Chatham Schools to Lose About $128,000 in State Aid Under Christie's Plan

School District of the Chathams Superintendent Jim O'Neill said today that Gov. Chris Christie's plan to cut state aid to school districts and force them to spend their surplus money instead will not have a major effect on Chatham schools.

Christie announced the plan during a speech Thursday to the state Legislature, during which he declared a "fiscal state of emergency" throughout New Jersey.

Under the plan, the School District of the Chathams stands to lose $128,589 in state aid this school year. O'Neill said the money will instead be taken from the district's capital reserve, which is used to fund items such as summertime building projects and improvements.

Still, O'Neill said he was pleasantly surprised with the way Chatham's numbers came out.

"We were anticipating more, so actually, I think this is much less than we anticipated," he said.

He attributed the positive numbers to the district's fiscal prudence, saying "we don't collect more money than we need to run the district and we budget pretty tight to the line." Because state aid is being cut in a way that forces districts to use surplus funds, a district with too much surplus could have its state aid cut by a larger percentage that would a district with a small amount of excess money.

The roughly $128,000 would have been used to create more space at Chatham Middle School that would have made more room for a large sixth-grade class next school year. Because it was intended for such a project, it will not affect the school's operations for the rest of this year.

"This will not have an effect on any program or staffing this year," O'Neill said. "I think the issues that we're facing next year are much more daunting."

Christie's speech did not touch on state aid to school districts for the 2010-11 year. O'Neill said state budget constraints for that time period could prove to be "much more severe."

He also said he was worried about the district's steadily increasing enrollment. Because more and more children are attending its schools, the school has to spend enough money to accomodate them. Significant future state aid cuts could complicate matters.

"We can't spend less money because we have built in increases," O'Neill said.

Still, O'Neill acknowledged that Christie had to start somewhere, saying Christie has been charged with the "impossible task" of righting the state's fiscal ship.