Debt Payments Jump for Teaneck Schools

State required debt payments facing Teaneck's school district have more than doubled as state aid missed district projections, and the school board mulls outsourcing and cuts to busing. 

, an increase of $99,845 over last year, the education department announced in February. At the same time, debt assessments paid to the state Schools Development Authority is set to increase by $80,360 to $128,662 next year, a report by NJSpotlight.com showed. 

Teaneck is not alone in seeing a significant increase in debt payments, NJSpotlight.com found. 

"According to data provided by the state yesterday, nearly 500 districts will see double-digit percentage increases in assessments paid to the Schools Development Authority for debt service on construction grants for projects launched in the last several years," the report said. 

The increases were attributed to a 2011 line item in school budgets, where districts were charged 15 percent of debt service for SDA grants they received for construction projects, according to NJSpotlight.com's report.  

"A Christie spokesman also stressed that while the SDA assessments are ultimately deducted from what districts receive from the state, they are wholly separate from the state formula aid that the governor announced," the website reported. 

“The districts that are being assessed the most here are those that are experiencing a benefit as the result of the project and capital investment that has come from their own requests,” the governor's spokesman told NJSpotlight.com. 

27 of 68 instructional paraprofessionals, all 46 district lunchroom aides and an undisclosed amount of substitute teachers. Cuts to courtesy busing, impacting 133 pre-K to fourth grade students, is also under review. 

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