RARITAN, N.J. — A state budget crisis has led the School Transportation Supervisors of New Jersey (STS) to halt its annual convention.

State Commissioner of Education Lucille Davy last month called on school districts to freeze all nonessential spending and review the necessity of all expenditures for the rest of the school year.

Anticipating that this would prevent many members from attending the 2009 STS Conference and Equipment Show, the association’s board of directors last week decided to cancel the event. It had been scheduled to take place March 30-31.

In a letter to members, STS President Ingrid Reitano thanked the committees that had been planning the conference and said that it had been shaping up well.

“Our annual conferences have been the source of so much of the knowledge we need to perform our jobs as school transportation professionals,” Reitano wrote. “I optimistically anticipate that we will be able to plan new conferences in the near future.”