Manchester Officials Back Christie's School Funding Fairness Formula

Manchester, NJ -- Manchester Township officials have long expressed frustration over the amount of state aid the township's school district receives.

The district is scheduled to receive $5.56 million in aid from the New Jersey Department of Education for the 2016-17 school year -- an amount equal to about 14 percent of the district's budget, a figure much lower than that of neighboring districts.

"This inequity is caused by the state’s mistaken presumption that we are a wealthy school district because the large number of individual residences (20,000 homes, mainly age-­restricted) are presumed to generate enough taxes to support our relatively small student population (3,000 students)," Mayor Kenneth Palmer said in a column on the Patch recently. "Ironically, we are anything but a wealthy town. Our average per capita income and per capita home value is among the bottom 10 percent of the state."

The inequity -- and the promise of some assistance for Manchester residents -- have led to Palmer and the Manchester Township Council voicing their support for Gov. Chris Christie’s proposed school funding fairness formula.

Christie's plan, announced in June, would give districts $6,599 per student, a substantial increase from the $1,874.18 in aid per pupil Manchester received for the 2015-16 school year. That$6,599 figure came from the $9.1 billion spent by the state this year divided by each enrolled student in grades kindergarten through 12, state officials said.

The Christie administration says the increased aid would result in $600 decrease in property taxes for homeowners, based on the average home value of $157,700.

“This would make a huge difference to Manchester in property tax relief. Passage of this single measure would provide the largest decrease in property taxes for every Manchester resident,” said Palmer, who recently signed a pledge from the Governor’s Office to support the Fairness Formula. He encourages all residents to reach out to lawmakers to advocate for its adoption.

In a further show of support, the Township Council at its July 11 meeting passed a resolution in favor of the proposed funding formula.

“The new funding formula would provide substantial tax relief to Manchester’s residents, including our senior citizens who survive on fixed incomes. A lower tax rate would also attract new homeowners, businesses and developers to our town, improving the economic environment for everyone,” said Council President James A. Vaccaro Sr.

Currently, of the $9.1 billion in aid to school districts throughout New Jersey, about $5.1 billion goes to 31 districts, while the $4 billion goes to the remaining 546 districts.

According to the Governor’s Office, the Fairness Formula is “an equal per-pupil funding plan that would provide tax fairness for all residents and better public education for every New Jersey student.”

The plan would not impact special education funding.

School taxes make up 54 percent of a homeowner’s property tax bill, with 27 percent allotted to the municipality and 19 percent to the county.

Residents are encouraged to send letters of support to Gov. Christie’s office:

Gov. Chris Christie
PO Box 001
Trenton, NJ 08625

Email: constituent.relations@nj.gov