Belvidere
district to receive extra $50,000 in state
aid
Thursday, July 15, 2004 • By KATHERINE BLOK
• The Express-Times
BELVIDERE -- The Belvidere School District was awarded
an extra $50,000 in aid for its 2004-05 budget.
The award was recommended by the state Department of
Education and approved July 7 by the state Board of
Education, according to a state board resolution.
The money was granted because the Belvidere district had
unanticipated costs resulting from the repayment of
overcharged tuition to its sending districts, according to
the resolution. Without the extra funding, the Belvidere
district would not be able to absorb the additional expenses
without negatively impacting its core programs, the
resolution says.
DOE spokesman Ron Rice said the department, under a 1996
law, has allocated $100,000 per fiscal year to help school
districts in extraordinary circumstances. The other $50,000
went to the Stanhope school district in Sussex County, where
Belvidere Superintendent Jean Atkin Gool worked before
coming to Belvidere.
Belvidere's grant was recommended by state Education
Commissioner William Librera for the rehiring of teachers
and the restoration of other "vital programs," Rice
said.
"It was based on the fact that the commissioner and the
board of education determined that the district was not
going to be able to deliver their core programs and services
with the reduced staff and the shortage of funds," he said.
"It is out of hope that the funds will allow the district to
reverse some of that impact."
The Belvidere school board eliminated five teaching
positions in its 2004-05 budget and reduced funding to
several programs.
Spending of the $50,000 will not be hindered by a new
state law limiting expenditures made by school districts and
municipalities, Rice said.
Gool said that although she is disappointed more state
aid to Belvidere was not included in the state budget for
the 2005 fiscal year, the additional funding is good
news.
"I'm very pleased that we were able to get something,"
she said. "We wouldn't have gotten this if everyone hadn't
marshaled their forces."
Belvidere school board President Kathleen Miers also
expressed gratitude to the students, teachers, parents and
local elected officials who helped the board and
administration lobby the state for additional money.
Miers said the decision to eliminate teaching jobs was
difficult. The extra money will allow the district to
reinstate at least one of the teaching positions, she
said.
"To be able to support at least another teacher
certainly makes life easier for the administration, and
certainly for the kids," Miers said.
The school board will next meet July 26 and will likely
begin discussing which of the eliminated teaching positions
to reinstate, Miers said. The job opening will have to be
posted internally and advertised, the same procedure that
would be followed with any other vacancy, she said.
Miers declined to say whether teachers whose jobs were
eliminated in the spring would be given special
consideration in the hiring process, citing confidentiality
of personnel discussions.
Reporter Katherine Blok can be reached at 908-475-8044 or
by e-mail at kblok@express-times.com.
Copyright 2004
The Express-Times. Used with permission.
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