New Jersey's removal of $22 million from its 1979-80 state school aid payments requires that school administrators immediately establish priorities and explore options for dealing with enrollment decline. From 1969 to 1978 New Jersey K-6 enrollment has dropped 19.4 percent. The time for selecting reasonable approaches to declining enrollment is running out. Board members and administrators can either retain all schools, facilities, and programs in spite of great costs or cut programs, staff, and schools. Since the former alternative is unrealistic, the best place to start may be to urge citizens, teachers, students, and administrators to identify criteria to use for closing programs and schools. It is difficult to deal with enrollment decline because sometimes the best solutions are not the most politically expedient. Board members must make decisions destined to make them unpopular. Districts need to develop procedures for dealing with enrollment decline in as technical a fashion as possible. Today's need is for administrators able to plan for and manage declining enrollment problems, particularly declining budgets, new curriculum needs, job attrition, and school closure. Although there are no easy answers to the problem of declining enrollment, this period is an opportune time for leaders with commitment and a sense of history. (Author/JM)