Lenape Regional High School District recoups more than half of lost state aid.

Although state aid this school year for the Lenape Regional High School District still falls short of the amount last year, legislation has managed to restore more than half the amount cut, according to an announcement on Friday.

Assemblywoman Andrea Katz (D-Atlantic, Burlington), Assembly Speaker Craig J. Coughlin and district Superintendent Carol Birnbohm spoke at the press conference held at Cherokee High School in Marlton. The district's other high schools are Lenape, Shawnee and Seneca.

The latest amount to go to the Lenape district will be $457,000 for capital improvements, Katz said. The Evesham School District will receive $3,000 under the latest budget legislation.

When school district aid was announced by the state earlier this year, the Lenape district was to receive $18.9 million, or $4.6 less than last year, according to Rich DiCriscio, Katz's chief of staff. However, $2,557,000 — including the $457,000 — has since been restored. 

Katz said that when school aid was cut in her legislative district "it instantly became my priority." She said she was exploring long-term solutions to the volatility of state aid so school administrators will be able to better plan their budgets.

After the cuts, "we had to make some difficult decisions, including program cuts," Superintendent Birnbohm said.

She said the deep cuts in her district and elsewhere put the spotlight on school funding.

"No one here wants a repeat of what happened," she said.