HUDSON COUNTY — Local school districts who were unhappy with the massive cuts in state aid from Gov. Chris Christie this year won’t be getting any relief from the courts.
An appeals court panel decided on Monday that Christie “acted within his constitutional authority” when he made school districts with big surplus amounts to use those funds to cover equivalent amounts of state aid cut for the current school year, according to an Associated Press story.
The cuts were made to help plug this year’s state budget deficit. And Christie also has cut nearly $1 billion in aid for the next school year, which starts on July 1.
When Christie pushed the cuts for the current year, the city of Union City lost the biggest amount in the state — $29 million. The district simply used its $29 million surplus to plug the whole, but school officials said they didn’t think it was fair to have to use all of that money this year.