Massive State Aid Cuts To Lacey School District In 2023-24 Budget

LACEY, NJ — New Jersey's proposed budget for fiscal year 2024 includes another year of massive state aid cuts to the Lacey Township School District.

Earlier this week, Murphy's administration proposed its fiscal year 2024 budget, including an $834 million increase in direct school aid —8.42 percent more than last year's budgeted amount.

The state Department of Education released state school aid summaries for K-12 schools and preschools under that proposed budget on Thursday.

Murphy proposed an additional $834.4 million in state school aid in his 2024 budget, bringing the total in formula aid to $10.75 billion. Murphy also proposes an additional $109 million towards the state’s universal preschool program. Read more: Tax Relief, Debt Service, Transit Fare Freeze: 3 NJ Budget Takeaways

The Lacey Township School District had its state aid cut by 27.49 percent, representing a loss of nearly $4 million.

The district will get $10,470,890 in state aid for fiscal year 2024.

Many other Ocean County districts had their aid cut too, with millions lost in Brick, Jackson and Toms River.

Since the 2020-21 school year, the state has determined its annual distribution of education aid through S2 — a controversial funding formula passed in 2018, Murphy's first year in office.

The governor has defended S2, saying the funding formula had to change to address inequities within the state. But critics have pointed to the losses in state aid among many school districts, which has resulted in cuts while other districts get increases.

FY2024 would be the sixth of seven state budgets that S2 will impact, with the goal of fully funding education under the formula by 2025. Lacey has consistently lost money under the formula.

"We have seen this time and again," Director of the Ocean Board of Commissioners Joseph H.Vicari said. "Ocean County families are burdened with higher school taxes while nearly all of the state aid increases go to the cities."

Vicari called on state leaders to re-evaluate the formula used to calculate aid so this issue
can be avoided in the future.

When state school aid is cut the loss of revenue is either passed on to local taxpayers in
the form of higher tax bills or districts are forced to cut programs and staff. Usually the loss of
funding is mitigated by a combination of the two.

School made up 61.1 percent of Lacey's property taxes in 2022, according to recently released data. Read more: See The Latest Average Property Tax Bill In Lacey, Per State Data

This article contains additional reporting by Michelle Rotuno-Johnson.