Budget Guidelines, but No
Word on Aid

Budget Address: March 21  The Senate and Assembly leadership late last week amended the official legislative calendar to designate Tuesday, March 21, as the date of Governor Corzine’s first annual Budget Address. Bills have been moving through the Legislature (A-2288 and S-1253) to authorize postponement of the address, which is normally delivered in February to a joint session of the Legislature.

For local school districts, the date of the budget address is critical since, under statute, state aid figures for the upcoming school year must be announced within two days of the speech.

In years when the governor’s budget message has been delayed, the state Department of Education has adjusted the school budget-development calendar and/or indicated anticipated state aid amounts. Four years ago, for instance, the new governor’s budget message was postponed until mid-March. By March 1 of that year, the state Department of Education had provided a new budget development schedule for school districts, along with information on state aid assumptions.

Budget Calendar Change? On Tuesday, the state Department of Education released the first set of critical budget development information to school districts, including the “2006-07 Budget Guidelines.” The information indicated the 2006-07 spending growth limitation, as well as new regional benchmarks for administrative spending limits. It did not, however, give any indication of state aid for 2006-07.

“At this time, the budget calendar is still under review due to the possible delay in the Governor’s Budget Message,” stated Katherine P. Attwood, director, Office of Fiscal Policy & Planning. “We hope to be able to provide final information on the calendar by the end of this week.”

A delayed state budget message would conflict with the current local school district budget development process. For example, school districts’ preliminary budgets are due to the SDOE’s County Offices by March 6. Without revenue figures—including state aid amounts—those preliminary documents cannot be completed. In addition, under the current calendar, public hearings on proposed school budgets would begin one day after the Governor’s budget message.

4.04% Cap The SDOE budget information did include information districts could use to begin constructing the “expenditure-side” of the budgets, such as the 2006-07 spending growth limitation, or budget cap.

Noting that current statute sets the spending growth limit at the greater of 2.5% or the Consumer Price Index, the Budget Guidelines go on to state, “For use in 2006-07, CPI is 4.04%.”

Assembly Budget Committee With the state facing a possible $4-6 billion revenue shortfall next year, the Legislature has been seeking input on ways to promote cost efficiency at all levels of government. Yesterday, NJSBA representatives were scheduled to appear before the Assembly Budget Committee to offer insight on how the Legislature could assist districts by promoting shared services and eliminating mandates.