New Jersey seeks local guidance as it prepares to take state school funding formula 'down to the studs'
Reported byInquirer.com
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New Jersey's Department of Education held a fact-finding session on Monday as part of a six-stop outreach effort to gather input on redesigning the formula that sends state aid to school districts. Education department leaders said they plan to make changes "down to the studs," and the article says reworking the formula is expected to take 18 months.
Fifteen speakers testified, and the article says most agreed the current formula is seriously flawed. Speakers pointed to heavy reliance on property taxes and rising costs for health benefits, transportation, fuel, special education and aging buildings. The state spends about $40 billion a year on roughly 1.4 million public school students. The state also highlighted that it has 563 operating districts plus 87 charter and renaissance schools, and that the 268 smallest districts together enroll as many students as the three largest.
Assembly Majority Leader Louis Greenwald said New Jersey is the only state that funds local governments solely through property taxes. Some speakers suggested income taxes might be more equitable. Cherry Hill school board and PTA leaders argued the formula overstates local wealth by using mean rather than median household income. A Haddon Township board president said costs have outpaced the formula's assumptions, and a Gloucester City business administrator cited a $1.4 million health care increase in the latest budget.
Why it matters
The state aid formula influences how much money districts receive and how much they must raise through local property taxes. Families, taxpayers and board members may be affected by changes, and the outreach sessions are one way local officials and residents can weigh in.
- State funding formula
- State aid
- Property taxes
- Employee health costs
- Special education services
- Transportation and bus routes
Written with AI from the publisher's article and may contain errors. The original reporting is the authoritative source.
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- Which local costs, such as health care, transportation or special education, put the most pressure on our district's budget, and how well does the state formula reflect them?
- Should school funding rely less on property taxes, and what trade-offs might other funding sources bring for families and districts?
- How could residents and school board members best share local concerns with the state while the formula is being redesigned?
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