NJ Spotlight published the following article on 4/04/2014. To read the full article, click here.

Legislative Spotlight Burns Hot and Bright on Aid Cuts, School Construction Delays

John Mooney | April 4, 2014

New Jersey’s fiscal 2015 education budget – which every year accounts for more than one-third of overall state spending — got a public airing yesterday with some familiar themes but also some somber warnings of looming financial shortfalls.

Much of the three-hour hearing before the state Senate’s budget committee centered on K-12 education funding, with Acting Commissioner David Hespe making his first appearance before the Legislature since Gov. Chris Christie appointed him to the post last month.

Hespe had the task of defending an unpopular budget that is providing less than a 1 percent increase in state aid to schools districts – amounting to $20 more per student – and leaving aid for 80 percent of the state’s districts at or below levels in 2010.

But even more difficult moments came when legislators grilled the leader of the Schools Development Authority, which oversees school construction in the state and announced that the multi-billion-dollar program was nearly out of funds.

The SDA usually plays second fiddle at budget hearings, but the agency’s new executive director, Charles McKenna, got some prime-time attention as discussion centered on projects that have been long-stalled under Christie.

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