Updated: Governor's Budget: East Windsor Regional Schools Getting Nearly $800k More State Aid

The East Windsor Regional School District is slated to get $780,721 more in state aid for 2011-2012 than it did for 2010-2011, under Gov. Chris Christie's budget proposal. The Cranbury School District would get $176,258, up from no aid last year.

Christie promised in his budget address Tuesday every district in the state would see an aid increase—part of a $250 million boost to education aid overall. In Mercer County alone, schools would see an overall increase of nearly $10 million.

Last year, the governor sharply reduced aid to many schools, and some saw their state aid eliminated entirely. At the time, many districts had been making plans for their budgets based on suggestions of more modest cuts by the state Department of Education.

"I agonized over making cuts to education aid last year," the governor said in his budget address. "They were the very last cuts I approved. It was not a decision I took lightly. It was not something I wanted to do. However, in a year where shared sacrifice was required from everyone, it was a necessary choice."

But he said hard decisions made over the last year allowed for some increase this year. Many districts will still receive less than they did prior to 2010-2011, however.

East Windsor Regional's increase will help, but won't make up lost aid from years past, according to Superintendent Ed Forsthoffer. "We are still working off a deficit, but the additional aid will certainly help us to balance the budget," he said.

Another point the governor has touched on in recent months has been his intention to alter how tenure is given in New Jersey, opting for a system that would annually evaluate teachers based on the test scores of their students. If a teacher is determined not to be satisfactory two years in a row, they could lose tenure under the proposed changes.

In proposals tied to his budget, the governor is also pushing for reform to tenure, and for public employees to take on much of the cost associated with their benefits. He's also pushing for associated pension reforms, and is planning to increase the amount of charter schools throughout the state.

"The need for reform, of course, is more urgent than ever. ... We need to reward excellent teachers, put an end to automatic tenure, and give parents trapped in failing schools a choice for a better future for their children. Once and for all, we must reward excellence and there must be consequences for failure. This is the way it is all across America – we must finally bring it to all of New Jersey’s classrooms," Christie said.

The governor's reform proposals have been met with opposition by groups including the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA), the state's largest teacher's union, which maintains Christie is unfairly burdening teachers and making them out to be the villains in a complex budget crisis. 

The proposed state aid for Mercer County schools is as follows:

Below are the Middlesex County district numbers:

This article was updated at 5:35 p.m. Thursday to include Dr. Forsthoffer's comments.