newjerseynewsroom.com

BY TOM HESTER SR.

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

If the day every comes when the state government will again be able to increase school aid, suburban school districts and the poorer urban districts will get an equal share of the money, state Education Commissioner Bret Schundler said Monday.

Schundler makes the pledge in a five-minute-long video released by Gov. Chris Christie's office in which the commissioner responds to emails submitted by New Jerseyans to what is called the governor's Facebook Fan Page.

Asked why suburban districts seem to receive the largest reductions in aid, Schundler points out that every district is sustaining a 5 percent aid reduction as part of Christie's move to cut $819 million in aid in his proposed $29.3 billion 2010-11 state budget.

"We really think we have spread the pain around,'' Schundler says. "When we begin to see the state economy grow and revenue rise, we will take same approach and make sure all communities get increases in aid in equal magnitude, something they didn't do in the past. Now, when there is an increase in revenues, we'll see all districts getting increases in state aid.''

Schundler said one reason for the reduction in education aid is the loss of $1 billion in federal economic recovery aid. He said the money was intended to be used over a two-year period but the Corzine administration allocated it all in the 2009-10 budget.

"We don‘t have any for the upcoming school year of ‘10-11,‘' Schundler said. "It would have been nice to have it but unfortunately it's all gone.''

Responding to another question, Schundler said the Christie administration is looking to eliminate obstacles, such as state laws, that discourage school districts from merging or at least agreeing on having one set of administrators. He did not identify obstacles but said if they are eliminated, "Many will choose to go in that direction (merge).''