Christie Comes To Hillsborough To Lay Out New School Funding Plan

Hillsborough, NJ - Governor Chis Christie visited Hillsborough High School Tuesday to propose a controversial school funding plan that would provide an even amount of money to all students across the state.

During his presentation for the Governor’s Fairness Formula, Christie pointed to the imbalance in the state's tax dollars as they are distributed to school districts. Urban school districts received and spent more per student yet students continue to fail, versus high-performing school districts such as Hillsborough, where they spend half the amount per student, he said.

Christie's Fairness Formula would have the state provide each public school district with $6,599 per enrolled student, while continuing aid for special needs students.

However, his proposal has been met with resistance from the New Jersey Education Association, which called the plan "despicable" in a statement Tuesday.

"We can do better and we must—in educating all of our children and in bringing fairness to our taxpayers," Christie said at the press conference. "No one should be denied an education because of where they call home—an no one should have to sell their home because they can any longer afford the property taxes caused by a perverse school funding formula that devalues their children in the eyes of the state budget. After all, it is their tax dollars that, in part, fund that aid itself."

NJEA President Wendell Steinhauer blasted the proposal in a statement from the organization.

“Governor Christie’s school funding proposal is a transparent attempt to deflect attention from the abject failure of his education policies," said NJEA President Wendell Steinhauer. "Having never once funded the state’s existing formula, he has no basis for assessing its effectiveness. New Jersey has a progressive school funding formula that acknowledges the need to invest the most resources in students who have the greatest needs. Gov. Christie has made a mockery of that formula and the values it represents since he took office."

“We know that investing in schools, particularly in economically challenged communities, makes a real difference in the lives of children," Steinhauer continued. "New Jersey’s nationally renowned early childhood education programs for poor children are just one example of the positive things that have come from the state’s investment in those communities. We should not turn back the clock on that progress."

(Photo, screenshot from press conference at Hillsborough High School)

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