'We want every dollar': Hawthorne school board questions $900K loss of state aid

HAWTHORNE — The Board of Education faces almost certain cuts to its budget after having to accept a severe and unexpected reduction in state aid, school officials said.

The K-12 district, serving 2,187 students in five schools, received $884,720 less in financial support to apply toward the new spending plan, which trustees will put to a vote on April 30.

School officials received aid of $3.9 million for next fiscal year, versus $4.8 million for this year.

The reduction of 18.5% is the largest cut that any of the 19 districts in Passaic County had to absorb, according to figures released by the state Department of Education.

At a meeting Tuesday night, school board President Abigail Goff said she was so taken aback by the cut that she thought it was a clerical error on the state spreadsheet.

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“We’re all on the side of justice,” Goff said. “We want every dollar for everyone in this district.”

Schools Superintendent Richard Spirito said the aid reduction and the constraints imposed by a 2% cap on the tax levy means that “about $1 million” must be trimmed from the budget.

He did not specify what programs or staff will be impacted.

“This dramatic cut is detrimental to our school district and our ability to provide quality instruction and essential services to our students,” Spirito said.

To put the figures in perspective, the Paterson K-12 district got more money in additional aid — $54.3 million — than the sum of the entire Hawthorne school budget — $54.1 million.

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New Jersey is providing record allocations to local districts for next year — amounting to $11.7 billion. It was the single largest investment in the state budget proposed by Gov. Phil Murphy on Feb. 27.

Two days later, the governor visited an elementary school in Plainfield to tout the historic level of funding. That city’s K-12 district received an increase in aid of $30.1 million.

But five dozen school systems saw decreases of 10% or more.

Alex Clavijo, the Hawthorne school board vice president, said the district is entitled to know how the state arrived at its figures. “It doesn’t make any sense to us,” he said. “We can’t make heads or tails of it in a year when we’re still dealing with aftereffects of the pandemic and inflation.”

Laura Fredrick, a spokesperson for the state Department of Education, said Wednesday that the funding formula — devised through a law enacted in January 2008 and amended a decade later — is based on enrollment. It factors in community economics, she said, plus the number of special education students and those with limited proficiency in English and low-income backgrounds.

Politicians, meanwhile, are coming out in defense of the school board.

The Borough Council was expected at its meeting Wednesday night to pass a resolution to urge Murphy to restore what was deducted from the district’s aid.

Earlier this month, Republicans serving the 40th Legislative District of New Jersey sent a letter to the governor’s office to ask for a detailed accounting of the funding formula.

The letter, co-signed by state Sen. Kristin Corrado of Totowa, state Assemblyman Al Barlas of Wayne and state Assemblyman Christopher DePhillips of Midland Park, notes that the aid reduction “makes it impossible” for school officials to plan ahead.

“At this unprecedented time of learning loss,” the lawmakers wrote, “we need to make sure our schools are properly funded.”

Philip DeVencentis is a local reporter for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: devencentis@northjersey.com

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Hawthorne NJ schools face budget cuts after aid reduction