BOE Members: Different Views on Gov's Promise to Increase State Aid To All Districts, And What it Means to Parsippany

Despite Gov. that Parsippany would receive no state funding unless it rescinded the contract of Superintendent of Schools LeRoy Seitz, school board member Frank Neglia saw cause for hope in .

Christie announced that the state would provide a $250 million increase in state aid across the board. "I am pleased to report that...every district in the state to will receive increased increase aid,'' the governor declared.

"He said 'all districts,'' said Neglia, who took that to also mean Parsippany. "That's how I'm interpreting it.''

But School Board Member Robert Crawford, wasn't reassured. Parsippany has been directed by the county and state to break the contract, which would exceed Christie's cap of $175,000 for administrators in districts the size of Parsippany.

"It's not prudent for the BOE not to follow these orders,'' he said in light of Christie's speech. "We have been directed to comply, and I think we better do that.''

Last year, Parsippany taxes funded 87 percent of the budget, while the state average is 51 percent. Per pupil spending costs in the township are $17,001 while the state average is $15,221. Parsippany only receives 7 percent in state aid while the state average is 40 percent, according the State Department of Education.

Although Crawford believes funding may still be at risk if Seitz's d, Neglia said the board has little choice but to honor it.

"It's an effective contract, we can't,'' he said. "It  could open us up to all kinds of legal trouble. The wisest thing is to sit back and wait for the appellate court to decide.''

The board had filed site against the state and the county, alleging that Seitz's contract, which exceeds Christie's proposed $175,000 cap for administrators in districts the size of Parsippany.