District to cut 60 jobs and reduce programs
3/4/2010

Montclair's financially hard-pressed public
schools are on the verge of the most
dramatic changes they have confronted in
more than a decade as the Montclair School
District tries to cope with deep cuts in state
aid and the increasing costs of negotiated
salary hikes for its teachers and support
staff.

Schools Superintendent Frank Alvarez said
the district is making preparations to
eliminate as many as 60 jobs and make
significant "across-the-board reductions in
programs and services" in order to balance a
proposed $112.7 mil...

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Branchburg faces difficult decisions in school budget
3/4/2010

BRANCHBURG — Taxpayers may be looking at a school-tax increase of as much as 3.7% for next year’s Branchburg school budget.

The tax increase is to offset a number of budgeting challenges, including an expected 5 to 10% decrease in state aid to the school district after Gov. Chris Christie’s announcement that he is cutting $475 million in aid to schools statewide.

In their proposed $43 million budget, school officials are also mulling a number of cuts to keep that tax increase under the state-mandated 4% cap.

They will be continuing a discussion of the budget at Thurs...

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Pequannock BOE grapples with budget hole
3/3/2010

In order to deal with Governor Christie's recent state aid cuts, Board of Education President Joe Cropanese laid out the district's plan for cuts that will have to close a deficit of at least $2.5 million for the 2010-11 school year.

The district was supposed to receive about $2.74 million in state aid for the 2009-10 school year, and had drawn up an "excess surplus" of about $1.6 million over that time.

The excess surplus would have gone into the 2010-11 school budget had Christie's cuts not been made; however, with the state withholding over $955,000 in aid this year, about...

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