Westfield May Get Another $1M In School Aid For Next Year

WESTFIELD, NJ — The next proposed state budget includes an increase in aid to 300 school districts, but 200 would see a decrease. Westfield, one of the lucky ones, will tentatively gain $1 million for the 2021-22 school year, or a 22.23 percent increase over the current year.

This means the district is set to get a total of $5.5 million in state aid toward its budget next year, instead of $4.5 million like the current year.

The district's tentative $112.8 million budget for 2021-22 was introduced in a presentation last week and includes that aid amount, as well as a tentative tax levy of $105.5 million. It's expected to be up for a preliminary vote March 16 and a final vote April 27. See the first presentation here.

The board may see some discussion of the budget at its meeting this Tuesday. See the agenda here.

The budget for the current year, struck last April, was $111 million and was funded by $103 million from the taxpayers.

State budget

The total $44.8 billion New Jersey budget includes $18.1 billion in pre-K-through-12 state school aid.

Many districts are facing cuts as part of the ongoing reduction in aid to the district under what's called S2, the law that enforces cuts in "adjustment aid" to districts that have been deemed to not pay their local fair share of property taxes.

On the whole, statewide aid would increase 6.6 percent over the 2020-21 school year under a plan that requires approval from the state Legislature. That number would be larger than the 3.8 percent increase Murphy proposed last year.

The state aid was part of Murphy's 2021-22 budget proposal, which was released last week. Read more: No New Tax Increases, Fees For NJ Amid COVID, Gov. Murphy Says

Statewide, the proposal calls for $578 million in additional K-12 school aid and nearly $50 million in additional preschool funding. School districts will be able to use the state funding in conjunction with federal aid to address COVID-19-related learning loss, stand up mental health programs, train educators, and remediate buildings, among other uses, according to the administration.

The 2021-22 budget proposal plans to continue the seven-year phase-in to fully fund New Jersey's school funding formula. By adding $578 million in K-12 formula aid, the Murphy administration proposes to make the full scheduled phase-in for the upcoming school year and make up for the pause in the phase-in from last year's budget.

The proposal also includes $50 million in stabilization aid to help districts adjust to the phase-in of the school funding formula and an additional $25 million for Extraordinary Special Education aid.

"After years of chronic underfunding of our classrooms, we're getting back where we need to be," Murphy said. "This is good for our students, this is good for our educators, this is good for our district and school leaders, and this is good for our educational communities."

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