MONROE – The Monroe Township School District may face significant cuts in school state aid for the 2020-21 school year in the wake of the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Gov. Phil Murphy has proposed cutting $335 million in his 2020-21 school funding budget proposal.
The Monroe Board of Education adopted its $136.89 million 2020-21 school budget at a meeting on April 27 with the expectation of receiving $6.93 million, an increase of $1 million from last year.
With the proposed cuts, the district would receive $6.24 million, a $693,723 decrease for the district.
“Next steps will include the administration compiling a list of new budgetary allocations and non-mandated programs and services,” Schools Superintendent Dori Alvich said. “[The] administration will present those which have the least impact on program and instruction to the board’s committees and ultimately to the full board for adoption. Needless to say, we are severely underfunded to begin with and S-2 [state’s amended school funding formula] was supposed to be a pathway to full funding. Although our 2020-21 [school state aid] award is still approximately $300,000 higher than last budget year, this severe reduction of just under $700,000 is a major stumbling block on that pathway.”
