Phillipsburg School District to receive $1.2 million in federal aid to retain, rehire employees

Some Phillipsburg teachers laid off in recent years could return to town classrooms in the coming months.

The Phillipsburg School District is slated to receive about $1.25 million in federal aid to retain existing staff, rehire former employees and hire new ones.

Phillipsburg schools Superintendent Mark B. Miller said he is concerned how the district would be able to hold onto new hires after those federal dollars run out.

"We're happy with it because it'll allow us to hire some people back that we had to let go," said Miller.

Later he added: "How long can we keep them?"

The New Jersey Department of Education on Monday released local aid figures to be provided out of the $268 million awarded to the state under the federal Education Jobs Act. The federal aid, which districts would receive on a reimbursement basis, must be spent by September 2012, state officials said.

The aid coming to Phillipsburg represents the single largest amount of funds going to a school district in Warren and Hunterdon counties. In total, Warren and Hunterdon county districts are anticipated to receive about $3.5 million and roughly $1.6 million, respectively, in federal aid.

Acting State Commissioner of Education Rochelle R. Hendricks cautioned local officials in a letter Monday to avoid future-year obligations that could become unsustainable. Local officials should consider reserving the one-time funding for the 2011-12 school year, Hendricks wrote.

"While record levels of total federal, state and local funding have been made available to schools in recent years, the next budget cycle promises to be challenging," Hendricks wrote. "It is unwise to assume that there will be additional streams of federal jobs money in planning for the future."

Phillipsburg school officials are planning to reach out to teachers who were laid off, Miller said. The district cut 25 teachers and other professionals before the 2009-10 school year, then eliminated another 16 jobs before this school year.

Miller said district officials still need to unravel the "strings attached" to the federal aid, but said the money would go toward positions in areas where class sizes could be reduced or where more instruction is needed in light of test scores.

"There's a lot of question marks out there," said Miller, referring to the district's uncertainty over the federal aid. "You've got to look at where your needs are and go from there."

Debra Smith, president of the Phillipsburg Education Association, added that she hopes the federal aid is used to rehire former faculty and reduce class sizes. Smaller class sizes allow for more personal attention and make students more comfortable, Smith said.

"If we could do that, that would be fantastic," Smith said.