necessary choice."

But he said hard decisions made over the last year allowed for some increase this year. Many districts will still receive less than they did prior to 2010-2011, however.

Find out what's happening in Ocean Citywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The Ocean City Board of Education will vote March 2 on a tentative budget for submission to Cape May County. Early drafts of the budget did not anticipate the increase in aid, and the board discussed on Wednesday the possibility that more aid could help reduce the tax levy increase Ocean City is proposing.

Despite fixed costs that increase at a greater rate, the state now caps tax levy increases at 2 percent. The aid could help Ocean City come in at slightly under 2 percent. A public hearing on the proposed budget is scheduled for March 23.

In proposals tied to his budget, the governor is also pushing for reform to tenure, and for public employees to take on much of the cost associated with their benefits. He's also pushing for associated pension reforms, and is planning to increase the amount of charter schools throughout the state.

"The need for reform, of course, is more urgent than ever. ... We need to reward excellent teachers, put an end to automatic tenure, and give parents trapped in failing schools a choice for a better future for their children. Once and for all, we must reward excellence and there must be consequences for failure. This is the way it is all across America—we must finally bring it to all of New Jersey’s classrooms," Christie said.

The governor's reform proposals have been met with opposition by groups including the NJEA, the state's largest teacher's union, which maintains Christie is unfairly burdening teachers and making them out to be the villians in a complex budget crisis. 

The proposed state aid for Cape May County schools is as follows:

 

2010-11 TOTAL AID 2011-12 TOTAL AID CHANGE OCEAN CITY $248,391 $634,892 $386,501 AVALON 0 32,619 32,619 CAPE MAY CITY 346,527 377,349 30,822 CAPE MAY COUNTY VOCATIONAL 977,687 1,128,613 150,926 CAPE MAY POINT 26,409 27,005 596 DENNIS TWP 6,186,366 6,335,893 149,527 LOWER CAPE MAY REGIONAL 8,776,961 9,053,700 276,739 LOWER TWP 9,227,177 9,537,516 310,339 MIDDLE TWP 12,136,298 12,541,472 405,174 NORTH WILDWOOD CITY 571,536 657,890 86,354 SEA ISLE CITY 139,301 181,258 41,957 STONE HARBOR BORO 0 24,748 24,748 UPPER TWP 9,222,539 9,568,438 345,899 WEST CAPE MAY BORO 129,253 140,515 11,262 WEST WILDWOOD 5,539 19,047 13,508 WILDWOOD CITY 4,789,102 4,969,689 180,587 WILDWOOD CREST BORO 428,091 494,806 66,715 WOODBINE BORO 2,834,154 2,878,787 44,633


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