Friday, May 7, 2010

NorthJersey.com: NJEA concerned school aid cuts will hurt state's application for federal funds

NorthJersey.com: NJEA concerned school aid cuts will hurt state's application for federal funds

NJEA concerned school aid cuts will hurt state's application for federal funds
Thursday, May 6, 2010
LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY MAY 6, 2010, 8:23 PM
THE RECORD
STAFF WRITER
The New Jersey Education Association expressed concern Thursday that the Christie administration’s cuts in aid to schools will hurt the state’s new application for federal Race to the Top funding.
Barbara Keshishian, president of the NJEA, met with Education Commissioner Bret Schundler Thursday afternoon to discuss the state’s second bid for $400 million in competitive grants. The application is due June 1.
“Prioritizing education funding is actually an area in which New Jersey scored very well in the first round,” she said in a release. “We are concerned that the state will lose valuable points this time if the governor’s budget proposal remains in place, with its deep cuts to state support for public schools.”
Governor Christie said $820 million in aid cuts for fiscal 2011 are necessary because of the state’s fiscal crisis.
Schundler has said the Race to the Top bid contains his blueprint for an overhaul of New Jersey’s education system. He has said he would unveil it today, and that a union buy-in was not as critical as serious reform in winning the money.
Schundler’s meeting with the union president came a day after he said the Christie administration was going