(The Center Square) — New Jersey lawmakers are pitching plans to offset proposed cuts to schools under Gov. Phil Murphy’s overhaul of the state’s 15-year-old education funding formula.
A Republican-backed proposal calls for amending the Appropriations Act to fully restore about $200 million in proposed school funding cuts for certain school districts in FY 2025 and allowing districts that received supplemental “hold harmless” aid last year to offset budget cuts to receive that amount again next fiscal year.
Senate Republican Leader Anthony Bucco said he is “extremely” concerned about Murphy’s budget proposal, which he said would put some school districts on the hook for major reductions in state aid.
“Schools that find themselves on the losing end of New Jersey’s broken school funding formula are struggling to make ends meet,” Bucco said in a statement. “Restoring these cuts are a necessary step towards ensuring that educators have the resources to combat learning loss and provide children with the education they so rightfully deserve.”
Murphy, a second-term Democrat, rolled out his $55.9 billion budget plan in February, proposing to fully fund the state’s public school funding formula for the first time in state history.
But the plan would still mean nearly 140 school districts — out of more than 580 districts statewide — would see a decline in their education funding next year, according to the Murphy administration.
Overall, Murphy’s preliminary budget plan calls for increasing school funding by $908 million up to $11.7 billion in the next fiscal year.
Republicans argue the Murphy administration has dragged its feet on education funding reforms while “wasting” tens of millions of dollars on pork barrel projects, which has increasingly put pressure on local governments to ratchet up property taxes to cover shortfalls in funding.
“Republicans have proposed amending the broken school funding formula for years, but unfortunately the administration ignored us — and worse, educators,” Senate Republican Budget Officer Declan O’Scanlon said in a statement.
“Unnecessarily large cuts are digging into certain school districts and risk taking away valuable opportunities for young children.”
Meanwhile, New Jersey Democrats are also advancing plans to offset the proposed school funding cuts, with a pair of bills that cleared the Assembly’s Education Committee last week.
One proposal would allow districts with aid reductions in the FY 2025 proposed budget to apply for more funding to prevent teacher layoffs and cuts to programs, providing $71.4 million in additional funding. Another bill would give districts with state aid reductions this year more time to finalize their annual budgets, which are generally due.
Assemblyman Roy Freiman, D-Somerset, said Democratic-led proposals recognize “the need to act swiftly” to provide funding and relief “as some school districts are already working on budgetary decisions.”
“We know that even in the midst of unprecedented school aid and investment in education, some districts are losing state aid,” he said. “Delays in our response could result in staff cuts being implemented that could otherwise be avoided.”
Still, the Democratic-led proposals would allow school districts to exceed the state’s 2% cap on property tax levy hikes by leveraging portions of the cap that were unused in previous budget cycles.
The 2% cap has been credited with slowing the growth of New Jersey’s “highest-in-the-nation” property taxes, but school officials have lobbied for more flexibility to get around restrictions on spending.