Phillipsburg School District faces 43 personnel cuts to close budget shortfall

PHILLIPSBURG | Faced with flat funding from the state, Phillipsburg school officials Monday announced the possible elimination of 43 positions to help close a $2.3 million budget gap.

Among proposed cuts in personnel would be up to 25 staff and 18 classroom aides, according to a tentative school budget presented Monday night. A breakdown in personnel cuts was not immediately available.

The first draft of the $51.5 million budget is due Wednesday to the Warren County Department of Education and does not include possible federal aid.

District Business Administrator William Bauer said the classroom aide cuts are mandated by the state, but the district will attempt to salvage the teaching positions by applying for Abbott district supplemental funding.

"Part of the supplemental funding situation hopefully will close this gap for us," he said.

The district's tax rate will not change, Bauer said, because of cap waivers from last year.

"I wish I could have done more, but in the situation we are in with the state and the economy ... this is the budget that we have to live with and we have to go forward with," Bauer said.

Bauer managed to find ways to save the district about $13 million, but a $2.3 million gap remained, he said. Bauer called the personnel cuts a necessary move.

Besides personnel cuts, the district will eliminate $65,000 in district field trips, Bauer said.

The district was not eligible for supplemental Abbott funding last year, when the district cut more than 60 positions, but a New Jersey Supreme Court decision changed that in November.

The court has allowed Phillipsburg and the state's 30 other Abbott districts to retain their status until a court decision is reached in the Abbott v. Burke litigation.

Superintendent Mark B. Miller said the district will apply for $6.1 million in Abbott supplemental funding in restoring personnel and program cuts made in the past two years.

"If we do get approved for the supplemental funding, we will be reinstating anything we are cutting and then some," Miller said.

Bauer said the district lost $12.5 million in funding since the Abbott designation was revoked. The loss equates to 104 staff positions and millions of dollars worth of programs, he said.

If the district receives the full amount of supplemental funding applied for, many programs could return as well as 79 of the 104 positions lost in the past two years, according to Bauer.

Assistant Superintendent George Chando said the district must prove to the state the necessity of the funding through a series of negotiations.

"The approval date is the tough part," Miller said.

The district's contract with the union requires notification of layoffs by May 15, but supplemental funding awards will not be known until June or July, he said.

An application for the Abbott funding will be sent along with the tentative budget, Miller said. A public hearing for the budget is slated for 7:30 p.m. March 30 at Phillipsburg Middle School, 525 Warren St.

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To keep expenses in line with revenue, Phillipsburg School Business Administrator William Bauer cut about $13 million in spending, but a $2.3 million gap remains, forcing personnel cuts. Savings include:

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