Parsippany Schools See State Aid Increases for Special Education

Parsippany schools will receive $2,512,306 more for state aid in the next school year than it did in 2010-11, according to an allocation plan unveiled by the Christie Administration Tuesday.  

Under the plan, the Parsippany-Troy Hills school district will receive a total of $3,580,489, all earmarked for special education programs.

Christie's original allocation for 2011-12 gave Parsippany schools $2,324,336, but additional aid came later in the amount of $1,256,153.

This is all good news, according to Superintendent LeRoy Seitz.

"Every dollar is helpful and appreciated," he told Patch, adding that he is fine with the funds being restricted to special education programs. "The money will most likely be used to fund special education costs that were previously going to be funded by local taxes.  Now, the additional state aid will be used to fund those special education costs and the local tax money will likely go for property tax relief."

The increase in aid came as part of an $850 million allocation plan for the 2012 fiscal year budget that was announced by Gov. Chris Christie’s administration on Tuesday. The total is made up of three different parts: an initial $250 million that was initially authorized in increased school aid, an additional $150 million for non-Abbott districts, and $450 million to Abbott districts, which is slightly more than half of the total aid.

That $450 million is being distributed amongst 31 districts. That additional funding, according to a release by the Christie administration, fully funds the Abbott districts under the School Funding Reform Act formula.

“This year, New Jersey increased state aid to school districts by $850 million over last year, restoring every dollar of the cuts we were forced to make last year and increasing aid by an additional $30 million,” Christie said in the release.

The aid comes more than a year after the administration made aid cuts to all districts, which were announced on St. Patrick’s Day 2010. In many cases, the additional aid announced on Tuesday doubled the amount that was initially designated for non-Abbott districts.