$102M Deal Reached To Ease Funding Cuts To 150+ NJ School Districts

NEW JERSEY — New Jersey school districts that were facing potentially crippling state funding cuts are set to get some relief under a $102 million deal reached late Thursday, State Sen. Vin Gopal confirmed Friday.

The deal would restore 66 percent of the funding that was set to be cut for the more than 150 school districts set to be cut under Gov. Phil Murphy's proposed 2023-24 budget, said Gopal, who chairs the state Senate Education Committee.

According to a statement released by Murphy's office late Friday, the districts seeing reductions in state funding under S2 will be able to request up to 66 percent of the difference between the aid they received for 2022-23 and the aid amounts proposed for 2023-24.

"All eligible districts that submit a request to the Commissioner of Education will receive this additional funding, and must include a written plan indicating how they intend to fund operations in future years when this aid is no longer available," the statement said.

The agreement is spelled out in bill S-3732, which is slated for introduction and a vote Monday starting with the Senate Budget and Appropriations committee.

"Our schools have come under tremendous pressures over the past three years due to the pandemic, ranging from uncertainty about resources, learning recovery and a growing teacher shortage," Gopal said. "Now is not the time for more uncertainty, nor the time for districts to be asked to do with less at the precise moment they are trying to recover some sense of normalcy."

"As we work towards ensuring equitable access to the high-quality education every student deserves, this supplemental funding will support districts in adjusting to changes in aid under our state’s school funding formula," Murphy said. "I thank our legislative partners for their collaboration in reaching this agreement on behalf of educators, students, and their communities in the upcoming school year."

Gopal, in an interview with Patch, said the next step is addressing the S2 funding formula that led to aid cuts for 2023-24 that were way beyond what any district had anticipated or planned for and that created crises for districts that were less than two weeks from submitting their tentative budgets for the coming school year.

S2, which was signed into law in 2018, targeted districts that were said to be overfunded and losing enrollment, particularly 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.

The S2 aid cuts are scheduled to end with the 2024-25 school budget year, but there is no indication what will happen beyond then.

"We unanimously passed a bill in the Senate to restudy the funding formula," Gopal said, "but the Assembly has not heard it. We need the Assembly to pass that bill so we can move forward."

Efforts to address cuts have been underway since state school funding figures were released at the beginning of March.

Gopal said legislators had been putting pressure on Murphy to address the drastic cuts that have sparked outcries across the state, especially because of the short timeframe for districts to respond. Gopal also confirmed he was refusing to support Murphy's proposed budget unless and until the severity of the cuts was addressed.

One of the hardest hit this year was the Toms River Regional School District, which was set for a $14.4 million reduction in aid, a 31.77 percent cut that would have been cataclysmic, Superintendent Michael Citta has said. At Wednesday's school board meeting, Citta said a $14.4 million cut would leave Toms River unable to provide a thorough-and-efficient education — a violation of the state constitution and state law.

The Freehold Regional High School District, which has been hit hard by S2, is scheduled for a $6.7 million cut for 2023-24, which Superintendent Charles Sampson said caught the district off-guard because they were anticipating a $2.1 million reduction, calling the cut "pernicious."

"This district has never seen a reduction of this magnitude," Lacey Township Superintendent Vanessa Pereira said in a letter to parents on March 14, saying the nearly $4 million cut in aid would create a budget crisis with "drastic reductions to our operating budget that will be painful and widespread."

"This harrowing news was not foreseen as we have been working off a schedule provided by the state," said South Brunswick Superintendent Scott Feder, whose district was saddled with a $4 million cut, a 20.6 percent decrease from 2022-23. “We're basically being asked to run a $160 million organization with unknown information."

In Hillsborough, the only district in Somerset County to lose funding, the cut of $913,103 was "... more money than we anticipated losing," Superintendent Michael Volpe said. While the cut is not forcing his district to lay off staff, "If we keep going in a direction where we are going to be continuously losing state funding that something is going to have to give eventually."

The cuts have been roundly criticized as Murphy touted an increase in education funding across the state that included more than $836 million in funding for K-12 schools, and as the state sits on a $10 billion surplus.

"These cuts would have been devastating to our schools, and I am grateful that we were able to come up with a solution to ensure the quality of education of all New Jersey students is not compromised," said Sen. Andrew Zwicker, who was part of the group negotiating the change.

School officials across the state have also said the cuts are particularly harmful as districts continue to struggle with the impacts of the pandemic in terms of mental health issues and in addressing academic deficits.

Gopal said municipal officials, including Toms River Mayor Maurice Hill and Brick Township Mayor Lisa Crate (who also is a teacher and is the president of the Jackson Township Education Association) met with legislators and state officials and resented detailed impacts that the cuts would have had on their towns' districts, which Gopal said helped to move officials to soften the blow.

"The two mayors really did an outstanding job educating everyone," Gopal said. "We were able to show them how devastating the cuts are going to be."

Citta, the Toms River superintendent, said the 66 percent adjustment, which will leave Toms River with a $4.9 million cut, is an appreciated start.

"We’re proud of our state for recognizing the impact that State Bill S2 has had on our district, and we acknowledge the extensive work done by our local and state representatives to provide Toms River and other affected districts some relief from this latest round of state aid reductions," he said. "While we plan to continue working diplomatically to restore the additional $4-plus million we need to adequately fund the 2023-2024 school year, this latest move has left us that much more optimistic that, by working together, we can accomplish what’s best for our children."