Hazlet Could Lose $3.3 Million In Proposed School Funding Formula

HAZLET, NJ — The Hazlet public school district stands to lose about $3.3 million in state aid in a new school funding formula currently being battled out in Trenton.

The issue of how to fund New Jersey schools is tied up in the ongoing budget battle between Gov. Phil Murphy and the state Legislature, a stalemate that is bringing New Jersey closer to a July 1 state shutdown with each passing day.

It's hardly just Middletown that could lose big time. Hazlet, Tom River, Freehold, Brick and more than 100 suburban and rural towns across the state would lose millions in a school funding bill proposed by state Senate President Stephen Sweeney. His bill, Senate Bill S2, would cut so-called "adjustment aid" to more than 100 districts across New Jersey in order to push more aid to what he says are severely underfunded school districts.

In fact, the superintendents of Hazlet and Middletown, along with 30 other school districts, attended an emergency meeting Tuesday, where they voiced their strong objections to Sweeney's bill.

Gov. Murphy, however, said he won't agree to Sweeney's school funding formula until there are recurring revenue streams in the budget, which would likely come in the form of tax increases. With each passing day, the back-and-forth is sending New Jersey closer to a stalemate over the budget and quite possibly a government shutdown on July 1.

And meanwhile, millions in state aid for Hazlet schools hangs in the balance. Hazlet schools superintendent Dr. Scott Ridley spoke cautiously on Wednesday.

"Presently there is a great deal of back-and-forth between Governor Murphy and Senate President Sweeney regarding the budget and this dynamic has yet to play out in full," said Dr. Ridley. "It goes without saying that I do not support Hazlet losing a single cent. Though if the state sees otherwise, as indicated, I hope the timeline would allow for already-approved budgets to move forward as defined."

He pointed out that nearly all school budgets have already been submitted and approved for next school year, 2018-19.

"While I understand that no solution is likely to please all districts, I am hopeful that whatever decision is eventually reached will not go into effect until the 2019-20 fiscal year," said Dr. Ridley. "And to disrupt those approvals would be very challenging for districts that did their due diligence during the county-required budget process."

One thing that all sides — including Gov. Murphy and state legislators — seem to agree on is that New Jersey's school funding formula needs to be revised. A key contention is that the existing formula used to determine state education funding is severely flawed, and has been for quite some time. Components such as wealth and income are not calculated fairly; the formula fails to take into consideration PILOTs (payments in lieu of taxes, paid by developers to towns instead of property taxes); and more than 30 towns have not had property revaluations — a key facet in determining need — in more than 25 years.

Pictured above is the track and field at Raritan High School in Hazlet, in a photo from the school website.