School Funding for 2009-10

Hi to all:

USA Today had a story this morning that said "the federal economic-stimulus package...will double the country's education budget over the next two years."

Also today, I had the opportunity to see what kind of federal funding is coming to several southern NJ districts. Not bad at all...very few get $0. Most will get tens of thousands of dollars; some will get more.

What does all this mean?

Your district will most likely get flat funding from the state. While that implies that you get what you got last year, you really don't...well over 50% of your school budget goes to salaries and raises will eat up what was used for other things this year. With the federal funding increasing so dramatically, it won't solve 100% of the problem, but for most districts they will be in far better shape than how things looked just days ago.

The last piece of the puzzle is local funding, from your district's proposed budget. This goes to the voters on April 21. In this economy, no one is expecting miracles; but don't be misled into thinking that a budget that is voted down automatically means no increase. When the budget is voted down, it goes to the town government officials who determine how much of the requested budget gets trimmed.

Bottom line: things won't be great, but they could have been far, far worse.

Dr. Dugan