Guadagno Wants Hoboken To Pay ‘Fair Share’ For Schools

HOBOKEN, NJ — Would Hoboken’s public schools suffer from reduced state funding if New Jersey gubernational candidate Kim Guadagno emerges victorious on Nov. 7? That’s what Hoboken mayoral candidate and City Council member Ravinder Bhalla is worried about after reading a recent statement from the lieutenant governor.

The Observer recently asked Guadagno about her views on the state Supreme Court, which could see significant changes from New Jersey’s next governor after Chris Christie bids the state goodbye.

Guadagno, a former prosecutor and assistant attorney general, said that allowing the judiciary branch to set the state’s school funding and affordable housing policy has been a disaster for taxpayers.

And then she brought Hoboken into the picture.

“My administration will work to reform the school funding formula so millionaires in Hoboken and Jersey City pay their fair share for pre-K, K-12 education and school construction,” Guadagno wrote. (Read her full statement here)

“As governor, I would direct the commissioner of education to establish an administrative hearing process to develop a record that will be used to uphold the new school funding formula in court,” Guadagno asserted.

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On Thursday, Bhalla called Guadagno’s statement an “ill-informed attack on Hoboken's residents and our schools.”

Bhalla said that the lieutenant governor’s statement demonstrates that she “doesn't understand [the Hoboken] community,” which includes many financially stressed families.

“[Guadagno’s] statement is a direct threat to underfund our city's schools and force an increase in property taxes,” Bhalla said.

The Hoboken Public School District received $10.68 million in state aid during the 2016-17 school year, an increase of 0.24 percent from the previous year, according to district administrators.

Hoboken is a former Abbott district and, as such, receives funding from the state of New Jersey to provide eligible 3 and 4-year-olds with a full day of preschool programming, the district website states.

Hoboken’s status as an Abbott district – and its continued state aid - has been hotly contested by some critics, who charge that it’s unfair “a district full of luxury condos, office buildings and hip restaurants still gets as much aid as when it was rotting wharves and abandoned factories.”

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