Additional state aid could be available to more than 100 New Jersey school districts facing budget cuts, under a plan moving through the state Legislature.
The legislation, A4161, would provide an additional $71.4 million to soften some of the cuts in Gov. Phil Murphy’s proposed state budget. The legislation to add additional school aid was approved by the state Assembly Education Committee Friday. (See the full list of N.J. districts facing state aid cuts below.)
Murphy introduced his $11.6 billion state budget proposal for 2024-25 in February. If approved by the state Legislature, it would be the first state budget to fully implement the controversial 2008 school aid formula that cut aid to many districts.
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Murphy’s plan includes a $901 million increase in education funding compared to last year. In the spending plan, 422 districts would receive an increase in funds, 15 would receive the same amount and 137 districts would receive less.
Districts that lost state aid could gain back two-thirds of the amount cut under the Assembly bill, said Assemblyman Roy Freiman, D-Somerset, a co-sponsor of the legislation. The school districts would have to apply to the state education commissioner for money from the Department of Education’s Property Tax Relief Fund.
The school districts would have to prove they raised as much money as they could through local taxes and not cut employees since last year, the legislation says.
The measure would also allow districts to raise property taxes above the state’s 2% annual limit for local tax increases — for this year only, Freiman said. Bills addressing school aid cuts in previous years lacked that provision.
“Ninety percent of the time I think it would be an incredibly small amount,” Freiman said of the possible tax increases in local school districts.
A Murphy administration spokesperson declined to comment on the proposal to restore some of the school district funding cuts.
State Sen. Andrew Zwicker, D-Middlesex, introduced a similar bill, S3801, in the state Senate on Monday that would allow districts that have experienced cuts since 2021 to apply for additional aid.
Also on Monday, Senate Minority Leader Anthony Bucco, R-Morris, and Sen. Declan O’Scanlon, R-Monmouth, introduced bill S3076 to fully restore the proposed school funding cuts for certain school districts.
“The unexpected cuts that districts around the state and in my district received, in an incredibly short time frame, would result in hundreds of teachers and support personnel losing their jobs, which is completely unacceptable,” Zwicker said.
The school funding formula is based on enrollment, the local tax base, poverty levels and multiple other factors. It was created to address long-standing inequities among districts with varying educational needs and tax bases.
The adjustments in the formula caused some districts to lose state aid. They included districts where student populations declined or where local tax bases were sufficient to cover more school costs.
The districts hit with the largest proposed cuts this year are Cape May Point, Bass River and Runnemede. Each would lose more than 55% of their state aid under Murphy’s budget proposal.
By dollar amount, the most affected districts are Long Branch, with a $10.4 million proposed cut, Cherry Hill, with a loss of $6.9 million, and Lenape Regional, with a loss of $4.7 million.
The districts gaining the most dollars in the governor’s proposed budget are Newark, with a $101 million increase, Paterson, with an additional $54 million, and Elizabeth, with an increase of $50 million.
At the Assembly Education Committee meeting last week, Assemblyman Brian Rumpf, R-Ocean, said the state’s school formula is broken.
To have school districts “throughout our state suffering by the fact they have significant aid cuts is not something New Jersey should tolerate,” he said.
Rumpf said in his district, Lacey Township schools face a $3.2 million cut and the loss of 103 positions.
“These are real people that we’re talking about, not only the teachers that are going to be losing their positions but the kids that are going to be forced to have an education with 30 plus students in the classroom. And I don’t think any one of us would suggest that that is the manner in which we would like our children to be educated,” he said.
Freiman — the assemblyman sponsoring the bill to restore school district cuts — said the state needs to address the causes of year-to-year volatility and avoid adjusting state aid amounts in April, when districts are trying to complete their budgets for the following year.
It has been a challenge to account for unexpected changes in property values and local school tax revenue in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Freiman said. Changes in student population and the merging of school districts have also resulted in swings in the amount of state aid each district receives.
The Assembly education committee also passed a bill, A4059, last week that would give school districts experiencing state aid cuts more time to submit their budgets.
Both the Assembly bill to restore school aid cuts and the bill giving school districts more time to submit their budgets must still go to the full Assembly for a vote. The measures would need to pass both the Assembly and the state Senate and be signed by Murphy before becoming law.
Stories by Tina Kelley
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Tina Kelley may be reached at tkelley@njadvancemedia.com.