Ocean City Schools To Receive More Funding Under 2023-24 Budget

OCEAN CITY, NJ — New Jersey's proposed budget for fiscal year 2024 includes an increased amount of aid for Ocean City schools.

Gov. Phil Murphy unveiled the $53.1 billion budget on Tuesday. Read more: Tax Relief, Debt Service, Transit Fare Freeze: 3 NJ Budget Takeaways

The proposed budget has $830 million in direct aid to public K-12 schools, moving the state a year closer to fully funding its K-12 school aid formula. Murphy also proposes an additional $109 million towards the state's universal pre-school program.

The Ocean City School District is getting an increase of 4.58 percent in state aid, according to the state Department of Education. The total aid is $4,331,249.

New Jersey's school-funding formula for state aid comes from S2 — a controversial law passed in 2018 that modified how the state determines to allocate its funding for each district.

State aid is an influential factor in a district's decisions on raising local property taxes. Many say that aid cuts or flat spending each year give them cause to raise what are already the highest property taxes in the country.

School made up 19.4 percent of Ocean City's property taxes in 2022, according to recently released data. Read more: Average Property Tax Bill In Ocean City Is Growing, Latest Data Shows