Brick Township Board of Education/Schools (Photo: Daniel Nee)
The first of six multi million-dollar funding cuts to Brick’s school districts is now official, and the Board of Education has been tasked with deciding how to accommodate them in the 2018-19 school budget.
Gov. Phil Murphy last week signed into law a bill that will cut Brick’s school funding by $1.1 million this year and $22 million over seven years. After the seventh year, there will be a permanent $22 million reduction. Guidance from the state Department of Education gave the district until Aug. 1 to settle on a plan to account for the loss.
The DOE guidance provides three options on how to deal with this year’s cut. The board can dip into its surplus account to attempt to bridge the gap, apply to the state education commissioner for permission to dip into its emergency fund, or simply cut expenditures. The board can also use any combination of those three options. The DOE’s guidance document did not list increasing tax levy as a remedy.
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The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday, July 31 at the Professional Development Center at the board office on Hendrickson Avenue.
No meeting agenda has been posted to the district’s website.
