Federal, State Funding Questions Linger This Week for Montclair

Montclair’s school district and township remain in a state of anticipation this week while they wait for news about funding at the state and federal levels in the coming year. 

The district will learn next year’s state aid figures within 48 hours after Gov. Chris Christie delivers his 2014 state budget on Tuesday. Soon after on March 8, the Montclair Board of Education must submit its 2013-14 school budget to the Essex County Superintendent. 

Superintendent Penny MacCormack said on Tuesday the district expects to receive the same amount of state aid as last year for the 2013-14 school year. However, the district is also budgeting a contingency plan of how it would handle a decrease in state aid. 

This year the district received $6.5 million in state aid, up 14.6 percent from the 2011-12 school year. However, overall state aid is down significantly during the past 10 years. 

Federal Funding

Nearly $12 million in federal funding for New Jersey is also on the chopping block as sequestration draws near. 

Without action from Congress, the sequester — or automatic budget cuts — would go into effect on March 1, reducing spending by the state in a number of areas, including education, the environment, health, military and law enforcement, the White House said.

In anticipate of the sequester, the Montclair Board of Education accounted for only 75 percent of last year's federal aid in the 2013-14 budget, according to Ernie Turner, a professional accountant hired by the board. 

A portion of the federal aid received last year by the district totalled about $3.6 million. However, Turner added at Tuesday's board meeting there are other programs, such as special education and entitlement grant programs, that would be affected by the sequester. At this time, it is still too early to calculate the full repercussions on these programs. 

MacCormack said the sequester would have an impact on some of Montclair's most needy students. 

"These are federal funds that support special education and our poorest students," said MacCormack, " so it will have an impact." 

The majority of the few federal dollars Montclair Township receives is through the Community Development Block Grant program which fund local organizations, said Township Manager Marc Dashield. 

“We receive very little money outside of [the block grants],” said Dashield. “I don’t think there will be an immediate impact, but I could see things slowing down.” 

Eight Montclair organizations and the township  this year for housing, tutoring, outreach programs and street repairs. The organizations are applying for $515,950 to fund similar projects in 2013-14. 

Dashield said he did not foresee any immediate impacts on the township if the sequester were to happen, but added long-term impacts are still unknown.

“What we all don’t know is, ‘What are the long-term impacts of it?” said Dashield. “Until we see what the changes are and what happens, we really don’t know.” 

For schools throughout New Jersey, the cuts could jeopardize 160 teacher and aide jobs, as well as cut funding to 60 schools and 15,000 students, according to the Obama administration.

Tiffany Haas, a spokeswoman for Montclair Rep. Donald Payne Jr. (NJ-10), said the Congressman is against the sequestration from going into effect, adding it would be “devastating” for both New Jersey and the country. 

“He believes we need to reduce our deficit,” said Haas, “but we need to do it in a balanced way that includes smart cuts to programs that can afford it.” 

Part of that approach for Payne, said Haas, includes “ensuring the wealthiest Americans are paying their fair share ... and closing tax loopholes for big oil companies.” 

Montclair's other representative on Capitol Hill, Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (NJ-11), said reasonable cuts need to be found to slim the government's $4 trillion budget.   

“As it stands today," wrote a spokesperson for Frelinghuysen in an email, "half of this year’s $85 billion in 'across-the-board' sequestration cuts will come from a wide range of domestic programs and the other half will come out of our military that has already endured three rounds of budget cuts during the President's first term alone! 

“It’s time for bipartisan action and to remember that the health and welfare of future generations depends on getting our federal debt under control! In a $4 trillion budget, there’s a responsible set of reductions totaling $85 billion out there. Without delay we should find them, vote on them and send them to the President’s desk for his signature!”

While the effects of the cuts have been released for each state by the White House, there has not been any information released about the effects on individual counties and districts. 

State Senator Nia Gill (D-Essex) weighed in on Monday about the sequester, saying she is against the cuts and that New Jersey can not afford to loose more than $12 million in federal funds. 

“In general,” said Gill, “it would have a devastating impact on the state of New Jersey.” 

Gill said she spoke with Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (NJ-6) on Monday while touring a women’s center in New Brunswick and both raised concerns about the potential cuts to STOP Violence Against Women Program. 

Because of the deep impacts of the sequester, Gill believed it would eventually be avoided. 

“I think people are moving with the idea that Congress will not in fact let [the sequester] happen,” said Gill, “because the impact is so draconian.”