Hillsborough Township Will Get Less School State Aid For 2022-23 Under Gov. Murphy Plan

HILLSBOROUGH, NJ — Once again the Hillsborough Township School District is expected to get less money 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

Hillsborough Township Schools would receive $21,555,634 for the next fiscal year under the proposal — a 6.12 percent decrease over its state aid for the current school year.

"We are disappointed with the numbers which have been released as they are directly impacting the educational product we are able to provide to our students. The proposed amount calls for approximately a $1.4 million reduction in state aid which brings about challenges for the district, wherein the previous two years our total amount was a combined drop of $1.4 million. We were anticipating a smaller reduction in line with previous years and we are dismayed to again be faced with the task of ensuring the best educational opportunities for our students while seeing a sizable drop in funding," according to the district.

"We look forward to working with our legislative delegation in Trenton to affect change and seek additional funds for the benefit of our Hillsborough families. Additionally, in the coming weeks the Board and administration will work together to put forth a balanced budget while ensuring that necessary cuts have a minimal impact on our students. It is our hope though that it is recognized that this pattern is not sustainable for the Hillsborough Township Public Schools, or for the many other districts across the state that are seeing reductions that exceed what was forecasted," the district continued.

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 Hillsborough in 2021 was $9,842 for a home valued at $427,361 with 67.7 percent supporting schools, 14.7 percent aiding the township and 17.6 percent going to the county. Read more: Property Taxes In Hillsborough: See '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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