Community Urged To Stand With Hillsborough Schools After $2.7M State Aid Cut

HILLSBOROUGH, NJ — Hillsborough educational leaders calling on the community to stand with them as they oppose the projected cut of $2.7 million in state aid for the 2025 fiscal year as part of the latest state budget proposal.

"As Superintendent and HEA leadership, we are continuing our advocacy and are planning to testify in Trenton about the impact that this will have on Hillsborough, which could include larger class sizes, less services for students, and less programmatic options for students. We continue engaging with local legislators, who have also voiced their concern, to seek solutions to the funding crisis that threatens to undermine the excellent education offered in Hillsborough public schools," said Superintendent Mike Volpe and Hillsborough Education Association Henry Goodhue in a joint statement released Tuesday.

Hillsborough's school state aid has been cut annually for the past seven years under the school funding formula known as S2.

In preparation for that, the district prepared a budget for 2024 that included a $400,000 cut which was "well above what was projected" at $243,694, said Volpe and Goodhue.

On Thursday, the State released its school funding numbers and Hillsborough learned that it would receive a $2,728,504 cut compared to last year.

In 2024, Hillsborough schools received $20,642,528; next year, the district is slated to receive $17,914,024. This is a 13.22 percent decrease. Read More: 'Outrageous,' Hillsborough Super Says Of $2.7M Cut In School State Aid

"No budget could have prepared for an unforeseen cut of this magnitude," said Volpe and Goodhue.

The state cuts under S2 are partially based on enrollment. However, Volpe and Goodhue contend that Hillsborough's school enrollment has remained steady.

The cuts are also based on projections of local tax ratables.

"Indeed, Hillsborough’s ratables have increased. However, given the constraints of the 2 percent tax levy cap, our schools do not see any of the increased tax revenue due to additional ratables in town. Rather, we are twice punished by legislation that has tied our hands and provides no true means to close the fair share gap to ensure our schools are appropriately funded," said Volpe and Goodhue.

Together Volpe and Goodhue are calling upon all community stakeholders to stand with Hillsborough schools as they advocate for the means to appropriately address this challenge.

"In the immediate future, we call upon legislators to assess the impact of the proposed cuts and recognize their detrimental impact on students. We applaud our local legislators for already doing so and introducing legislation that would allow us to responsibly respond to fluctuations in school funding from the state," said Volpe and Goodhue. "We must seek permanent fixes to this issue so we can ensure that all New Jersey’s public school students receive the best education."

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