Continued Advocacy Needed To Prevent Future Aid Cuts To South Brunswick Schools

SOUTH BRUNSWICK, NJ — The South Brunswick School District can breathe a bit easy after receiving a 65 percent reduction in the state funding cut.

But to prevent drastic cuts in the future, the community needs to continue its advocacy with lawmakers, Sen. Andrew Zwicker said during the last Board of Education meeting.

Zwicker attended the March 30 BOE meeting to announce that the district would see a reduction to the aid cut.

“But we're on a path to where we would be in this same place, and in a worse spot a year from now, if we don't do something about that,” Zwicker said.

The lawmaker referred to Superintendent Scott Feder’s testimony before the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee, where he pointed out that the state’s S2 funding formula was “fundamentally flawed” as the imposed 2 percent CAP prevents schools from collecting their fair share from local taxes.

Zwicker said he spoke with the state treasurer during a budget committee hearing, asking questions on fair share calculation and the 2 percent CAP.

“To be blunt, I did not get a satisfactory answer during that time. And I asked quite pointedly to have this information sent to me. I will continue to follow up because it's part of the fight,” Zwicker said.

“I am relying on you as community members to be a part of that. And we're relying on this board and our superintendent to be a part of that. Because this legislature also understands that time is relatively short - next year will come around very quickly.”

Zwicker said the plan was to put a systemic long-term solution into place to prevent drastic aid cuts.

Feder told the community that the budget presentation in May will include discussion on the coming year as well.

“We're just going to keep going,” Feder said. "We look at the next nine months of advocacy as vitally important to the South Brunswick Community. And my colleagues in other districts are in the same boat. Some of them are in worse situations than even we are. But next year is scary if things don't change.”

Board president Lisa Rodgers thanked community members for their support and advocacy.

“It wasn't just Superintendent Federer, myself and the board,” Rodgers said. “There were many parents out there, who when we sent out the message on social media for a call to action, many of you responded and made phone calls to the senators and to the assembly budget committee members. I just wanted to shout out a big thank you for stepping up and doing that and as we said earlier, we're not done yet.”

The school district was initially facing a state aid cut of $4,063,240. But the Zwicker and Sen. Vin Gopal's new bill, the district has had that amount reduced.

The new bill allots $2,681,738 to South Brunswick Schools , but they still stand to lose $1,38,1502.

South Brunswick is one of the school districts in the state that continues to lose state aid under the S2 funding formula.

S2 was signed into law in 2018, and targeted districts that were said to be overfunded and losing enrollment, especially districts that were receiving so-called "adjustment aid" when the School Funding Reform Act of 2008 took effect.

The S2 cuts, which were supposed to be spread out over seven years — the 2024-25 budget would be the final year — wiped out adjustment aid for most of the districts receiving it in the 2020-21 budget. The focus has shifted to "local fair share," which the state defines as what it says a school district's residents should be paying in property taxes to support their schools. It is defined by complex algorithm that is still the subject of litigation under an Open Public Records Act lawsuit.

More on the topic:

• South Brunswick Schools May Still Lose Over $1M Under New Deal
• State Aid Cut: How Community Advocacy Can Help South Brunswick Schools
• S2 Funding Formula Flawed, South Brunswick Superintendent Tells Lawmakers
• State Aid Cut: How Community Advocacy Can Help South Brunswick Schools

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