Board settles on budget Phillipsburg agrees to accept $886,483 offer from state on $60M plan. Tuesday, September 26, 2006 • By DANIEL HAUSMANN • The Express-Times PHILLIPSBURG | The school board signed off on the district's $60 million budget after nearly four months of information trading, negotiations and a near lawsuit with the state Department of Education. After requesting $3.5 million in supplemental money from the DOE, district and state officials settled on $886,483. "We felt rather than attempt to litigate we found a compromise, it's a workable compromise," board President Paul Rummerfield said. "The board felt this was the best settlement we could come up with." Board member Kevin DeGerolamo cast the lone "no" vote to approve the settlement. The supplemental funding includes money budgeted for a vacant director of elementary education position. "That was money I think we could have used elsewhere," DeGerolamo said. District Business Manager Bill Poch said the settlement covered 15 of the 55 budget items that were requested. The director of elementary education position is budgeted at $120,169, including benefits. Poch said including the state money, the district has $1.1 million in extra cash for the budget. Increased Medicaid income and an adjusted early childhood learning budget freed up about $300,000. Superintendent Gordon Pethick said he wished the district had gotten more money from the state. "There were certain areas where they felt they could make no contributions," Pethick said. Poch said the shortfall would be made up by not filling some vacant positions. He said existing staff would have some of their responsibilities expanded. Early this spring, the state Supreme Court granted a request by the state to "flat-fund" the state's 31 poorest districts. The request was based on New Jersey's budget crisis. In past years, the districts, nicknamed Abbott districts, received supplemental funding from the state. The court decision contained an appeal clause to allow districts to receive some supplemental funding. The state had 14 days to respond to a district appeal. Phillipsburg submitted its appeal May 31. The 14-day clock did not start until Sept. 5 because of misunderstandings between the district and the state over budget submissions. District officials talked at one point in late summer of possible court action because the DOE had not started that clock. DOE spokesman Richard Vespucci said his department received a letter Sept. 15 from Pethick alerting the department to an impending settlement The district is one of the last of the 31 Abbott districts to finalize its budget. Fourteen districts appealed their budgets; six have yet to settle. Reporter Daniel Hausmann can be reached at 610-258-7171 or by e-mail at dhausmann@express-times.com. © 2006 The Express-Times. Used by NJ.com with permission.