P'burg schools to get $1.5M

Schools in Warren and Hunterdon counties are eligible for about $10.4 million of the more than $600 million federal stimulus funds awarded Thursday to New Jersey.

Phillipsburg has been awarded the largest amount in both Warren and Hunterdon with $725,829 in Title I money and $771,533 for special education.

While the nearly $1.5 million is welcome, it comes with strings attached, Phillipsburg School District Superintendent Mark B. Miller said.

"We are ecstatic to get the money, but the thing about it is that this money has specific uses that are guided by the state and federal government," Miller said.

Until the district deciphers the criteria, he said it's hard to say where the district plans to send the funds.

Miller said the money most likely will be used for curricular or extracurricular programs and professional development.

Phillipsburg, faced with a $2.3 million budget shortfall, proposed cutting 43 staff positions and board-funded field trips. School officials hoped stimulus and Abbott supplemental funding could prevent or restore reductions.

Miller said the stream of stimulus money is due to stop within two years, severely limiting possible uses.

"From the indications we've had, we're not going to be able to use it for staff," Miller said. "It's really for training more than anything else. We're still going to need to make those cuts."

Phillipsburg School Board President Paul Rummerfield said he'd like to return board-funded field trips if permitted in the spending guidelines, but he, too, is troubled by the two-year limit.

"If we could reinstate field trips, that would be great. But again it's only a two-year cycle," he said.

Rummerfield's greatest concern regarding the stimulus money is how it might affect the New Jersey Supreme Court's Abbott district decision.

The latest recommendation to the court by state Superior Court Judge Peter Doyne was to dissolve the Abbott distinction, but to permit three years of supplemental funding for the 30 so-called Abbott districts.

Rummerfield said he would worry if the state considers the two-year stimulus funds part of an Abbott phase-out plan.

"I really hope not, but I've seen stranger things happen," Rummerfield said.

The stimulus money, part of the $17.5 billion awarded to the state through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, is aimed at enhancing programs for disabled and at-risk youth.

According to the governor's office, about $238 million will go toward at-risk youth while $371 million will be spent on disabled students.

Warren County is eligible for more than $1 million in Title I money for at-risk students, based on districts' socio-economic status. For special education, the county has been allocated about $4.3 million through the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

Hunterdon County is eligible for $68,000 Title I funds and $4.9 million for special education.

Phillipsburg Superintendent Mark B. Miller said the stimulus dollars most likely will go for curricular or extracurricular programs and professional development, assuming government OKs those uses.

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