A Central Jersey lawmaker who represents school districts facing steep cuts in state aid is asking the Department of Education to appoint a fiscal monitor for Newark’s mostly state-funded district, following revelations it spent $33,000 in aid on a “Staff Fun Day” and budgeted over $1 million this year for airfare and hotels at education conferences in Las Vegas and other destinations.
Assemblyman Alex Sauickie, R-Monmouth, questioned the spending by New Jersey’s largest school district, which relies on the state to pay for 83% of its $1.5 billion budget, even as districts he represents laid off teachers and slashed services due to cuts in their funding.
“This frivolous $1 million spending alone could have restored all of the after-school busing lost in ALL school districts in Monmouth, Ocean, Middlesex, and Burlington Counties,” Sauickie said in a Dec. 1 email to Acting Education Commissioner Kevin Dehmer, referring to areas he represents. “To the extent you can, it might make sense to assign Newark a state-appointed fiscal monitor.”
