from the NY Times:
New Jersey Schools Brace for CutsBy WINNIE HU
Published: April 2, 2010
Public schools in Montclair, N.J., would lay off as many as 70 teachers, including reading and math specialists, and would no longer offer French and Spanish classes in elementary grades.
Westfield would not be able to buy library books or replace aging computers, and a popular middle school tradition — the fall play — could disappear.
Cresskill could see class sizes climb to 35 students in middle and high schools, it may charge students a fee to play high school sports, and it could eliminate middle school athletic teams.
The three districts and others like them across New Jersey have long attracted families because they offer some of the best public education in the state. But now many of these top school systems are preparing to reduce the academic and extracurricular opportunities that have long set them apart.
Gov. Christopher J. Christie, striving to close a budget deficit that he says is about $11 billion, has proposed reducing direct aid to nearly 600 districts by an amount equal to as much as 5 percent of their operating budgets. Overall school aid for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1, would fall to $10.3 billion, from $11.1 billion this fiscal year. .........(more)
The complete piece is at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/03/education/03njschools.html?hpw