Significant Cuts To Programs And Staff In Lacey School Budget

LACEY, NJ — Due to their significant cut in state aid, Lacey Township schools will have to cut both programs and staff in the next school year.

Lacey Township School District revealed its tentative budget for the 2022-23 school year at the March 24 board of education meeting. Superintendent Dr. Vanessa Clark said that the budget supports the students "to the best of our fiscal ability."

Clark said they faced immense challenges building the budget. She said that since the S2 school funding bill was enacted in 2018, Lacey schools have lost $6 million in state aid. Lacey is getting a cut in state aid of 18.38 percent in the next school year - a loss of $3.2 million. Read More: Lacey Schools To Lose Funding Under 2022-23 Budget

Patrick DeGeorge, the board's business administrator and secretary, gave a detailed presentation outlining the budget.

The total tentative budget is $77.6 million, a $12.3 million decrease from the previous schoolyear.

There are three resolutions to make up for the lost aid, DeGeorge said. These are prepaying what they can, cutting programs and staff and moving items to grants, particularly the ESSER grant, which is emergency funding for Covid.

For property tax, the tax rate for 2022 will be 1.382. This means the average Lacey household will pay $5.52 a month.

DeGeorge said they will continue to explore opportunities to increase revenue and decrease appropriations.

The board has also met with State Senator Christopher Connors to discuss budget issues, either to stop S2 or to regain the state aid that was cut for the upcoming school year. A letter was sent out to Governor Phil Murphy to plead the school district's case.

"We cannot properly instruct our students," Clark read from the letter.

There will be a public budget workshop held on April 6. There will be a hearing on and adoption of the final budget on May 5. The budget will be submitted on May 14.