Up until a few weeks ago, the Montclair Board of Education had a plan – to keep the tax levy at a low 1 percent increase – even though there is a new school being constructed.

But when new governor Chris Christie dropped a fiscal bomb February 11 on school districts, from tip to tip of the garden state this budget plan along with 565 others evaporated like so much smoke and mirrors.

Now, the district is facing a double whammy – and is reeling from what has already been taken away in state aid and what is expected to hit, tsunami like, all New Jersey school districts on March 16 when Christie offers his state budget.

“This is an extremely difficult year,” said Montclair Superintendent of Schools Dr. Frank Alvarez at the Board of Ed meeting last night. “Dipping into our surplus puts us at a real deficit.”

Due to Christie’s declaring a fiscal state of emergency in the state, and taking away $475 million of state aid to school districts, including $1,900,000 to Montclair, effective immediately, the district will have to take drastic and painful action.

“If what we are hearing is true, that there will be a 15 percent reduction in state aid, we will be cut to $6.2 million dollars,” added Alvarez.

Instead of discussing a mild 1 percent raise in the tax levy, the board has now begun to plan 3 separate scenarios, in order to be ready for the expected reduced state aid and potential lower cap Christie may offer in his budget in a few weeks.

By law, once the governor announces his budget on March 16, and the schools across the state get their individual numbers on March 18, each budget must be offered in public by March 22, and adapted by March 29 so that it can be sent to the state by April 8.

This gives the district a few days to spin magic out of dust – with millions of dollars of state aid missing.

Though the priorities remain the same, including maintaining the integrity of the magnet school system, the transportation of grades kindergarten – 9 and even a full day kindergarten, the sheer weight of such aid reduction will result in loss of programs and jobs.

According to district business manager Dana Sullivan, who offered a clear power point presentation of a moving target of state aid, there will probably be 50 jobs lost within the schools.

Programs will be impacted from numerous areas, including the curriculum and special education. Staff cuts will be both within classrooms and the central office.

If the state aid is cut by 15 percent – and it could be more – there will have to be $4.8 million in cuts to achieve a new tax levy of 2.9 percent.

Showing a chart, Sullivan said “As you can see, 83 percent of our budget is for salary and benefits.”

One rumor – still unconfirmed but circulating throughout Trenton – is that the new cap for districts will go from 4 percent to 2 percent. This would further hurt the budget.

As of today, with state legislation about to become approved so that union workers pay 1.5 percent of their salary towards their benefits, it is obvious that Christie is trying to close the state budget deficit, in part, by forcing unions to change their health care and pension policies to match that of the private sector.

With this strangulation of school districts and budgets, it seems likely that this vise will now reach into the teachers unions – and that New Jersey teachers will be forced to start participating in the cost of their health care.

Whether this will occur without strikes throughout the state is another matter.

For now, in Montclair, the appointed Board of Education and members of the board of adjustment have their work cut out for them, as they weigh the priorities of an overtaxed town and a school district filled with a myriad of challenges against a school budget that could really use, as school board president John Carlton said, “a knight in shining armor”.

And, as he told the crowd, there doesn’t seem to be one on the horizon.

The next budget workshop will be on March 1st at the annex at 7:30 p.m.

The budget should be ready to be adapted on March 22.

*To read specifics about the state aid cuts announced February 11 and detailed February 13/14, go to our search box (upper right)and enter 'budget' or 'hit hard'.