Gov. Chris Christie acted within his constitutional authority in ordering school districts to use surplus money to make up for cuts in state aid during the school year ending this month, an appeals court panel ruled today.Well, most of the school districts put aside money for a rainy day. Good for them. It's been pouring for years in New Jersey, it's time for fiscal sanity and it appears we have the right man to do the job.
In February, the Republican governor ordered the freeze of $475 million in school aid payments in 2010 by requiring districts to use their excess surplus instead of state aid. The cuts were made at the time to help plug a deficit in this year's budget. Christie has had to cut more than $2 billion from this year's budget to keep it balanced.
In addition to the $475 million in cuts this year, Christie slashed education money for the next budget year, which starts on July 1, by nearly $1 billion — $820 million for K-12 schools and $175 million for higher education.
A large part of this year's cuts involved withholding money from schools that have budget surpluses. All but 17 of the state's 581 districts have surplus money.
According to an Associated Press analysis, on average, schools lost 13 percent of their total 2010 annual state aid. More than 100 districts lost all state aid for the remainder of the year, and more than 100, mostly suburban, lost 30 percent or more of their state aid.
The Perth Amboy school district, which lost $15 million in state aid, or 12 percent of the $126 million in state aid that it received in 2010, filed the lawsuit. Only one other district, Union City in Hudson County, lost more in state dollars: $29 million.
Meanwhile, Christie spoke today in Boonton. Amazingly, he handled questions from the kids and spoke at a presser without the aid of a TelePrompter.
| Chris Christie visits Boonton school, praises union for agreeing to wage freeze |
Instapundit links. Thanks!
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