Jack Ciattarelli: My School Funding Reform Will Help Red Bank Schools

RED BANK, NJ — Jack Ciattarelli, the Somerset County Assemblyman who's battling with Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno to run as the Republican candidate for New Jersey Governor, says he has a plan to change the way New Jersey funds its schools — and it could pour hundreds of thousands of dollars to Red Bank schools, he promises.

In fact, Red Bank was cited by Ciattarelli as one of most severely underfunded school districts in the state. His plan essentially calls for reducing state aid to towns like Hoboken and Jersey City, which have low-performing schools but extremely high property values, and redirecting that money to working-class and suburban towns.

"My school funding reform plan is specifically geared towards providing substantial property tax relief for suburban homeowners throughout New Jersey. Not just in traditionally Republicans towns, but in solidly Democratic ones, too," Ciattarelli said today. "For example, it makes absolutely zero sense that the owner of a $400,000 home in Woodbridge pays more in property taxes than the owner a $1 million waterfront condo in Hoboken or Jersey City. That imbalance and injustice needs to be fixed and my plan will do it.”

Ciattarelli's school funding reform is as follows:

• Reduce excess aid in the most extremely overfunded school districts like Jersey City by 20% per year over 5 years, with the savings re-directed to the most severely underfunded school districts in places like Delran, Egg Harbor Township, Lakewood, Manville, Freehold Borough, Red Bank and Woodbridge and other middle-/working-class towns across the state.
• Redefine ‘Local Fair Share’ so no community funds less than 25% of their school operating budget or construction costs through the local property tax levy, phased in over 5 years or 20% per year.
• Recognizing that simply spending more money per student does not guarantee better educational outcomes (i.e. Asbury Park) . . . Change the state aid formula by reweighting cost-per-student spending targets. This will better serve Non-Abbott middle-/working–class towns and shore communities across the state by reallocating state aid so the distribution aligns with need TODAY, not the 1980s.
• Prevent communities like Jersey City and others from abating school taxes on new development with 75% of negotiated payments-in-lieu-of-taxes (i.e. PILOTS) dedicated to the local school district.
• In order to ensure that state-funded Pre-K is not unfairly limited to a small handful of districts like Hoboken and Newark, my plan reforms the system to redirect state pre-K funds to make means-tested pre-K available to all families at no additional cost to taxpayers.

“The (current school funding) formula disadvantages children, taxpayers and educators in far too many middle class, blue collar school districts throughout the state," Ciattarelli has said. "Leaving some communities, for example, to sacrifice libraries for classroom space.”

Ciattarelli's plan was criticized by Guadagno's spokesman as unrealistic.

"Everyone agrees we need to reform the school funding formula because school taxes are the main driver of the state’s high property taxes. Millionaires in Jersey City and Hoboken who can contribute more towards their education programs should," said Ricky Diaz of the Guadagno campaign. "Reforming the school funding formula will take years, and it will be litigated in court for a long time so it won’t deliver relief in time for many New Jerseyans."

Guadagno instead proposes capping the amount of school taxes people have to pay to 5% of their household income. So in Woodbridge, where the average school taxes in 2016 was $4,248 annually, a family making NJ’s median household income ($72,000) will save approximately $650, her team says.