School Board to Approve Key Proposals

This evening, the Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education will hold a special meeting beginning at 7:00 PM at the Wade Administration Building in Martinsville. It should be brief. There are only two agenda items and, although both are important, there may not be much, if any, controversy.

The board will decide on accepting the $1,037,000 budget reduction approved by the Bridgewater and Raritan municipal councils after last week’s post-midnight meeting at the Bridgewater Municipal Complex. The B-R BOE was in attendance that night and participated in the discussions.

The board can’t change the number, but can redirect where to make changes. There is no expectation that the board will appeal the amount of reductions.

The second agenda item is board approval of its ‘Race to the Top Application.’ In a related story which appeared in The Star-Ledger today, Commissioner of Education Bret Schundler, the New Jersey Legislature, and the New Jersey Education Association seem to be on the same page this time about The Garden State’s formal application to the U.S. Government for a $400 million grant of ‘Race to the Top’ school funding.

The last effort to submit this application under the Corzine administration for a grant of from $200 to $400 million was thwarted because the NJEA did not support it. This time around, with Governor Christie wanting to remove $820 million in school aid from the proposed budget, the NJEA has come to the table.

Photo by Dick Bergeron:  Dr. Michael Schilder takes notes at the Bridgewater-Raritan's reorganization meeting of April 27