POINT PLEASANT BEACH — The New Jersey Department of Education announced the recent state aid numbers earlier this week on Thursday, March 2, and while some schools are excited to receive an addition to their aid, others are disappointed with a decrease.
“We were almost flat, we lost just a tiny little bit, but effectively it is flat,” said Superintendent of Point Pleasant Beach School District Williams Smith.
“Everyone would always like more state aid, but in the current fiscal climate we are always happy to be flat or at an increase.”
Point Pleasant Beach School District is home to a large number of students and according to its website, offers a 10:1 student to teacher ratio at both the high school and Antrim Elementary School.
Point Beach High School was also ranked the #1 Public High School in Ocean County by noth US News and Niche.com. Despite the stellar reputation, the district saw a slight decrease of .55 percent, losing around $3,386.
“It is really when the decreases come that things start to get painful,” said Mr. Smith.
“We are fine when it is flat but our costs are always increasing with healthcare and salaries and things which will always outpace what the state could give us. Typically it makes us trim our budget elsewhere but we usually keep it very lean in our district and as long as the state doesn’t cut us at the knees, we are okay.”
The district is now looking at a state aid number of $610,581, which is divided up between three sections, with special education receiving the majority at $464,005. The rest of the funds are given to transportation aid, $71,925, and security aid, $74,652.
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