Bridgewater-Raritan Will Get More School State Aid For 2022-23 Under Gov. Murphy Plan

BRIDGEWATER, NJ — Good news for the Bridgewater-Raritan as the regional school district is expected to get $1 million more than last year in school aid from New Jersey as part of the latest state budget proposal.

Gov. Phil Murphy has proposed $19.2 billion for New Jersey pre-K to 12 schools for the Fiscal Year 2023 budget, including an additional $649.8 million for K-12 aid to put K-12 "formula" aid at $9.92 billion. Read More: NJ School Aid: Who's Getting More, Who's Getting Less

Bridgewater-Raritan Regional Schools would receive $12,454,341 for the next fiscal year under the proposal — an 8.74 percent increase over its state aid for the current school year.

"We applaud the efforts of Governor Murphy in providing additional funding for K-12 districts throughout the state of New Jersey. This year's budget and aid distributions have brought schools in New Jersey one step closer to full funding according to [School Funding Reform Act] (SFRA)," said Bridgewater-Raritan Superintendent Robert Beers. "Although the vast majority of our budget in the Bridgewater-Raritan Regional School District is funded through local property taxes, the additional aid will help us maintain our high level of programming while facing inflationary rates above 7 percent."

State aid is an influential factor in a school district's share of property taxes. Many districts say that cuts — or even flat spending — force them to raise taxes for local homeowners.

Property taxes in New Jersey are made up of three parts: school, municipal and county. Last year, the average property owner in the state paid roughly 52.9 percent of their total for school taxes, 29.4 percent for municipal taxes and 17.8 percent for county taxes.

The average residential property tax in Bridgewater in 2021 was $9,480 for a home valued at $456,045 with 69.4 percent supporting schools, 11.5 percent aiding the township and 19.4 percent going to the county. Read more: Property Taxes In Bridgewater: See The 'Average' Homeowner's Bill

New Jersey tends to have among the nation's highest property taxes. In fact, New Jersey had the highest average taxes on a $217,500 home ($5,419) than any state in 2022, according to WalletHub.

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