Christie Freezes $179K in Cranford Schools Aid

The Cranford School District is likely to suffer a $179,767 cut in state aid for the remainder of this fiscal year, the governor's office has announced.

The move is part of Gov. Chris Christie's plan to slash $1.5 billion from the current state budget, $475 million of which will be cuts to school aid. The governor made the announcement on Thursday as part of an address to the state legislature, during which he declared a fiscal "state of emergency."

In addition the cuts to local school districts, Christie also froze funding to higher education, hospitals and NJ Transit.

The cuts to Cranford are significantly less than what most New Jersey school districts are facing. The state is factoring in the amount of excess surplus school districts have and reducing their state aid in many cases by at least that much.

Districts like the one in South Orange-Maplewood, for instance, will suffer a more than $2.2 million reduction in state aid.

The Cranford district was slated to receive a remaining $1,108,409 in state aid for the rest of the fiscal year before the Christie cuts. The total state aid for this fiscal year, which ends June 30, was to be $3,212,458.

The projected state aid amounts for local school districts for the next fiscal year are expected to be released by state education officials in mid March. The projections are due out when Christie details his spending plan for the next fiscal year.

A document released by the governor's office shows that Cranford has $1 in its capital, maintenance and emergency reserve. The document also reveals that the district's projected fund balance for June 30 is $163,782.

The superintendent of schools, Dr. Gayle Carrick, was not immediately available to speak on the cuts. Her comments will be added to this story once they are received.