| State Funding Cuts Announced at
March BOE Meeting
There was good news and bad news at the March 17, 2010 meeting of the Manchester Township Board of Education. The Board recognized the high school's girls and boys bowling champions, an All Shore musician, genealogy essay contest winners, and the local Lions Club for their support of the district. Following the presentations, Superintendent of Schools, David Trethaway, delivered the bad news - the district's state aid has been cut by 34% and the district will be forced to make devastating cuts to the 2010-2011 budget.
Trethaway said he had received the state aid figures earlier that afternoon and was shocked at the amount that was cut. He told the board that, based on earlier information from the state, he had prepared for at least a 5% cut in aid, and also prepared scenarios for a 10% and a 15% cut. "We were prepared for a lot, but not this," he said.
Trethaway explained that the state cut the aid by an amount equal to 5% of the district's total operating budget from the 2009-2010 school year, not 5% of the previous year's state aid. In Manchester, this amounted to $2.2 million, or about 34% of last year's aid, being cut. "This is a very serious hit. For a district that receives only about 13% of its budget in state aid, this is a tremendous burden for the district and the taxpayers of Manchester," he said. [See full article] |
Ridgeway's Kaitlin C. and Mrs. Kiernan's class are scheduled to be featured on Fox NY's Good Day New York morning show on Friday, March 26. 