State aid to the Plainfield public schools for the 2009-10 school year will push the district over the $100M mark, according to a story in today's Courier.
Written by Gannett State Bureau reporter Michael Symons, with inserted material by local reporters, the PRINT EDITION carries a section on Plainfield that is missing from the ONLINE version.
I am transcribing the missing section below, without comment.
CHARTER HITIf the online version is updated, I will post the link to it later.
Plainfield Public Schools, the lone Abbott district in the Courier News coverage area and one of two in Union County, will receive a one percent state aid increase. The move pushed the approximately 7,000-student district's aid over the $100 million mark, from about $99.2 million to $100.6 million.
The district was one of 10 Abbott districts (out of 31 statewide) to receive an increase at all, as four of the state's largest urban school systems -- Newark, Jersey City, Trenton and Camden -- failed to see aid figures rise. But Superintendent Steve Gallon III said the news was tempered by a stark budget reality facing the district.
"We're very pleased that the state made provisions for us to realize a one percent increase, keeping in mind that several (Abbott districts) did not receive an increase at all," Gallon said. ". . .however, we are very, very cognizant that with the influx of charter schools into the city's landscape, that increase will be mitigated."
Gallon explained that the district's charter school budget has spiked from $8.6 million in 2008-09 to $11.4 million for 2009-10, a $2.8 million hike that more than eclipses the $1.4 million rise in state aid. Most of the aid increase will be used to offset the charter-school hit, Gallon said, and it will not "have a significant impact directly on students in (the district)."
Plainfield has Union County's only four charter schools. The district's budget for such facilities has increased almost tenfold, from $1.2 million to more than $11 million, in a span of seven years, according to Gallon.
Screenshot of Plainfield aid from state's website.
(Click on image to enlarge or print.)
You can search the state's database of aid by any school district here.
- NJ Education Dept.: "2009-10 Summary of Aid"
- Courier: "Despite state cuts, aid the same for some schools, increases for others" -- The online version of the article that does NOT contain the Plainfield portion.
-- Dan Damon
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2 comments:
The sad part is, whether anyone agrees with the Abbott funding decision by our empty suit Supreme Court here in NJ is that our property taxes are FAR from low here in Plainfield. Can you honestly imagine what our taxes would be were we, the Citizens of Plainfield actually paying for the costs of this top heavy school system. Sad..I have a child in the school district who had a class that she didn't get a text book to use until well into the month of December because they couldn't afford to buy them. I am guessing it doesn't all go for the children.
Where is the Assemblyman on this? This is an outrage.
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