A tale of two budgets...

Last week, the Trenton School Board (TSB) approved a $271.9 Million dollar budget for the upcoming school year, amid fears the state may not provide all the aid they require, causing a potential short-fall of between $1 and $9 Million dollars.As in the last two years, the Trenton School Board anticipates to collect state aid of around $219 Million dollars.

Also last week, the Hopewell Valley Regional School District (HVRSD) approved a budget for the upcoming school year of between $68.7 and $70.4 Million dollars. Unlike last year, HVRSD is expecting to collect just over $4.26 Million dollars in state aid, an increase of almost $125 Thousand dollars over the previous year.

Understand, TSB is a larger school district, and it has numerous challenges that thankfully we in HVRSD don't have to face, but look at that disparity in state aid: TSB is expecting $219 Million in state aid toward a $271.9 Million budget, and HVRSD is expecting $4.26 Million in state aid toward a $70.4 Million budget (let's just pretend the second question is approved)...

The TSB is expecting the state to pick up about 80% of their budget, HVRSD is expecting about 6% of their budget to be paid by the state.

If we in the Hopewell Valley are to see any real reduction in our property taxes, a stated goal of nearly all in Trenton (with each legislator having a different opinion on how to achieve it), we will need to see a significant increase in state aid, and soon. Our school budget will only increase year after year, and unless the state steps up and increases it's level of funding to HVRSD, local property taxes can only increase.

As a private citizen, I have almost no ability to effect such a change, and if I were to be on the HVRSD School Board, I would just as frustrated in my personal efforts, but hopefully, as all 600-plus school boards in New Jersey work together with the legislature over the next few years, we just might be able to make a change... Maybe.

The kind of change I think is appropriate would be for the state to step up and assume a significant financial responsibility for Special Needs students. The 2007-2008 HVRSD school budget projects instruction costs directly related to Special Education programs at about $3.2 Million dollars for services provided in-district, and just over $4 Million in Special Education Tuition for services provided out of district. If those two line items were to be assumed by the state, that would provide an approximate $3 Million dollar increase in state aid and provide a nice start towards property tax relief.

Of course, I would prefer the state to contribute additional monies to HVRSD, but taking these expenses off the backs of the local tax payers it would insure that all the services needed by our Special Needs students are provided for, and not left to the local voters, who only have the ability to vote a budget up or down in it's entirety, and as recent elections have shown, one offensive line item in the budget can doom the entire budget to a process best described as sub-optimal.

Our school district deserves greater contributions from the state, our Special Needs students deserve the best we have to offer, and it should be guaranteed by the state.