Holmdel Schools To Get $500K More in State Aid Than Initially Announced

Holmdel Township School District will receive $508,703 more in state aid than previously announced.

The news came via an announcement by Gov. Chris Christie distributed to boards of education statewide Tuesday afternoon.

Holmdel School Business Administrator Michael Petrizzo called the news "a pleasant surprise" but said he did not yet know what the conditions would be attached to the additional aid. 

"It's great news," he said. "But we don't know yet what conditions are attached," he said. No decisions will be made about the cash infusion, which will be treated as a one-time benefit, until he gets more information from the County Superintendent's office and meets with the Board of Education and administrative teams.

"It could be used for tax relief, infrastructure investments, a whole litany of things," he said. 

In February, the Holmdel School District learned it was slated to receive $905,005 in aid for 2011-12, up $508,703 from 2010-2011. 

The new appropriation announced July 12 doubles the size of that increase, meaning the district would get $1,017,406 over the 2010-11 school year.

The total aid for the district now stands at $1,413,709 for the 2011-12 school year. In 2010-11, the district got $396,303.

Petrizzo said that although the Holmdel School District will get almost $1 million more in state aid in 2011-12 than in 2010-11, it is still a cut from better times. 

"This essentially restores a million of the $2 million cut that was cut in 2010-2011," he said. 

In Tuesday's announcement, Gov. Chris Christie said that an additional $850 million in aid would be made available to school districts throughout the state for the 2011-12 school year.

"We are keeping faith with our commitment to New Jersey’s children and families, spending more money per pupil on New Jersey’s students than almost any other state in the country,” Christie said, in the Tuesday release.

According to the state, $450 million has been allotted specifically to the Abbotts, and an additional $150 million was made available to all other districts in the state.

To view a list of state aid numbers for all districts in New Jersey, click here.