NJ Expects to Decrease Aid For Ocean City Schools

The Ocean City School District will see a decrease in state aid, according to figures Gov. Phil Murphy's administration released last week. The state reduced Ocean City's aid by $59,509, bringing the total state aid to $3,889,893, a 1.51 percent decrease.

Overall, state aid would increase 2.43 over the 2018-19 school year under a plan that requires approval from the state Legislature. That number would be smaller than the 3.5 percent increase Murphy originally proposed last year, but that original plan had no state aid cuts for any district.

No Cape May County school district will receive an increase in state aid for the 2019-20 school year. Cape May County districts experienced some of the sharpest state-aid decreases in New Jersey, including:

• Dennis Township, -10.29%, $5,207,843 total, $597,414 decrease (sixth-biggest decrease in percentage)
• Lower Township, -9.57%, $8,946,952 total, $947,285 decrease (12th)
• Cape May Point, -8.99%, $23,194 total, -$2,290 decrease (20th)

Murphy was ultimately forced to revise his agenda and put forward a plan that cut aid to 171 districts in the 2018-19. Senate President Steve Sweeney got the upper hand in his push to fully fund a number of districts that had been promised more money for years.

State aid weighs heavily in many district's decisions on raising local property taxes. Many often say that aid cuts or flat spending from year to year gives them cause to raise what are already the highest property taxes.

Some districts saw double-digit increases, including Lakewood (63.66 percent), Atlantic City (39.23 percent) and Woodbridge (21.78 percent). The biggest losers happened to be in areas where Murphy may not be so popular, such Hunterdon and Monmouth counties.

Some of those districts were already protesting the numbers. Superintendent Charles Sampson of the Freehold Regional High School district, whose district is losing $3.78 million, a 7.52 decline, called the process "flawed."

"Formula deeply flawed, not transparent an artificially inflated," he tweeted. "Gutting one of most efficient models in New Jersey."

"What we've now created is a list of 190 districts across the state, that when this S-2 (New Jersey's law governing school funding) is completely enacted by the end of the next six years, these districts will not have enough money to provide a quality education to their students," Eatontown Superintendent Scott T. McHue told Patch. "Hence, the pendulum swings again and we're right back to the same circle again six years from now."

Read more here: These 190-Plus Districts May Face Tax Hike: NJ School Aid Figures